Biology in the Grid: Graphic Design and the Envisioning of Life

Author:   Phillip Thurtle
Publisher:   University of Minnesota Press
ISBN:  

9781517902773


Pages:   296
Publication Date:   19 October 2018
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

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Biology in the Grid: Graphic Design and the Envisioning of Life


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Overview

How grids paved the way for our biological understanding of organisms. As one of the most visual sciences, biology has an aesthetic dimension that lends force and persuasion to scientific arguments: how things are arranged on a page, how texts are interspersed with images, and how images are composed reflect deep-seated beliefs about how life exists on Earth. Biology in the Grid traces how our current understanding of life and genetics emerged from the pervasive nineteenth and twentieth-century graphic form of the grid, which allowed disparate pieces of information to form what media theorist Vilm Flusser called ""technical images."" Phillip Thurtle explains how the grid came to dominate biology in the twentieth century, transforming biologists' beliefs about how organisms were constructed. He demonstrates how this shift in our understanding of biological grids enabled new philosophies in endeavours such as advertising, entertainment, and even political theory. The implications of the arguments in Biology in the Grid are profound, touching on matters as fundamental as desire, our understanding of our bodies, and our view of how society is composed. Moreover, Thurtle's beautifully written, tightly focused arguments allow readers to apply his claims to new disciplines and systems. Bristling with insight and potential, Biology in the Grid ultimately suggests that such a grid-organized understanding of natural life inevitably has social and political dimensions, with society recognized as being made of interchangeable, regulated parts rather than as an organic whole.

Full Product Details

Author:   Phillip Thurtle
Publisher:   University of Minnesota Press
Imprint:   University of Minnesota Press
Dimensions:   Width: 14.00cm , Height: 3.80cm , Length: 21.60cm
ISBN:  

9781517902773


ISBN 10:   1517902770
Pages:   296
Publication Date:   19 October 2018
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Temporarily unavailable   Availability explained
The supplier advises that this item is temporarily unavailable. It will be ordered for you and placed on backorder. Once it does come back in stock, we will ship it out to you.

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Reviews

"""Phillip Thurtle paves the way. Combining crucial insights from media theory and science history, he transforms our saturated understanding of ‘biopolitics’ into a fresh and forceful analysis uncovering the political economy of today’s life sciences. For all of us interested in epistemic media, critical vitalism, and interventionist thought, Biology in the Grid is compulsory reading.""—Henning Schmidgen, Bauhaus University Weimar"


""Phillip Thurtle paves the way. Combining crucial insights from media theory and science history, he transforms our saturated understanding of ‘biopolitics’ into a fresh and forceful analysis uncovering the political economy of today’s life sciences. For all of us interested in epistemic media, critical vitalism, and interventionist thought, Biology in the Grid is compulsory reading.""—Henning Schmidgen, Bauhaus University Weimar ""The book is fascinating, detailed, and deserves to be taken seriously in the philosophy of design. The writing is clear and accessible, and the illustrations well chosen to support Thurtle's points."" —CHOICE


"""Phillip Thurtle paves the way. Combining crucial insights from media theory and science history, he transforms our saturated understanding of ‘biopolitics’ into a fresh and forceful analysis uncovering the political economy of today’s life sciences. For all of us interested in epistemic media, critical vitalism, and interventionist thought, Biology in the Grid is compulsory reading.""—Henning Schmidgen, Bauhaus University Weimar ""The book is fascinating, detailed, and deserves to be taken seriously in the philosophy of design. The writing is clear and accessible, and the illustrations well chosen to support Thurtle's points."" —CHOICE"


Phillip Thurtle paves the way. Combining crucial insights from media theory and science history, he transforms our saturated understanding of `biopolitics' into a fresh and forceful analysis uncovering the political economy of today's life sciences. For all of us interested in epistemic media, critical vitalism, and interventionist thought, Biology in the Grid is compulsory reading. -Henning Schmidgen, Bauhaus University Weimar


Author Information

Phillip Thurtle is professor in the comparative history of ideas and history departments at the University of Washington. He is author of The Emergence of Genetic Rationality: Space, Time, and Information in American Biological Science, 18701920, coauthor of the interactive DVD-ROM Biofutures: Owning Body Parts and Information, and coeditor of Data Made Flesh: Embodying Information and Semiotic Flesh: Information and the Human Body.

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