| More specifically: Is there a book on biology that requires little or no prior knowledge, emphasizes principles at the expense of real-world practicality, and requires considerable intellectual effort in exchange for a genuine, satisfying foray into the field? |
Molecular Biology of the Cell http://www.amazon.com/Molecular-Biology-Cell-Alberts-Al/dp/0...
The description of the DNA --> RNA --> protein pipeline was really satisfying to someone with my background, full of codes, error-correction algorithms, and rate-limiting steps. I think of it as the Numerical Recipes of biology.