Life's Origin: The Beginnings of Biological Evolution

by J. William Schopf

Always a controversial and compelling topic, the origin of life on Earth was considered taboo as an area of inquiry for science as recently as the 1950s. Since then, however, scientists working in this area have made remarkable progress, and an overall picture of how life emerged is coming more clearly into focus. We now know, for example, that the story of life's origin begins not on Earth, but in the interiors of distant stars. This book brings a summary of current research and ideas on life's origin to a wide audience. The contributors, all of whom received the Oparin/Urey Gold Medal of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life, are luminaries in the fields of chemistry, paleobiology, and astrobiology, and in these chapters they discuss their life's understanding the what, when, and how of the early evolution of life on Earth. Presented in nontechnical language and including a useful glossary of scientific terms, Life's Origin gives a state-of-the-art encapsulation of the fascinating work now being done by scientists as they begin to characterize life as a natural outcome of the evolution of cosmic matter.

Genres: Science, Evolution, Biology, Ebooks

224 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ella Catherall · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book managed to perfectly balance depth and complexity with easy-to-read explanation. This is one of the first kinda PopSci books I’ve read that I’ve come out of feeling like I have a genuine grasp of the basics of a field, rather than just fun facts.

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about how we got from a mist of Hydrogen and Helium at 300 million years after the big bang, to advanced life as we know it.

The first chapter, "Historical Understanding of Life's Beginnings" by John Oró, gives an overview of this process, and then surprised me by telling the story of the Apollo astronauts seeing how small and fragile earth was surrounded by the immense voids of space, and feeling a massive sense of brotherhood and shit. It concludes with some "ethical principles derived from a better understanding of the cosmos", that brought to mind the first time I saw the Milkyway and slept under the stars, and felt like a speck of dust in a vast and amazing universe:

"1. Humility: The life of all cells descends from simple molecules.
2. Solidarity: Our genes have a common origin
3. Co-operation: We live on a resource-limited planet.
4. Hope: Someday we may communicate with more advanced civilizations.
5. Universality: We come from stardust and to stardust we shall return.
6. Peace: We should change our culture of war into a culture of peace.
7. Golden Rule: We should treat others are we would like them to treat us."