The Spark Of Life: Darwin And The Primeval Soup

by Christopher Wills, Jeffrey Bada

"A highly readable survey of the historical prelude to the study of the origins of life, as well as selected areas of current research, including the search for extraterrestrial life."-NatureWhere did we come from? Did life arise on earth or on some other planet? What did the earliest primitive organisms look like? Untangling a century of contentious debate, the authors explore current theories of the source of life-from Martian meteors to hydrothermal vents-and then present their own elegant scenario: Life arose not in the subterranean depths, as many believe, but on Earth's tumultuous surface, where a primitive form of natural selection spawned the first genetic material, perhaps in the form of a proto-virus. Knowing exactly how life began on Earth will not only teach us more about ourselves, it will bring us closer to finding life elsewhere.

Genres: Science, Biology, Evolution, Nonfiction, History

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Gary Dargan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very readable account of the possible origins of life on earth. It covers key points of the history of this question and gives a good and critical summary of the major theories. It looks at both possible terrestrial and extraterrestrial origins and discusses the possible composition of the primordial ocean and atmosphere and the chemical processes occurring in them. The possible nature of the pre-DNA and pre-RNA world is discussed along with the question of which came first, genes or metabolism? It also discusses the possibility of life on other worlds both in our solar system and on extra-solar planets. Here it is a little dated as many of the planetary probes discussed have been carried out or are ongoing since the book was published. The book provides a comprehensive introduction to the subject and excellent footnotes and bibliography give plenty of sources for further reading.

[Ricardo Moreno Mauro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Para los que esten interesados en la pregunta de cuál es el origen de la vida en la tierra, este libro les dará algunas respuestas. En un libro escrito en una linea intermeda para el público en general pero también útil para alguien que sabe más de biología (como es mi caso). Es muy ameno y revela varia anecdotas e historias. A traves de sus páginas encontraremos las diveras hipótesis que se han barajado para explicar la vida en la tierra, desde lo divino, hasta que la vida vino de otro planeta ¿Sómos lo únicos en el sistema solar? Se van a entretener y aprender mucho.


R.

[Brian · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very interesting topic but ultimately it wasn't clear how the author's views fit into the broader scientific understanding of the topic. The authors seemed more interested in pushing their own hypotheses than presenting their field to a general audience. This book might be very interesting for someone in the field that can compare these opinions against the conventional wisdom, but it's not really for someone just interested in learning and thinking about life's initiation.

[Jef · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big idea here is that organic chemicals developed complexity due to the tidal action of the young moon causing separation of the organics in the tidal flats in the young islands. This is basically a metabolism first idea with the nascent DNA-like molecules (PNA?) infecting the metabolism processes with replication.

[Betsy Curlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

An excellent book on the subject, but a tedious read.