Biology: How Life Works was written in response to recent and exciting changes in biology, education, and technology with the goal of helping students to think like biologists. The text, visual program, and assessments were developed together to provide students with the best resources to gain an understanding of modern biology. Content is selected carefully, is integrated to illustrate the connections between concepts, and follows six themes that are crucial to biology: the scientific method, chemical and physical principles, cells, evolution, ecological systems, and human impact. The second edition continues this approach, but includes expanded coverage of ecology, new in-class activities to assist instructors in active teaching, new pedagogical support for visual synthesis maps, and expanded and improved assessment.

Biology is a comprehensive introductory biology textbook for non-majors or mixed-majors courses that covers biology in a traditional order from the structure and function of the cell to the organization of the biosphere. The book, which centers on the evolution and diversity of organisms, is appropriate for a one- or two-semester course. It's no wonder that Sylvia Mader's Biology continues to be a text that's appreciated as much by instructors as it is by the students who use it. The ninth edition is the epitome of Mader's expertise: Its concise, precise writing uses an economy of words to present the material as succinctly and clearly as possible, thereby enabling students -- even non-majors -- to understand the concepts without necessarily asking the instructor to explain further.