In a short span, this encyclopedic work summarizes the historical problems of the nature of life. Blandino conducts his narrative in a condensed and highly-packed form that assumes the nature of an outline. His own ideas are explained in the second part of the book. In the author\u27s words, his conception is that vegetative biological phenomena (1) are material deterministic phenomena and therefore, in order to produce them, fixed laws inherent in matter are both necessary and sufficient..

Wilkinson, Ronald S

English

ValpoScholar

The Great Lakes Entomologist 
Volume 3 
Number 1 -- Spring 1970 Number 1 -- Spring 
1970 
Article 5 
July 2017 
Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: 
Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00. 
Ronald S. Wilkinson 
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle 
 Part of the Entomology Commons 
Recommended Citation 
Wilkinson, Ronald S. 2017. "Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical 
Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00.," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 3 (1) 
Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol3/iss1/5 
This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has 
been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For 
more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 
1970 THE MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGIST 3 1 
Shimer, H. 1869. Descriptions of two acarians bred from white maple (Acer dasycarpum). 
Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 2: 319-320. 
Tragardh, 1. 1915. Bidrag till k'innedomen om spinnvalstren (Tetranychus Duf.). Medd. 
Centralanst. Forsdks. Jordbr., 109 (Ent. Avd. 20): 1-60: and Stockholm 
Landtbr. Akad. Handl., 54:  259-3 10. 
Tuttle, D. M. and E. W. Baker. 1963. The spider mites of Arizona. Univ. Ariz. Tech. Bull. 
158: 1-41. 
- . 1968. Spider mites of southwestern United States and a revision of the family 
Tetranychidae. Tucson. 
Zacher, F. 1913. Untersuchungen iiber Spinnmilben. Mitt kais. Biol. Anst. Land-Forst. 14: 
37-41. 
REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE 
THE FLIES OF  WESTERN NORTH AMERICA. F.  R. Cole, with the collaboration of Evert 
I. Schlmger. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. xi, 693 pp. 
$25.00. 
Knowing of the excellence of the author's work especially as an artist of Diptera, 
entomologists have been waiting for this much-needed volume since the completion of the 
first manus~ript  in 1932. The work deals with two-winged flies (Diptera) of North America 
west of the 104th meridian, south of the 70th parallel and north of Mexico, but including 
Raja California. There are 38 double-columned pages of introductory matter, keys to 
families and genera, notes on species and the localities from which they are known, a 
glossary, selected bibliography: and index to species. There are some 180 of the author's 
beautiful drawings of flies :is well as many illustrations from other sources. 
Great caution will be needed in using this work. There are unfortunately many errors in 
spelling of names. beginning with "philicomis" for piliconlis on the frontispiece. The keys 
in several instances are adaptations of keys which have been superseded. The bibliography 
includes nothing later than one reference dated 1963. I t  is recommended that names be 
checked in Stone et al., 1965 ( A Catalog of the Diptera of'America North qfMexico, U.S. 
Dept. o f  Agr., Agr. Handbook no. 276) before using them. The Catalog is referred to  in the 
text many times, but no citation of it appears. 
George C. Steyskal 
Systematic Entomology Laboratory, ARS, 
U.S. Department of Agriculture 
c/o U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. 20560 
THEORIES ON THE NATURE OF  LIFE. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical 
Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00. 
In a short span, this encyclopedic work summarizes the historial problems of the nature of 
life. Rlandino conducts his narrative in a condensed and highly-packed form that assumes 
the nature of an outlinc. His own ideas are explained in the second part of the book. In the 
author's words, his conception is that vegetative biological phenomena (1) are material 
deterministic phenomena and therefore, in order to produce them, fixed laws inherent in 
matter are both necessary and sufficient; (2) are regular, specific phenomena and therefore 
must be produced by specific preferential laws which do not exist in an average chance 
universe. Blandino is both a Jesuit and the recipient of a doctorate in biological sciences 
from the University of Rome, so that this work in theoretical biology will claim more 
attention than if it were the work of a theologian. His concise summary of historical 
thought is useful. 
R. S. W. 
1
Wilkinson: Theories on the Nature of Life
Published by ValpoScholar, 2017


Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00.

