Cell Biology by the Numbers logically extracts biologically relevant numbers related to a gamut of fundamental concepts doing perfect justice to its title. The book ignites the readers’ appetite for numbers with the mention of fascinating work and philosophies of scientists (such as Lord Kelvin, JBS Haldane, Charles Darwin, Alfred Sturtevant, Hodgkin and Huxley) who have recognized the importance of quantitative biology to contemporary examples such as Hans Rossling and David Keeling who demonstrated the impact of global warming, and population health with time by clever use of numbers. The book has covered a large body of biologically relevant numbers (eg. number of biological macromolecules inside the cell, synapses in human brain to concentration of various ions in cell/body compared to their levels in water, air), and systematically commented on other parameters such as size distribution (eg. typical length of proteins in prokaryotes and eukaryotes; persistence length of rod like macromolecules such as DNA, actin, microtubules), geometry (eg. remodeling of endoplasmic reticulum during cell cycle,), energetics (eg. bacterial energy consumption per unit mass is higher than human), dynamics (eg. speed of keratocyte migration correlated to the incorporation rate of actin filaments). The simple mathematical calculations used in the book to obtain the “estimate” of various biological numbers is hallmark of the book as it encourages the readers to perform back of the envelope calculations without having to resort to complicated equations or mathematics. The authors connect biological numbers such as the abundance of bacteriophages in biospheres to its biological impact, in this case in oceans (viral infections strongly decreases the flow of biomass to higher trophic levels).
Some of the interesting analogies in the book which merit comment are (i) proof reading during replication to FedEx delivery efficiency (iii) comparing the aspect ratio of human hair (50 μm) to microtubule (25 nm in diameter) (iii) the area of Connecticut (~13,000 km2) and enormous dead (hypoxic) zone in Gulf of Mexico (iv) energy released from hydrolysis of ATP and human daily calorie intake. The book highlights many novel facts such as (i) breaking down of the empirical relationship between volume of nucleus to that of the whole plant cell in context of mammalian cells, p. 27 (ii) incorrect simplistic (text-book) depiction of plasmids size, compared to their real size, in bacterial cells, p. 41; (iii) exaggeration of “Rubisco as the most abundant protein on earth”, pp. 67, 111-112, (iv) breaking of Kleiber’s scale in the light of recent studies comparing the histogram of resting metabolic rates normalized to wet weight across various organisms, pp. 205-207 (v) the contextual dependence of Jacques Monod’s statement “what is true for E. Coli is true for elephants”, p. 183 (vii) the under appreciation of the fact that older fathers pass on mutations at a rate ~4 times higher than their female counterparts.
The authors have nailed their numbers with interesting examples from books such as Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves by Charles Tanford; Feeling for the Organism by Barbara McClintock; The First Steps in Seeing by R.W. Rodieck, and The Chemistry of Life by Steven Rose. On the whole, a total of six chapters with 40 tables, 42 estimates (extracted biological numbers) and 180 illustrations empower a large community of biology students, researchers, and teachers with a handbook to refer to in their day-to-day lives.