The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

by Pier Luigi Luisi

The origin of life from inanimate matter has been the focus of much research for decades, both experimentally and philosophically. Luisi takes the reader through the consecutive stages from prebiotic chemistry to synthetic biology, uniquely combining both approaches. This book presents a systematic course discussing the successive stages of self-organisation, emergence, self-replication, autopoiesis, synthetic compartments and construction of cellular models, in order to demonstrate the spontaneous increase in complexity from inanimate matter to the first cellular life forms. A chapter is dedicated to each of these steps, using a number of synthetic and biological examples. With end-of-chapter review questions to aid reader comprehension, this book will appeal to graduate students and academics researching the origin of life and related areas such as evolutionary biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics and natural sciences.

Genres: Biology, Science, Chemistry, Nonfiction, Evolution

332 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Manny]

I loved Iris Fry's The Emergence of Life on Earth, but I need a second opinion. Ordered.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a science book and talks about science theory and berates discussion of Intelligent Design as if it is creationism. That said, it also is based on the Beliefs that Origin of Life research was on a pathway to replicate a minimal cell Any day now... the book is from 2006 and in 2024 we're now much farther from that goal rather than nearer. The ideas that even the lipid bilayer of a cell is the Easy part are a farse. The cell biology of 2024 tells us the pores of the cell are extremely complex and work with the cell apparatus to maintain it's integrity and transmit signals to its extracellular neighbor.
IMO this book is another relic of poor notions of biology at the time of writing. And new study of virus indicate that non-cellular life must also be consider.
Those interested in Origin of Life may want to read this just to gain its historic perspective.

[Aloysius · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kinda heavy if your biochemistry it's not that fresh, but it´s really well documented. From the origin of proteins, amino acids, membranes, nucleic acids, organelles and all that tasty stuff that must exist first to create a single cell.

SPOILER ALERT
No, it doesn't conclude on how life began, but, it set a lot of conditions and principles that must be present when biological life began.

[Vish Wam · Rating 3 out of 5]

No one ever knows how life originated. No one ever knows why certain organic compounds are present in living organisms, while some are never found. No one ever knows why life must originate at all. Maybe, we ll never know. But the book clearly sets the platform for a neat argument. It brings out every major theory that exists, and clearly tells us whats missing with each. Its sets forth a good consensus on what each school of thought must do to prove their theory right.
Though it reads rather like an academic text, the book has threaded together interesting arguments coherently, providing good schematics and tables wherever and needed, making it easier for any average undergraduate to follow.
There may be many books that discuss on the same theme but this one is surely engaging. Whats special is that it proceeds more like an investigation of the problem- with the many theories and facts in hand.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone curious about what life is, and how it originated.

[Tracy Black · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Emergence of Life was pretty technical, but Luisi's writing style lightened it up considerably. I'm not in the field, and the book was still accessable to me. I was suprised to see so little space devoted to nucleic acids. They were not on thier usual pedestal here. Chapter 8 on autopoiesis was very interesting. I'd never heard of this concept before and would like to read more. Overall an enjoyable read.

[Genti Mingla · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book, but a bit too technical.