Valparaiso University

The Great Lakes Entomologist Volume 3 Number 1 -- Spring 1970 Number 1 -- Spring 1970 Article 5 July 2017 Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00. Ronald S. Wilkinson Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle  Part of the Entomology Commons Recommended Citation Wilkinson, Ronald S. 2017. "Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00.," The Great Lakes Entomologist, vol 3 (1) Available at: https://scholar.valpo.edu/tgle/vol3/iss1/5 This Book Review is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of Biology at ValpoScholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Great Lakes Entomologist by an authorized administrator of ValpoScholar. For more information, please contact a ValpoScholar staff member at scholar@valpo.edu. 1970 THE MICHIGAN ENTOMOLOGIST 3 1 Shimer, H. 1869. Descriptions of two acarians bred from white maple (Acer dasycarpum). Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 2: 319-320. Tragardh, 1. 1915. Bidrag till k'innedomen om spinnvalstren (Tetranychus Duf.). Medd. Centralanst. Forsdks. Jordbr., 109 (Ent. Avd. 20): 1-60: and Stockholm Landtbr. Akad. Handl., 54:  259-3 10. Tuttle, D. M. and E. W. Baker. 1963. The spider mites of Arizona. Univ. Ariz. Tech. Bull. 158: 1-41. - . 1968. Spider mites of southwestern United States and a revision of the family Tetranychidae. Tucson. Zacher, F. 1913. Untersuchungen iiber Spinnmilben. Mitt kais. Biol. Anst. Land-Forst. 14: 37-41. REVIEWS OF RECENT LITERATURE THE FLIES OF  WESTERN NORTH AMERICA. F.  R. Cole, with the collaboration of Evert I. Schlmger. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969. xi, 693 pp. $25.00. Knowing of the excellence of the author's work especially as an artist of Diptera, entomologists have been waiting for this much-needed volume since the completion of the first manus~ript  in 1932. The work deals with two-winged flies (Diptera) of North America west of the 104th meridian, south of the 70th parallel and north of Mexico, but including Raja California. There are 38 double-columned pages of introductory matter, keys to families and genera, notes on species and the localities from which they are known, a glossary, selected bibliography: and index to species. There are some 180 of the author's beautiful drawings of flies :is well as many illustrations from other sources. Great caution will be needed in using this work. There are unfortunately many errors in spelling of names. beginning with "philicomis" for piliconlis on the frontispiece. The keys in several instances are adaptations of keys which have been superseded. The bibliography includes nothing later than one reference dated 1963. I t  is recommended that names be checked in Stone et al., 1965 ( A Catalog of the Diptera of'America North qfMexico, U.S. Dept. o f  Agr., Agr. Handbook no. 276) before using them. The Catalog is referred to  in the text many times, but no citation of it appears. George C. Steyskal Systematic Entomology Laboratory, ARS, U.S. Department of Agriculture c/o U.S. National Museum, Washington, D.C. 20560 THEORIES ON THE NATURE OF  LIFE. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00. In a short span, this encyclopedic work summarizes the historial problems of the nature of life. Rlandino conducts his narrative in a condensed and highly-packed form that assumes the nature of an outlinc. His own ideas are explained in the second part of the book. In the author's words, his conception is that vegetative biological phenomena (1) are material deterministic phenomena and therefore, in order to produce them, fixed laws inherent in matter are both necessary and sufficient; (2) are regular, specific phenomena and therefore must be produced by specific preferential laws which do not exist in an average chance universe. Blandino is both a Jesuit and the recipient of a doctorate in biological sciences from the University of Rome, so that this work in theoretical biology will claim more attention than if it were the work of a theologian. His concise summary of historical thought is useful. R. S. W. 1Wilkinson: Theories on the Nature of LifePublished by ValpoScholar, 2017

https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1120&context=tgle

Theories on the Nature of Life. Giovanni Blandino, New York: Philosophical Library, 1969. xiv, 374 pp. $6.00.

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