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Reviewed in Mexico on November 1, 2024
Excelente libro.
Dennis R. Maccaskie
Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2023
Publishers are the lowest form of life on the planet, perhaps with a couple of exceptions.
Joe Conard
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2023
This book might be interesting but the eBook is a mess. No one edited it at all. Sentences cut off. text duplicated. Not worth buying.
WhateverEd
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2022
Dropped sentences, missing paragraphs, etc.. Got so bad I just gave up. I’m speaking of the kindle unlimited version - same issues on iOS kindle and kindle paperwhite.
Peroz
Reviewed in Germany on September 4, 2020
A fascinating account of the origin of life. Paul Davies writes about many different theories on the origin of life and has written of the best accounts on the idea of panspermia I know of. I also liked his detailed description of ancient Mars. The book arrived in a perfect condition.
PARTHA PRATIM DAS
Reviewed in India on April 16, 2019
The question of Origin of Life is something I have always pondered upon and in my venture to understand the problem I once read a few essays on the topic by Alexander Oparin and JBS Haldane. But when Oparin and Haldane wrote back in 1920s the topic was still at an incipient stage. Since then many significant findings have taken place and scientists are now more nearer to the ultimate truth then ever before. This book by Paul Davies dives deep into the past of a planet under formation-the protoEarth, seeking for Life's Origin, it discusses in length the possible pathways for the emergence of DNA- the miracle molecule which is the basis of all living beings on earth, the flooding of earth with necessary elements of life by comets from outer space. Davies spends a considerable time discussing the second law of thermodynamics to clear the misconception that a complex and organized system such as a Living Being violates this law; on the contrary life does follow the 2nd Law bringing about organization at the cost of increasing the entropy of the universe. A terrific idea suggested in the book is that given the right circumstances life will happen which is just like a body with mass being ruled by gravity, charged particles moving around according to the laws of electrodynamics, atomic particles being governed by quantum mechanics. So in a nutshell we as living creatures are not so special afterall.
Customer
Reviewed in Australia on July 15, 2016
I love all his books.
Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Fischer
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2016
This book is certainly only for scientists and very educated laypersons suitable.
Teemacs
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 9, 2013
"Those who can, do, those who can't, teach" wrote my countryman George Bernard Shaw somewhat unkindly. The communication of ideas to others in a comprehensible, interesting form is a skill all of its own. Here we have an example of someone who not only can do, but also can teach, a leading scientist with a gift of communicating ideas clearly and in an interesting manner. Some of the concepts are mind-blowing, but Professor Davies seems to have an innate capacity to realise how far to take things, so that he remains within the boundaries of the intelligent layman, without straying into the highly-technical area of the specialist, yet does not leave that layman feeling in any way short-changed or talked down to. He gives us a glimpse into fascinating worlds of scientific endeavour and thought, but is refreshingly candid in saying "we don't know", when we don't. All the possibilities, no matter how apparently bizarre, are given their say and subjected to rigorous examination.The origin of life remains a mystery, and may forever remain thus, and perhaps there are those who regard any sort of speculation as pointless. But that would be a denial of who we are, curious creatures driven by the urge to know and explore. Without that urge, we would no longer be human. This dazzling little book give full voice to that thirst for knowledge, into the most fundamental question of all. Highly recommended.
M. Mariba
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2010
This is a very good scientific synopsis how the Universe was formed 4,65 billion years ago through the "Big Bang". Subsequent processes following formation of the Universe are also well explained : these leading to the formation of galaxies & stars from gas and dust. Professor Paul Davies goes at length explaining how life came about : "early life' probably started from Mars with basic uni-cellular forms/organisms, traveling to earth through/on "Asteriods" hitting the earth about 3 billion years ago when Mars was still compatible with life! He also deals with "Chicken or Egg Dilemma" rather well, concluding that the chicken probably came first! This is a very accessible book on the origin of the earth, life & Universe that is well written for the general public by a very knowlegable & respected scientist, a highly recommended reading.
Mr. Lorcan Bermingham
Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2006
Any book purporting to explain the origin of life must depend on a certain amount of conjecture. The least we can expect is that this has a sound scientific base. Davies spends a considerable portion of the start of the book doing just this, in detailing the second law of thermodynamics (and the misconception that the origin of complex organized systems infringes this law - it would in a closed system, but in this case the system is open). He details the replication method well and suggests various possibilities for its origins: that RNA could have started out as the genome, that proteins self-replicated prior to RNA/DNA acting as genome (mad cow disease - BSE - is not a virus nor bacterium but a self-replicating protein !). Each case is presented as possibilities. As difficult as it is to say exactly "how" life began, it is increasingly accepted that it didn't start in little pools of the `primordial soup' but more likely in rocks deep underground. He presents the early earth as quite life-hostile and therefore suggests Mars as a more life-friendly environment 3.5 to 3.8 billion years ago (the age of life) which seeded earth via meteorites carrying microbes. However, the book is much more than just this Martian theory (Davies seems to be labelled by this one aspect of his writing). Finally, he suggests that the adage "given the right circumstances life will happen" could lead to a fundamental law akin to gravity for matter, that biology is due to built-in laws. But, because this is edging towards some kind of `vitalism', most biologists would disagree. Instead, it is the laws of physics themselves that promote life-building. This is demonstrated by amino acid and peptide production...the sequencing is all down to interatomic forces that seem to `discriminate' between different sequences and favour those that promote life!! Amazing stuff. The book is very readable and doesn't get too technical.
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