Find what you need to succeed.
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology with Physiology
Fourth Edition| ©2018New Edition Available Jay Phelan
What is the most common reason that DNA analyses overturn incorrect criminal convictions?
What genetically modified foods do most people in the United States consume (usually without knowing it)?
In his popular classes and bestselling textbooks, Jay Phelan uses quest...
What is the most common reason that DNA analyses overturn incorrect criminal convictions?
What genetically modified foods do most people in the United States consume (usually without knowing it)?
In his popular classes and bestselling textbooks, Jay Phelan uses questions like these as a way of introducing both the practical impact and awe-inspiring wonder of biological research. Phelan knows how to captivate nonmajors with stories of how scientists investigate life. He is also a master at using the study of biology as a context for developing the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy students can draw on through college and beyond.
Phelan’s dynamic approach to teaching biology is the driving force behind What Is Life? A Guide to Biology—the most successful new non-majors biology textbook of the millennium. The rigorously updated new edition brings forward the features that made the book a classroom favorite (chapters anchored to intriguing questions about life, spectacular original illustrations, innovative learning tools) with a more focused and flexible presentation and enhanced art.
And more than ever, this edition is a seamless text/media source, with its dedicated version of LaunchPad, Macmillan’s breakthrough online course space which integrates an interactive e-Book, all student media, a wide range of assessment and course management features.
Read & Practice
C$70.99
ISBN:9781319284466
Come to class prepared with quizzing and an e-book.
Retail:C$70.99
Wholesale:C$57.00
Subscribe until 01/22/2022
E-book
from
C$62.99
ISBN:9781319159184
Bookmark, search, and highlight our PDF-style e-books.
Retail:C$62.99
Subscribe until 07/21/2021
Retail:C$133.99
LaunchPad
C$90.99
ISBN:9781319106348
Spend less and get the e-book, quizzes, and more.
Retail:C$90.99
Wholesale:C$73.00
Subscribe until 01/22/2022
Loose-Leaf
C$110.99
ISBN:9781319106324
Save money with our loose, 3-hole punched pages.
Retail:C$110.99
Wholesale:C$88.61
Paperback
from
C$40.99
ISBN:9781319065447
Read and study old-school with our bound texts.
Retail:C$40.99
Rent until 04/25/2021
Retail:C$48.99
Rent until 06/04/2021
Retail:C$58.99
Rent until 07/24/2021
Retail:C$93.99
Rent until 01/20/2022
Retail:C$196.99
Wholesale:C$157.19
Paperback + LaunchPad
from
C$202.99
This package includes LaunchPad and Paperback.
Retail:C$202.99
Wholesale:C$162.19
Retail:C$202.99
Wholesale:C$162.19
Loose-Leaf + LaunchPad
from
C$77.00
This package includes LaunchPad and Loose-Leaf.
Retail:C$95.99
Wholesale:C$77.00
Retail:C$110.99
Wholesale:C$89.00
Loose-Leaf + Read & Practice
C$90.99
ISBN:9781319302016
This package includes Loose-Leaf and Read & Practice.
Retail:C$90.99
Wholesale:C$73.00
Loose-Leaf + LaunchPad + iClicker Reef Polling (Six Months Access)
C$102.99
ISBN:9781319421649
This package includes LaunchPad and Loose-Leaf and iClicker REEF.
Retail:C$102.99
Wholesale:C$82.00
LaunchPad + iClicker Reef Polling (Twelve Months Access; Standalone)
C$103.99
ISBN:9781319230340
This package includes LaunchPad and iClicker REEF.
Retail:C$103.99
Wholesale:C$83.00
Loose-Leaf + LaunchPad + iClicker Reef Polling (Twelve Months Access; Standalone)
C$120.99
ISBN:9781319214333
This package includes LaunchPad and Loose-Leaf and iClicker REEF.
Retail:C$120.99
Wholesale:C$97.00
Paperback + LaunchPad + iClicker Reef Polling (Six Months Access)
C$208.99
ISBN:9781319421618
This package includes LaunchPad and Paperback and iClicker REEF.
Retail:C$208.99
Wholesale:C$167.19
Paperback + LaunchPad + iClicker Reef Polling (Twelve Months Access; Standalone)
C$221.99
ISBN:9781319214319
This package includes LaunchPad and Paperback and iClicker REEF.
Retail:C$221.99
Wholesale:C$177.19
What is the most common reason that DNA analyses overturn incorrect criminal convictions?
What genetically modified foods do most people in the United States consume (usually without knowing it)?
In his popular classes and bestselling textbooks, Jay Phelan uses questions like these as a way of introducing both the practical impact and awe-inspiring wonder of biological research. Phelan knows how to captivate nonmajors with stories of how scientists investigate life. He is also a master at using the study of biology as a context for developing the critical thinking skills and scientific literacy students can draw on through college and beyond.
