5 stars for the history, 2 stars for current theor

I am conflicted about this book. I was ready to give it 4 or 5 stars all the way until the last chapter. I was positive the authors would do a better job of explaining how life might have arisen at the hydrothermal vents.

Let me start with what was good about this book and then move onto some things I felt should have been addressed before publishing:

This book provides a history of science that is entirely focused on origin of life research. Since that is in the top two of my favorite things to read about, I was extremely excited about this book and remained so for the majority of the chapters. Focusing on origin of life studies allowed me to see various scientists in a different light. Their origin of life studies are usually a side story instead of the main event. But, in this book, the authors begin at ancient times and move forward, highlighting each person who became obsessed with explaining the origins of life. It was an extremely satisfying history. The authors were really on hard of Voltaire. His book Candide is my number one favorite book of all time. It was almost crushing to me to see Voltaire portrayed in such a poor light. However, I really understood where the authors were coming from and I delighted in learning new information about all the feuds that took place as various scientists battled it out to see whose hypothesis would be the one to explain where all life originated.

What I did not like about this book was that the authors sandwiched our best possible theory about the origin of life, the vent hypothesis, in between history (including primordial soup) and the RNA World.

They failed to explain why the RNA World and other hypotheses fail. There was not one mention of thermodynamics at the vents and very little focus on the natural acidic conditions which are capable of sending hydrogen through the rocky membrane to assemble amino acids, fatty acids, and DNA. There was no discussion of evolving channels capable of pumping Na+ so the cells could break free from the vents and populate the oceans. If you are looking for a proper explanation of Nick Lane, Mike Russle, and Bill Martin's work, this book is the wrong book for you. The authors don't seem to understand the hypothesis very well. In addition, when covering the RNA world, they never discussed how the theory needs to account for the energy needed to replicate. They tried to *sort of* mention it, but wow, they really messed up there. If a theory doesn't jive with the second law of thermodynamics, and if you cannot account for where the replication energy came from, then the theory is bad. Period. The authors only suggested the RNA World might explain origins of life. I am not suggesting they were sold on the idea. What I am suggesting is that they did not do nearly enough homework on the more current theories to have written a book about them.

The history gets 5 stars
The explanation of the current theories gets a 2

I cannot help but wonder how many stars Nick Lane would give this book.

For a better primer on the hydrothermal vent and RNA World hypotheses, you should read Adam Rutherford's Creation. It was exceptional and really makes Nick Lane's work easy to understand.

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22 people found this helpful

Excellent Experiences of Scientific Methods

This book walks through how science has and is evolving. Describing with real life stories of how sometimes one step forward, followed by two steps back led to a better understanding life.

One of my favorites.

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4 people found this helpful

Much broader scope than title suggests

A comprehensive, but totally understandable, review of the history and science to determine possible origins of life. It brings in a number of scientists we have all heard of, but with unfamiliar fascinating stories of their work and lives, as well as many important scientists not well known. It really makes clear the society and the scientific environment in which discoveries, false conclusions, steps backward, and steps forward were being made. The interesting lives and contributions of so many people involved, particularly Louis Pasteur, Leeuwenhoek, Darwin, and Hooke, as well as more modern scientists, expanded my appreciation and understanding of research on the topic. Philosophers of all ages are included with particularly interesting information on Voltaire. Even Julia Childs makes at least one appearance, along with popes John Paul II and Francis in this varied and comprehensive read. It was thoroughly enjoyable and can be appreciated by anyone regardless of their personal beliefs. I read and listen to a lot of scientific books and this is among the best.

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3 people found this helpful

A journey through history

Fascinating information and history of creation. This book was an excellent read for those who have an interest in the creation of life.

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3 people found this helpful

I would have paid for this book

Great story of the science/ philosophy of creation. Fast and interesting journey thru the centuries.

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2 people found this helpful

A must read.

The title makes it sounds like more of the same old discussion but it is not. Is the history of the people and the ideas on origin of life from the earliest to current research. The women and men who persisted against all odds to get us where we are today in this reserach. There is so much here that I just never knew. it was throughly enjoyable.

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1 person found this helpful

Very entertaining and informative.

The material here could be dry and dull but it is not. Very well researched, and presented in a more-or-less chronological order of events with the personalities and discoveries all important to the search for the origin of life. The interplay between the scientists of each generation and the religious as well as those who straddled that fence was well presented and the author refrained from being too judgemental in assessing people of different eras by our modern standards while demonstrating how each successive generation built upon the lessons of their predecessors. A great history of the science.

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Liked it a lot

You just don’t learn this kind of detail of people and how/why things happened in school. Really enjoyed the narrator also.

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Good

I enjoyed kearning about the history of creation and felt the narrative flowed well, I would recommend to people that enjoy science history.

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Excellent content and enjoyable listen

Wonderfully detailed discussion of the history of the development of the topic. Very entertaining listen.

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