The Codes of Life : The Rules of Macroevolution
Building on a range of disciplines – from biology and anthropology to philosophy and linguistics – this book draws on the expertise of leading names in the study of organic, mental and cultural codes brought together by the emerging discipline of biosemiotics. The book’s 18 chapters present a range of experimental evidence which suggests that the genetic code was only the first in a long series of organic codes, and that it has been the appearance of new codes – organic, mental and cultural – that paved the way for the major transitions in the history of life.While the existence of many organic codes has been proposed since the 1980s, this volume represents the first multi-authored attempt to deal with the range of codes relevant to life, and to reveal the ubiquitous role of coding mechanisms in both organic and mental evolution. This creates the conditions for a synthesis of biology and linguistics that finally overcomes the old divide between nature and culture.
Introduction to Biosemiotics : The New Biological Synthesis
This book is addressed to students, researchers and academics who have barely heard of the emerging young science of Biosemiotics, and who want to know more about it. Written by many of the field’s major contributors, it provides a highly qualified introduction to Biosemiotics and illustrates the most recent views in its background and development.