Phelan’s dynamic approach to teaching biology is the driving force behind What Is Life? A Guide to Biology—the most successful new non-majors biology textbook of the millennium. The rigorously updated new edition brings forward the features that made the book a classroom favorite (chapters anchored to intriguing questions about life, spectacular original illustrations, innovative learning tools) with a more focused and flexible presentation and enhanced art.
And more than ever, this edition is a seamless text/media source, with its dedicated version of LaunchPad, Macmillan’s breakthrough online course space which integrates an interactive e-Book, all student media, a wide range of assessment and course management features.
Features
Intriguing, Often Surprising Q Questions Motivate Readers
Q questions spark students’ interest and encourage critical thinking. These questions prompt students to consider how biology is a part of their life and the world around them. Corresponding Animations are available in LaunchPad.
Engaging Examples Showcase Biology in Everyday Life
What Is Life? A Guide to Biology threads fascinating, relevant, contemporary examples of the science throughout each chapter. Jay Phelan expertly uses analogies and interesting examples to get students to care about biology.
Recurring Chapter Features Develop Students’ Scientific Skills
The following chapter features are built around key learning goals from Vision & Change:
- StreetBio demonstrates the fun & practicality of biology, helping students apply the scientific knowledge they learn to improve their own lives.
- This Is How We Do It helps students develop the ability to apply the process of science by showing how scientists have approached an intriguing question.
- Graphic Content helps students learn to interpret visual displays of quantitative information and think critically about evidence
All of these features have corresponding assessment activities in LaunchPad. They can be assigned for a grade to ensure students spend the time they need on the content.
Vivid Photos Capture the Story of Biology
Striking images appear as unit openers and are combined with illustrations of biological processes, concepts, and experimental techniques to engage the imagination of the student.
Clear and Consistent Illustrations
Fresh and easy-to-understand figures bring the concepts to life. Collaboratively developed by the author and scientific illustrators, the text and illustrations are seamlessly integrated, effective learning tools.
Brief Sections Make the Material Manageable
Each chapter is broken down into a series of short, accessible sections. This gives instructors flexibility in what they cover and makes the content easier for students to absorb.
Take-Home Messages Provide a Quick Summary
Each section of the chapter includes a concise, memorable summary of key ideas. This gives students a checkpoint to test their understanding and ensure that they know what they need before moving on.
End-Of-Chapter Study Tools
Each chapter includes Key Terms and Check Your Understanding questions written by Jay Phelan himself.
Learning Curve
Put "testing to learn" into action. Based on research, LearningCurve really works: Game-like quizzing motivates students and adapts to their needs based on their performance. It is the perfect tool to get them to engage before class, and review after! Additional reporting tools and metrics help teachers get a handle on what their class knows and doesn’t know.
New to This Edition
New to this Edition
The Fourth Edition of What is Life? A Guide to Biology takes student interest and skill development to the next level, offering a more tightly focused text filled with competency-based features that gives students the opportunity to not just show what they know, but also prove and practice what they can do.
To help students maintain their focus on the key concepts, the text narrative has been carefully and thoughtfully trimmed throughout, while still maintaining Jay Phelan’s signature conversational style and engaging examples.
To improve the flexibility of the book, two of the longest chapters in the previous edition have been split into separate chapters:
- Chemistry (3e Ch 2) is now Chemistry of Biology (4e Ch 2) and Molecules of Life (4e Ch 3)
- DNA, Gene Expression, and Biotechnology (3e Ch 5) is now DNA & Gene Expression (4e Ch 6) + Biotechnology & Genomics (4e Ch 7)
New in LaunchPad
The new media program makes three of the hallmark features of the book, each of which are designed to develop student competencies, assignable:
- This is How We Do It: Developing the ability to apply the process of science
- Graphic Content: Learning to interpret visual displays of quantitative information and think critically about evidence
- StreetBio: Applying the scientific knowledge we learn to improve our own lives
Also new
LaunchPad features now searchable by Bloom’s Taxonomy levels
LaunchPad features reorganized for easy of use
New Mobile-friendly e-Book Option from VitalSource
What is Life? Is now available in a mobile-friendly e-book format that includes animations.
Digital Options

