Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Lifein Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies by Geoffrey West
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fascinating study that reveals universal scaling laws that can be seen in all living organisms, as well as in the life & growth of cities, economies, and organizations (companies). Brilliant, yet very accessible & understandable, analysis from the microscopic to the macro, seen through the prism of physics & biology & economics.

Here's what I think is a good succinct quote on the book's summary: "This book is about a way of thinking, about asking big questions, and about suggesting big answers to some of those big questions. It’s a book about how some of the major challenges and issues we are grappling with today, ranging from rapid urbanization, growth, and global sustainability to understanding cancer, metabolism, and the origins of aging and death, can be addressed in an integrated unifying conceptual framework. It is a book about the remarkably similar ways in which cities, companies, tumors, and our bodies work, and how each of them represents a variation on a general theme manifesting surprisingly systematic regularities and similarities in their organization, structure, and dynamics. A common property shared by all of them is that they are highly complex and composed of enormous numbers of individual constituents, whether molecules, cells, or people, connected, interacting, and evolving via networked structures over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Some of these networks are obvious and very physical, like our circulatory system or the roads in a city, but some are more conceptual or virtual, like social networks, ecosystems, and the Internet."

In my opinion, these universals laws clearly point to the hand of The Designer--God Almighty, the Creator--and give reason for one to pause and worship His intricate & purposeful creation. Borrowed from the library; read on my Kindle Fire.


View all my reviews