Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution
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Review
'Nick Lane is clear and concise in his writing, delivering concepts and ideas with ease and enthusiasm'
--How It Works
'This is a science book that doesn't cheat: the structure is logical, the writing is witty, and the hard questions are tackled head on' --Guardian
'The most coherent and convincing summary of the dawn of life and of DNA that I have ever read.' --Michael Le Page, New Scientist
'With clarity and vigor Lane smoothly pulls in evidence from genetics to show how complex life could have developed.' --New York Times
'The structure is logical, the writing is witty, and the hard questions are tackled head on.' --Tim Radford, Guardian
'Wonderful... Lane does a masterful job... an elegant, fully satisfying whole.' --Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
'This is an exhilarating tour of some of the most profound and important ideas in biology.'
--New Scientist
'Lane brings science alive with the kind of beautiful prose that turns a book full of interesting information into a book you simply cannot put down.' --Amanda Gefter, New Scientist
'Life Ascending is a beautifully written and elegantly structured book that was a favourite with all of the judges.' -- Maggie Philbin, Chair of the Judges, Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010
'Nick Lane is one of the most exciting science writers of our time.' --Steve Connor, Independent
'with vast scope, page-turning revelations and elegant prose' --Robert Matthews, Daily Telegraph
'an outstanding contribution to evolutionary writing' -- Independent
'Nick Lane employs a clarity of thought and an adroitness of expression' --Laboratory News
--How It Works
'This is a science book that doesn't cheat: the structure is logical, the writing is witty, and the hard questions are tackled head on' --Guardian
'The most coherent and convincing summary of the dawn of life and of DNA that I have ever read.' --Michael Le Page, New Scientist
'With clarity and vigor Lane smoothly pulls in evidence from genetics to show how complex life could have developed.' --New York Times
'The structure is logical, the writing is witty, and the hard questions are tackled head on.' --Tim Radford, Guardian
'Wonderful... Lane does a masterful job... an elegant, fully satisfying whole.' --Starred Review, Publishers Weekly
'This is an exhilarating tour of some of the most profound and important ideas in biology.'
--New Scientist
'Lane brings science alive with the kind of beautiful prose that turns a book full of interesting information into a book you simply cannot put down.' --Amanda Gefter, New Scientist
'Life Ascending is a beautifully written and elegantly structured book that was a favourite with all of the judges.' -- Maggie Philbin, Chair of the Judges, Royal Society Prize for Science Books 2010
'Nick Lane is one of the most exciting science writers of our time.' --Steve Connor, Independent
'with vast scope, page-turning revelations and elegant prose' --Robert Matthews, Daily Telegraph
'an outstanding contribution to evolutionary writing' -- Independent
'Nick Lane employs a clarity of thought and an adroitness of expression' --Laboratory News
Review
'If Charles Darwin sprang from his grave, I would give him this fine book to bring him up to speed. It's a breathless bulletin from the accelerating rush of news about the secrets of life on planet earth.' - Matt Ridley
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
63 of 64 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I don't think it is an overstatement to say that every one of these ten chapters could be expanded to fill ten books! This book is therefore very fast moving, absolutely packed with information and bang up to date.
It is a tribute to the writing skills of the author, that the ten separate inventions follow from each other so smoothly and logically.
Particularly outstanding chapters included the subjects of DNA, photosynthesis, sight, hot blood and death. Here, the level of understanding conferred far exceeded the average poular science book.
A few of the chapters proved quite a challenge, notably the origin of life and conciousness. Whilst these subjects arguably deserve their status in the top ten, the difficulty is possibly that they are less well understood by the current status of science.
Overall, if you really want an inspiring, deeper understanding of the mechanics of evolution, I can't fault this book. If however you are fairly new to the subject, then Richard Dawkins classic "The Selfish Gene" still lays the foundations of understanding without dumbing down.
Some subjects really are more complex than a post-it note explanation, intellectual effort is required, but Life Ascending makes the quest both accessible and richly rewarding. An awesome read!
It is a tribute to the writing skills of the author, that the ten separate inventions follow from each other so smoothly and logically.
Particularly outstanding chapters included the subjects of DNA, photosynthesis, sight, hot blood and death. Here, the level of understanding conferred far exceeded the average poular science book.
A few of the chapters proved quite a challenge, notably the origin of life and conciousness. Whilst these subjects arguably deserve their status in the top ten, the difficulty is possibly that they are less well understood by the current status of science.