LaunchPad
Get the e-book, do assignments, take quizzes, prepare for exams and more, to help you achieve success in class.
Learn About LaunchPad Schedule LaunchPad Demo Go to LaunchPad

iClicker REEF
Stay engaged in class with our student response system, show your instructor that you're listening and prove what you know.

Read & Practice
Achieve Read & Practice is the marriage of our LearningCurve adaptive quizzing and our mobile, accessible e-book, in one easy-to-use and affordable product.
Learn About Read & Practice Schedule Read & Practice Demo Go to Read & Practice

E-book
Read online (or offline) with all the highlighting and notetaking tools you need to be successful in this course.
Table of Contents
Part 1. The Facts of Life
1 Scientific thinking
2 The chemistry of biology
3 Molecules of life
4 A tour of the cell
5 Energy
Part 2. Genetics, Evolution, and Behavior
6 DNA and the expression of genes
7 Genomics and biotechnology
8 Chromosomes and cell division
9 Genes and inheritance
Part 3. Evolution and the Diversity of Life
10 Evolution and natural selection
11 Evolution and behavior
12 The origin and diversification of life on earth
13 Animal diversification
14 Plant and Fungi diversity
15 Evolution and diversity among the microbes
Part 4. Ecology and the Environment
16 Population ecology
17 Ecosystems, communities, and species interactions
18 Conservation biology
Part 5. Plant Life
19 Plant structure and nutrient transport
20 Growth, development, and environmental responses in plants
Part 6. Health and Physiology
21 Introduction to animal physiology
22 Circulation and respiration
23 Nutrition and digestion
24 Nervous and motor systems
25 Hormones
26 Reproduction and development
27 Immunity and health
Authors

Jay Phelan
Jay Phelan teaches biology at UCLA, where he has taught introductory biology in large lectures for majors and nonmajors for fifteen years. He received his PhD in evolutionary biology from Harvard in 1995, and his master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Yale and UCLA. His primary area of research is evolutionary genetics, and his original research has been published in Evolution, Experimental Gerontology, and the Journal of Integrative and Comparative Biology, among others. His research has been featured on Nightline, CNN, the BBC, and NPR; in Science Times and Elle; and in more than a hundred newspapers. He is the recipient of more than a dozen teaching awards. With Terry Burnham, Jay is the coauthor of the international best-seller Mean Genes: From Sex to Money to Food—Taming Our Primal Instincts. Written for the general reader, Mean Genes explains in simple terms how knowledge of the genetic basis of human nature can empower individuals to lead more satisfying lives. Writing for a nonscientific audience has honed Phelan’s writing style to one that is casual and inviting to students but also scientifically precise.
Instructor Resources
Need instructor resources for your course?
Unlock Your ResourcesInstructor Resources
Access Test Bank
You need to sign in as a verified instructor to access the Test Bank.
Test Bank for Phelan's What Is Life? A Guide to Biology with Physiology (Online Only)
Jay Phelan | Fourth Edition | ©2018 | ISBN:9781319118822
Download Resources
You need to sign in to unlock your resources.
Confirm Request
You've selected:
Click the E-mail Download Link button and we'll send you an e-mail at with links to download your instructor resources. Please note there may be a delay in delivering your e-mail depending on the size of the files.
Warning! These materials are owned by Macmillan Learning or its licensors and are protected by copyright laws in the United States and other jurisdictions. Such materials may include a digital watermark that is linked to your name and email address in your Macmillan Learning account to identify the source of any materials used in an unauthorised way and prevent online piracy. These materials are being provided solely for instructional use by instructors who have adopted Macmillan Learning’s accompanying textbooks or online products for use by students in their courses. These materials may not be copied, distributed, sold, shared, posted online, or used, in print or electronic format, except in the limited circumstances set forth in the Macmillan Learning Terms of Use and any other reproduction or distribution is illegal. These materials may not be made publicly available under any circumstances. All other rights reserved. For more information about the use of your personal data including for the purposes of anti-piracy enforcement, please refer to Macmillan Learning's.Privacy Notice
Request Status
Thank you!
Your download request has been received and your download link will be sent to .
Please note you could wait up to 30 to 60 minutes to receive your download e-mail depending on the number and size of the files. We appreciate your patience while we process your request.
Check your inbox, trash, and spam folders for an e-mail from InstructorResources@macmillan.com.
If you do not receive your e-mail, please visit macmillanlearning.com/support.
Related Titles
Videos
Updates to the 4th edition
Who is Jay Phelan?
The pedagogy of What is Life?
The mission of What is Life?
LaunchPad for What is Life?
Available Demos
Select a demo to view:
Look Inside: Sample Chapters

These materials are owned by Macmillan Learning or its licensors and are protected by United States copyright law. They are being provided solely for evaluation purposes only by instructors who are considering adopting Macmillan Learning's textbooks or online products for use by students in their courses. These materials may not be copied, distributed, sold, shared, posted online, or used, in print or electronic format, except in the limited circumstances set forth in the Macmillan Learning Terms of Use and any other reproduction or distribution is illegal. These materials may not be made publicly available under any circumstances. All other rights reserved. © 2020 Macmillan Learning.
BY CLICKING ON THE SAMPLE CHAPTER LINK BELOW, YOU ARE AGREEING TO USE THESE MATERIALS ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH MACMILLAN LEARNING'S TERMS OF USE.
Select a file to view:

We are processing your request. Please wait...
