This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.

20 used & new from £0.01
See All Buying Options

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Tell a Friend
The Secret of Life
 
See larger image
 
The Secret of Life (Paperback)
by Paul McAuley (Author)
3.6 out of 5 stars  (8 customer reviews)

Availability: Available from these sellers.

20 used & new available from £0.01
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover 26 used & new from £1.70
 
   

Product details
  • Paperback: 528 pages
  • Publisher: Voyager (3 Sep 2001)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0006513301
  • ISBN-13: 978-0006513308
  • Product Dimensions: 17.6 x 10.6 x 3.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  (8 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 759,939 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)
    (Publishers and authors: Improve Your Sales)
  • Other Editions: Hardcover  |  All Editions


Product Description
Synopsis
It's 2025 and the Earth is irreparably damaged. Then a miracle. Scientists at the Chinese Martian base have discovered the 'Chi' - an active micro-organism several kilometres below the surface. It has super evolved and is able to swap DNA at will, maximizing its survival whatever the environment.

From the Author
A brief article about the inspiration for The Secret of Life
A few years ago, the front page of just about every newspaper in the world had the same real-life science fictional headline: Life on Mars! Not some ancient canal-building civilisation, nor even hardy lichens hugging the sunny side of some deep equatorial canyon, but a scattering of tiny carbonate specks with associated smears of organic material deep inside a very old rock, and what could be the fossilised remains of incredibly tiny bacteria.

The rock was a meteorite, designated ALH84001, collected in the Allen Hills region of Antarctica. A major asteroid impact knocked it off the surface of Mars 16 million years ago; 13,000 years ago it intersected Earth's orbit, and fell onto Antarctica; in 1984 its small black potato shape was spotted during a NASA sampling project. Then microscopic examination spotted ovoid and elongated shapes in and on carbonate deposits inside ALH84001, similar to certain types of bacteria found in deep bore holes.

Life on Mars!

Well, possibly.

After all the fuss died down, closer examination suggested that the fossil 'bacteria' might be no more inorganic crystalline deposits, and that the organic deposits in ALH84001 might be due to contamination after the meteorite hit the Antarctic icecap.

The jury is still out.

But suppose that there once was life on Mars. Four billion years ago, inner solar system bodies, including Mars, were undergoing intense meteoritic bombardment. Perhaps at that time many life-bearing Martian meteorites fell to Earth. Perhaps that life flourished here, while life on Mars retreated to a last stronghold. What would happen if, four billion years later, astronauts brought back Martian life which shares a common ancestor with life on Earth?

That was the seed of The Secret of Life, told from the point of view of a scientist who has chosen to work outside the mainstream of the scientific establishment. I know a little bit about scientists and their culture -- I was a research scientist for more than twenty years before I became a full-time writer -- and it has always seemed to me that this important segment of human endeavour has been under- represented in fiction. The novel is set a little way into the future, and travels to Mars and back, but every bit of it is as real as I could make it. I hope you enjoy the ride. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Tag this product

 ( What's this?)
Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.
Your tags: Add your first tag
Search Products Tagged with
 

 

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews
5 star: 50%  (4)
4 star:    (0)
3 star: 12%  (1)
2 star: 37%  (3)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars McAuley can do better than this, 16 Oct 2001
By A Customer
I expected more from mcAuley; there are passages in this book that are brilliantly written, and the central premise of earth being polluted by an alien virus is good; but long stretches of biologist-scientific jargon make hard reading, the premise isn't taken any further it sort of peters out and even so promising a set-pipece as a trip to and from Mars leaves you feeling a bit nonplussed. If this is your first Macauley then I'd say that theres much more to this fine writer than this book.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? YesNo (Report this)



 
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars To Mars And Back Again, 29 Jul 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Secret of Life (Hardcover)
Paul J. Macauley is a fascinating writer, not only for his ideas and characters but also for a certain rough-hewn quality that allows a glimpse his book's internals. TSOL is his most polished novel so far and only really suffers from a sudden ending which could have done with an epilogue of some kind.

As I was reading I had a certain irritation with the heroine, Mariella Anders, she seemed too intelligent yet occasionally plain daft and ,dare I say this, had too much background. In fact Macauley plays a deft game of giving us interesting snippets of her past throughout the book. This can be annoying but as the book finishes it really pays off.

I also felt the sex balance was off-kilter intially but with the Firstborn Crisis taken into account and a neat plot twist at the end I realised all the characters had to be just as they were.