Overall, if you really want an inspiring, deeper understanding of the mechanics of evolution, I can't fault this book. If however you are fairly new to the subject, then Richard Dawkins classic "The Selfish Gene" still lays the foundations of understanding without dumbing down.
Some subjects really are more complex than a post-it note explanation, intellectual effort is required, but Life Ascending makes the quest both accessible and richly rewarding. An awesome read!
15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
As the book's subtitle says, this covers ten significant evolutionary inventions, including movement, sex, consciousness, death and so on. Each is covered in some detail (although necessarily abridged and summarised) from a genetic/molecular biology perspective, but also from a more thoughtful esoteric standpoint.
Despite having read a number of similar books, including all of Dawkins' work and Steve Jones' Almost Like a Bear, I still found this hard going in places (quite a few places actually!) and, from that point of view, readers uninitiated in the world of evolutionary biology should approach it with a little caution. Nevertheless it is still a very well written, concise, readable book and the author's passion and humour show through. If you're willing to be flummoxed in places on the first pass (never anything to be ashamed of, I believe), it's quite suitable for the lay reader.
I still think that The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene tower above all other entries in the popular evolutionary biology genre and these are, I suspect, useful reading before you pick this one up. However the strong point of this book is that it brings the subject as bang up to date as any popular published work can and it is invaluable in that respect.
Despite having read a number of similar books, including all of Dawkins' work and Steve Jones' Almost Like a Bear, I still found this hard going in places (quite a few places actually!) and, from that point of view, readers uninitiated in the world of evolutionary biology should approach it with a little caution. Nevertheless it is still a very well written, concise, readable book and the author's passion and humour show through. If you're willing to be flummoxed in places on the first pass (never anything to be ashamed of, I believe), it's quite suitable for the lay reader.
I still think that The Blind Watchmaker and The Selfish Gene tower above all other entries in the popular evolutionary biology genre and these are, I suspect, useful reading before you pick this one up. However the strong point of this book is that it brings the subject as bang up to date as any popular published work can and it is invaluable in that respect.
22 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is one of the best scientific books I have ever read and understood,and written for the non-scientist!! Lane takes the reader beautifully from the origins of life to the finality of death. The chapter on the origins and evolution of sight stands out especially, while the one on photosynthesis isn't far behind.
I will reread it endlessly.
I will reread it endlessly.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
All about Everything
This book is great, but not made for skim reading! If you want to know about life, its all here. It is mostly accessible, but gets a little mindwarping in places, but a little... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Al
Finest popular science
Nick Lane is surely one of the finest popular science writers of our time. In "Life Ascending", he crafts a well paced narrative from both historical and cutting-edge science. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Dr. A. V. Conradie
A contemporary successor to 'On the Origin of Species'
1. A wonderful book in which the author outlines in detail 10 key biochemical ideas which add considerable weight in support of Darwin's theory of evolution. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Mr. S. Varaitch
Great book, terrible Kindle formatting/proof reading
What a wonderful (if a little technical) book. My main problem is that the version I bought (Kindle) is full of typos and formatting errors. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Katie
Best popular science book I've read so far...
I rarely write book reviews, but enjoyed this so much that I feel compelled to share!
This is a thoroughly engaging and interesting book, with my favourite chapter being... Read more
This is a thoroughly engaging and interesting book, with my favourite chapter being... Read more
Published 7 months ago by Catherine Stevens
Life Ascending
A good analysis highlighting the evolutionary aspects without which we should not be here! More to the point written with an ease of reading and day to day explanation which... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Sandy
stunning and revelatory !
I am not saying it is easy going - I was on wikipedia so many times finding out what this and the other meant - and I do have a basic understanding of biology - but a lot has... Read more
Published 10 months ago by alexisalex
Hard work but worth persevering
Well, it was hard work, and I've nearly finished it. The main problem for me was all the bio-chemistry that underpins much of the work that Nick Lane describes. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Peter Campbell
Rich dispatches from the frontier
This is a thrilling book. Lane picks 10 milestones in evolution and explores their biochemistry. These landmarks are: the origin of life, DNA, photosynthesis, the complex cell,... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Jason Mills
It's a wonderful world
This is a wonderful little book that covers 10 of biology's greatest inventions/mysteries. Nick Lane is particularly good in the early chapters that cover the origin of life, DNA... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Dk Price
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