Suggested Readings

ADAM, JOHN A. Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2003.

BONNER, JOHN TYLER. Why Size Matters: From Bacteria to Blue Whales, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, 2006.

DUDLEY, BRIAN A. C. Mathematical and Biological Interrelations, Wiley, New York, 1977. An excellent and extended introduction to graphing, scale factors, and logarithmic plots.

GOULD, STEPHEN JAY. Size and shape. In Ever Since Darwin, Norton, New York, 1977, Chap. 21.

HALDANE, J. B. S. On being the right size. In Possible Worlds and Other Papers, Harper, New York, 1928. Reprinted in James R. Newman (ed.), The World of Mathematics, vol. 2, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1956, pp. 952-957. Also reprinted in John Maynard Smith (ed.), On Being the Right Size and Other Essays by J. B. S. Haldane, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1985, pp. 1-8. Succinctly surveys area-volume tension, flying, the size of eyes, and even the best size for human institutions.

HUFF, Darrell. How to Lie with Statistics, Norton, New York, 1954; reprint, 1993.

LARRICK, RICHARD P., and JACK B. SOLL. The MPG illusion. Science, 320 (20 June 2008): 1593-1594.

McMAHON, T. A., and J. T. BONNER. On Size and Life, Scientific American Library, New York, 1983. Astonishingly beautiful and informative book on the effects of size and shape on living things.

SCHMIDT-NIELSEN, KNUT. Scaling: Why Is Animal Size So Important? Cambridge University Press, New York, 1984.

SILLETT, STEVE. The tallest trees. National Geographic, 216 (4) (October 2009).

WEIBEL, EWALD R. Symmorphosis: On Form and Function in Shaping Life, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2000.