- Paperback: 304 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (22 May 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140282262
- ISBN-13: 978-0140282269
- Product Dimensions: 18 x 10.6 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 558,825 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
The origin of life remains one of the most attractive and yet seemingly intractable problems in science. Was it by accident or design that at least 3.5 billion years ago inorganic matter somehow became vitalized on Earth? And if it happened here, could it have happened elsewhere in the Universe? Nobel prize-winning biologist Jacques Monod concluded that life is the product of chance, that "Man at last knows he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe."
Paul Davies cogently argues otherwise in The Fifth Miracle. Originally a British physicist, Davies is now a prize-winning science writer living in Australia. Writing for a general readership, he covers all the main topics surrounding this fundamental question, from microbial biology and biochemistry, through the fossil record and genetics to Martian meteorites. Eminently readable, generally accurate and without mind-boggling detail (references are provided for intellectual explorers), Davies presents the current ideas and data in a very even-handed way. He comes down on the side of those who believe that we are not alone but live in a "self-organizing and self-complexifying universe, governed by ingenious laws that encourage matter to evolve towards life and consciousness." -- Douglas Palmer --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
This work examines what is perhaps science's ultimate question: the origins of life on earth. Paul Davies presents a series of recent discoveries which are leading to some startling theories about the origins of life on earth. New life forms have been discovered in bizarre habitats: deep underground and under the ocean floor. The conditions thought to be necessary for life have thus been radically revised and this has led to the realization that life could very well exist on other planets hither to thought to be inhospitable. Further, cosmic impacts can transport these rock-dwelling micro-organisms from planet to planet across the solar system and beyond. so life could quite easily travel from earth to other planets. Indeed, life could have arrived on earth from elsewhere.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Paul Davies here goes through the theories attached to the enduring problem of where life originally came from, how an inhospitable lump of rather warm rock managed to become a world of living creatures. Sometimes the science is really a bit too (unnecessarily) blinding, especially where Davies tries to relate the second law of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy to the origins of life: the connection between physics and biology here is rather difficult to understand. But by the time Davies'...erm... less substantiated theories about meteorites and Mars start being elaborated, the book's taken on a momentum of its own. It's a very interesting book, but, to a layman, only quite convincing.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book describes in detail various theories on the origins of life. It is supported by a combination of scientific research information and personal views which made it a very enjoyable read. One of the most interesting books I have read on this subject. I would be very interested to know which of the theories Paul Davies favours most.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The Fifth Miracle: The search for the origin of life, by Paul Davies, Penguin, 1998, 304 ff.
Theories of the origin of life
By Howard A. Jones
No, this is not a theology book, though it does take its title from the author's reading of Genesis where God is said to create the universe, light, firmament, land - and then life, all regarded as miracles. Setting theology aside, the rest of the book is a scientific description of theories - biological, chemical and physical - as to the origin of life on Earth. The author was a Professor at the University of Adelaide when this book was written and is now at the State University of Arizona where he is Director of a Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, exploring subjects as diverse as cancer, which he proposes be studied in a non-traditional way, and the search for extra-terrestrial life.
In the opening chapter Davies makes it clear that he does not believe in vitalism, the existence of some kind of life force in living matter. He does however accept that living matter contains a unique type of information that allows self-propagation. There is a good discussion of the scientifically accepted (Darwinian) biological role of DNA and RNA here and in later chapters, but for any Lamarckian interpretation readers must turn to authors like Bruce Lipton. In fact, the whole book is more biological than others I have read by this author, but it's good to see Cairns-Smith's ideas of clay minerals as templates for nucleic acids getting some coverage. As usual in his books, Davies combines with fluency geology, biology, cosmology and metaphysics (about the meaning of life, for example) on a scientific bedrock of physics. Also as usual, there is no mathematics for readers to have to get their heads around. As might be expected from the title, there is more biology in this book than physics, but this is also in line with the author's current research interests. At the end, there are several pages of Notes that include References, and an Index set in a very tiny font size that's hard to read.
Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, UK.
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles
What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches (Canto)
Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos (Penguin Science)
Theories of the origin of life
By Howard A. Jones
No, this is not a theology book, though it does take its title from the author's reading of Genesis where God is said to create the universe, light, firmament, land - and then life, all regarded as miracles. Setting theology aside, the rest of the book is a scientific description of theories - biological, chemical and physical - as to the origin of life on Earth. The author was a Professor at the University of Adelaide when this book was written and is now at the State University of Arizona where he is Director of a Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, exploring subjects as diverse as cancer, which he proposes be studied in a non-traditional way, and the search for extra-terrestrial life.
In the opening chapter Davies makes it clear that he does not believe in vitalism, the existence of some kind of life force in living matter. He does however accept that living matter contains a unique type of information that allows self-propagation. There is a good discussion of the scientifically accepted (Darwinian) biological role of DNA and RNA here and in later chapters, but for any Lamarckian interpretation readers must turn to authors like Bruce Lipton. In fact, the whole book is more biological than others I have read by this author, but it's good to see Cairns-Smith's ideas of clay minerals as templates for nucleic acids getting some coverage. As usual in his books, Davies combines with fluency geology, biology, cosmology and metaphysics (about the meaning of life, for example) on a scientific bedrock of physics. Also as usual, there is no mathematics for readers to have to get their heads around. As might be expected from the title, there is more biology in this book than physics, but this is also in line with the author's current research interests. At the end, there are several pages of Notes that include References, and an Index set in a very tiny font size that's hard to read.
Dr Howard A. Jones is the author of The Thoughtful Guide to God (2006) and The Tao of Holism (2008), both published by O Books of Winchester, UK.
The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles
What is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches (Canto)
Complexity: The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos (Penguin Science)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant book
This is a superb book.
The book is an excellent review of the scientific theories pertaining to the origin of life. Read more
The book is an excellent review of the scientific theories pertaining to the origin of life. Read more
Published on 13 April 2009 by djb
Huh?
I don't know who Douglas Palmer (quoted in Amazon's own review of this book) is but he clearly has either not read the book or else did not understand it! Read more
Published on 3 Feb 2008 by Some Customer
Life might be on Mars - the facts
At every page I was ready to put this book down if the author showed himself to be a quack scientist. I finished, just, and am very greatful. Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2000
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