Scale cover art

Scale

The Universal Laws of Life and Death in Organisms, Cities and Companies

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Scale

By: Geoffrey West
Narrated by: Bruce Mann
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About this listen

Geoffrey West's research centres on a quest to find unifying principles and patterns connecting everything, from cells and ecosystems to cities, social networks and businesses.

Scale addresses big, urgent questions about global sustainability, population explosion, urbanization, ageing, cancer, human life spans and the increasing pace of life but also encourages us to question the world around us.

Why can we live for 120 years but not for a thousand? Why does the pace of life continually increase? Why do mice live for just two or three years and elephants for up to 75? Why do companies behave like mice, and are they all destined to die? Do cities, companies and human beings have natural, predetermined life spans? Are we just a fascinating experiment in natural selection that is ultimately doomed to fail? And what is the origin of the magic number four that seems to determine much of physiology and life history from birth to death?

©2017 Geoffrey West (P)2017 Penguin Random House Biological Sciences Biology Business Development Business Development & Entrepreneurship Science Sociology Urban City Business Sustainability Genetics Ecosystem

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Critic reviews

"An absolutely riveting read...groundbreaking." (Marcus du Sautoy)
"This book will expand your thinking from three dimensions to four." (Nassim Nicholas Taleb)
" Scale is a firework display of popular science." (Niall Ferguson)
"This is an important and original book, of immense scope." (Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal)
All stars
Most relevant  
Lots of ground covered here but stick with it for an insight into explaining, or at least understanding, nature and the modern world around us without a need for any faith in any divinities.

Mathematics and beauty without faith

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It was a long listen, packed full of realism and storytelling. The reading was a bit forced and often too punchy. But the overarching theme of scaling and complexity was thoughtful and insightful. Also very much appreciated the respectful and personal tone suited for the general audience, which is often lacking in much scientific writing.

Information and accessible

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If the author would have stopped half way, it would have been a five star book, but once we get to the part of the cities and companies, thing derail pretty quickly. A typical example of overreach: not all findings in one field can be replicated in another.

Lukas

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Could have been more concise, such as leaving out the historical anecdotes about scientists etc.

Interesting ideas for sure but not concise enough

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I don’t know if it’s the narrator, whose habit of breaking up sentences with pauses at the weirdest points is frankly horrifying, but I really struggled to keep my mind on this book.
The concepts and ideas are really fascinating, but despite its claims to be popular science it goes into a lot of pretty advanced concepts and pretty elitist language.
Plus, of course, what feels like half the book is references to the names of people and institutes that helped the author and how they met on Friday nights and who drove how long from where in order to get there (I’m still waiting to learn which type of car they used, maybe in the sequel?)

It really is not popular science

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Truly, a benchmark for a pop-sci work.
It also reveals how much we all are the same, around the globe.

Good science, good stats, amazingly explained.

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Title:
It offers intriguing insights into the interconnected patterns governing various aspects of life. While the book is rich in valuable concepts, its extensive length and often deviations from the core topic may challenge the listener's engagement. The author's exploration is profound, yet at times, the depth and breadth of the content can overshadow the central gems of wisdom. A more concise approach could enhance the accessibility and impact of these intriguing ideas, making it a more captivating listen.

Insightful, Yet Overly Elaborate

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the premise appears to be that not all relationships in biology or physics are linear. but that there is a 'scaling' relationship that can be formulated for all such relationships. this in itself does not seem to be a big surprise, and the examples given are facetious and distracting from the narrative (for example the size a socket would be if it scaled linearly with the size of a building - which there is no reason it would do).

labours a simple insight with arbitrary examples

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