Why does a caterpillar become a butterfly, a tadpole a frog? Metamorphosis has always been one of biology''s greatest miracles and toughest riddles. Oren Harman takes us on an exhilarating journey through the creatures that metamorphose, from mayflies flitting above lazy summer rivers, to sea squirts in frigid ocean depths, to poison dart frogs on the steaming rainforest floor, exploring why it happens and what it means for us. Travelling across two millennia, from Aristotle to Darwin to today, Oren Harman tells the untold story of metamorphosis, asking why it has obsessed and inspired us so profoundly. Along the way we meet poets, artists, philosophers, and a cast of scientists as colourful as the animals themselves: Sigmund Freud searching in vain for eel testicles, a Japanese zoologist singing Karaoke to a baby jellyfish. More recent, and less hare-brained, investigations have begun to reveal the hormones and genetic code that control metamorphosis. But the mystery and magic of this astonishing natural phenomenon remain. Lyrical and intellectually omnivorous, Metamorphosis gets to the heart of question: why do we yearn for change but fear it too?

Klappentext

'Beautiful. Entertaining. Inspiring.' Nature
'A meditation on transformation . . . Warm [and] empathetic . . . wonderful.' Science
'Startling . . . astounding . . . Animated by wonder.' MIT's Undark

Metamorphosis has always been one of biology's greatest wonders and toughest riddles. To emerge a butterfly, a caterpillar dissolves inside its chrysalis and builds a brand new brain, wings and legs. Why all this destruction and remodelling? Why all this wasted energy and time?

Oren Harman beautifully unfurls the untold story of metamorphosis across two millennia, asking why it has obsessed and inspired us so profoundly. Along the way we meet poets, artists, philosophers, and a cast of scientists as colourful as the animals themselves: whether Aristotle determining cucumbers had souls, Sigmund Freud searching in vain for eel testicles, or a Japanese zoologist singing karaoke to a baby jellyfish.

Taking us on an exhilarating journey through the creatures that metamorphose - a staggering three-quarters of all animal species - from starfish reproducing in reverse in ocean depths, to poison dart frogs on steaming rainforest canopies, to human adolescents struggling to control themselves, Metamorphosis is a new classic of natural history: a book that, by explaining a mystery of nature, causes us to relearn ourselves.