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The Fifth Miracle: Search for the Origins of Life (Allen Lane Science)

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The Fifth Miracle: Search for the Origins of Life (Allen Lane Science) (Hardcover)

by P. C. W. Davies (Author)

4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Product details

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Allen Lane (3 Sep 1998)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0713992158
ISBN-13: 978-0713992151
Product Dimensions: 24.2 x 18 x 2.8 cm

Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,055,877 in Books (See Bestsellers 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

Product Description

Reveals the new theories and discoveries that seem set to transform our understanding of life's role in the cosmos. Davies examines the evidence suggesting that the first organisms lived deep underground and that microbes carried inside rocks have travelled between Earth and Mars.

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5 Reviews

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4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The mystery of life in a meteorite, 23 Mar 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fifth Miracle: Search for the Origins of Life (Penguin Press Science) (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.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mind opening and very facinating, 26 April 2001

By	manji_kerai@hotmail.com (London, UK.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Fifth Miracle: Search for the Origins of Life (Penguin Press Science) (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.

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1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Life might be on Mars - the facts, 5 Nov 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Fifth Miracle: Search for the Origins of Life (Penguin Press Science) (Paperback)

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. Paul Davies wants to convince us - not that life does exist on Mars, and life forms do roam all over universe on stray asteroids - but that it could be true. That's fine with me. So along with dozens of "could be"s and "might be"s we actually get a lot of real science on the way. What sparked off life? If you are interested, read this book, but don't expect the answer.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars 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

Published 7 months ago by David Beard

5.0 out of 5 stars 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 21 months ago by Some Customer

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