This is the #2 introductory biology textbook on the market. The discipline of biology is comprised of many sub-disciplines, so the introductory course has a diverse range of different topic to cover. Life greatly benefits by an author team that spans the different areas of specialty in biology and offers a highly authoritative presentation of each of the books parts giving the book the richness for which it is praised. In addition, it is the most experimentally-based text, thereby allowing instructors to discuss not only what we know of the field today, but also how we came about this knowledge by detailing research that has been conducted and what was learned.