The Origin of Life (Penguin Science)
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Product Description
The New York Times
`One of the handful of first-rate scientists who are popular writers. The
Origin of Life is one of his best works... If you are going to read only
one book on the origin of life, seriously consider this one'
Origin of Life is one of his best works... If you are going to read only
one book on the origin of life, seriously consider this one'
John Gribbin, Independent
`Delightful...Davies succeeds not only in being provocative and
controversial, but in maintaining the rigorous scientific approach of the
physicist... a classic example of how to present a scientific case, and an
insight into the way good scientists work'
controversial, but in maintaining the rigorous scientific approach of the
physicist... a classic example of how to present a scientific case, and an
insight into the way good scientists work'
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Imagine boarding a time machine and being transported back four billion years. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Imagine boarding a time machine and being transported back four billion years. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
One might think that by renaming a book "The Origin of Life", the writer is claiming to provide an answer to the ultimate question of how life started. While he supplies no definite answer as such, Davies both widens and deepens the debate on how life might have started. He demonstrates possible links between "inanimate" complex molecular structures and the simplest microbial lifeforms through steps such as self-assembly molecules. The importance of extremophiles at the start of the evolutionary chain is highlighted - an argument he uses to point out that life may have travelled through the solar system in rocks and comets. Although I was at first very sceptical about minute Martians "seeding" the Earth in this way, the author convinced me that this is a possibility worthy of consideration.
The book is very easily read as the science does not go too deep and there are extensive references for those wishing to go further. I would recommend Ward and Brownlee's "Rare Earth" for the reader wanting to delve deeper into the science. Generally though, "The Origin of Life" will appeal to anyone interested in evolution and astrobiology. All in all, a super book and well written!
9 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this book of Paul Davies's very lucid to read, and back in the summer it was one of the only books that I read in a single day. I remember being sat in the conservatory overheating with the greenhouse effect of the transparent roofing - it being a hot summer here in England - and perhaps this made my imagination drift more into what I was reading. But whatever, Davies's book, (originally published as the Fifth Miracle), certainly provided ripe sod for my imagination to bear fruits, (I think that for part of the time I was sitting under the table and fell asleep for an hour or so, dreaming of meteorites travelling from Mars to Earth and things; perhaps dreaming in the the middle or reading a book such as this isn't a bad idea, as the ideas get given a dry run through the imagination, which may help to establish whether they are realistic or not). One Russian friend of mine commented that popular science writers are likely to try and sensationalise their work in order to make it more exciting, and I suppose that I cannot really deny that this is a valid comment, but I wouldn't really agree with it straight away either. It seems that Paul Davies is really serious about his theories here, such as the chance that life was transported from Mars to Earth, (or even vice versa), via meteorites being launched into the cosmogony with extremophiles on board, (bacteria that can withstand extreme conditions). I have read another Paul Davies book in full also, (About Time), so I can say that someone who reads Paul Davies would not at all be disappointed by the writing quality in The Origin of Life, and the imagination with which Paul delivers his theories, (and other established theory), to the reader. Paul adopts the academic position name or "Astrobiologist" for this book, which fits the theme of the book perfectly; I don't know if he has always called himself an astrobiologist or if he sometimes refers to himself as an astronomer. I would wholly recommend this book.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Believable conjecture
13 Nov 2006
Format:Paperback
Any book purporting to explain the origin of life must depend on a certain amount of conjecture. The least we can expect is that this has a sound scientific base. Davies spends a considerable portion of the start of the book doing just this, in detailing the second law of thermodynamics (and the misconception that the origin of complex organized systems infringes this law - it would in a closed system, but in this case the system is open). He details the replication method well and suggests various possibilities for its origins: that RNA could have started out as the genome, that proteins self-replicated prior to RNA/DNA acting as genome (mad cow disease - BSE - is not a virus nor bacterium but a self-replicating protein !). Each case is presented as possibilities. As difficult as it is to say exactly "how" life began, it is increasingly accepted that it didn't start in little pools of the `primordial soup' but more likely in rocks deep underground. He presents the early earth as quite life-hostile and therefore suggests Mars as a more life-friendly environment 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago (the age of life) which seeded earth via meteorites carrying microbes. However, the book is much more than just this Martian theory (Davies seems to be labelled by this one aspect of his writing). Finally, he suggests that the adage "given the right circumstances life will happen" could lead to a fundamental law akin to gravity for matter, that biology is due to built-in laws. But, because this is edging towards some kind of `vitalism', most biologists would disagree. Instead, it is the laws of physics themselves that promote life-building. This is demonstrated by amino acid and peptide production...the sequencing is all down to interatomic forces that seem to `discriminate' between different sequences and favour those that promote life!! Amazing stuff. The book is very readable and doesn't get too technical.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
"Where We Come From".
2 Jun 2010
Format:Paperback
This is a very good scientific synopsis how the Universe was formed 4,65 billion years ago through the "Big Bang". Subsequent processes following formation of the Universe are also well explained : these leading to the formation of galaxies & stars from gas and dust. Professor Paul Davies goes at length explaining how life came about : "early life' probably started from Mars with basic uni-cellular forms/organisms, traveling to earth through/on "Asteriods" hitting the earth about 3 billion years ago when Mars was still compatible with life! He also deals with "Chicken or Egg Dilemma" rather well, concluding that the chicken probably came first! This is a very accessible book on the origin of the earth, life & Universe that is well written for the general public by a very knowlegable & respected scientist, a highly recommended reading.
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