{"product_id":"biology-in-the-grid-graphic-design-and-the-envisioning-of-life","title":"Biology in the Grid","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow grids paved the way for our biological understanding of organisms\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e 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. \u003ci\u003eBiology in the Grid\u003c\/i\u003e 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 VilÉm Flusser called “technical images.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePhillip 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 endeavors such as advertising, entertainment, and even political theory. The implications of the arguments in \u003ci\u003eBiology in the Grid\u003c\/i\u003e 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. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBristling with insight and potential, \u003ci\u003eBiology in the Grid\u003c\/i\u003e 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Minnesota Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54004422934872,"sku":null,"price":26.5,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0278\/1295\/4195\/files\/9781517902773_aa8e96b5-b0f7-4214-ac0a-164439d2da75.jpg?v=1780977657","url":"https:\/\/agendabookshop.com\/products\/biology-in-the-grid-graphic-design-and-the-envisioning-of-life","provider":"Agenda Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}