The Life of a Leaf

In this book, the leaf serves as a biological example, an ordinary living thing that nonetheless speaks volumes about our environment as well as its own. Thus in exploring the leaf’s world, Vogel simultaneously explores our own, answering questions about how objects get much hotter than air when in sunlight and far cooler when beneath a clear night sky, how air movement matters even when we can’t feel it, how objects such as trees avoid damage from storms, and how gases diffuse and bubbles form. He introduces us to ways leaves acquire the essential resources needed to grow and reproduce, resources not all that different from those needed by animals and humans. In considering science on our personal scale, Vogel refers complex concepts to everyday observations in our immediate experiences. Within these pages, he provides incredible food for thought and the tools for a new way of seeing the beauty and simplicity of the science of life.