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Title: The FIFTH MIRACLE: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life by Paul Davies ISBN: 0-684-86309-X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 16 March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (25 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Science Thriller Filled with Interesting Speculation
Comment: Paul Davies is a good writer because he recognizes that the best science topics yield more than one answer. This book explores several likely explanations for the origin of life. What is particularly interesting about Davies's coverage is that he sees life primarly as an information processing phenomenon. For the paradox of life becomes that it must be based upon a random pattern of information, but that pattern is not so random as to be chaotic and meaningless. Life walks the tightrope over the abyss of total disorder and below the ceiling of completely predictable information. Neither is suitable for life. The reader doesn't find any absolute answers here. But for a thought-provoking discussion on the meaning of what constitutes a living thing, the book does an excellent job.
Rating: 4
Summary: Lots of speculation
Comment: I learned a lot about the theory of how life first evolved from this book. The facts were very interesting (maybe because I have never taken a biology class before). The most interesting part was the experiment where a replicating (bacteria?) was evolved over 70+ generations to produce a more efficient organism. That is the most clear-cut example of evolution that I have ever seen. I did not know that the Pope endorsed evolution -- I wish there was a citation to back up that claim.
What surprises me is how little we know about the formation of a first ancestor. After reading The Elegant Universe (the best non-fiction book I have read since A Brief History of Time), I consider String Theory to be better supported than any theory presented on the origin of life. Towards the end, I felt as if there was not enough content to fill up the book and Davies was forced to speculate on other people's speculation. If chapter 10 and most of chapter 1 were removed, I might have rated this book higher.
Rating: 3
Summary: rather complete intro to abiogenesis and EB interface
Comment: It's a breezy introductory work by a person very much at the current heart of the debate, and as such is a good recommendation. The problem is that it is a popular book directed at the common reader, nothing difficult, nothing particularly new or stimulating. It is right at the interface of evolutionary biology and abiogenesis, as such would be a good entry level book for a high school student who would like to learn more about the broad subject material without being bogged down in the details of the controversies. He seems to hit all the important issues in the topic, shows that he has thought deeply about the subject material and is really interested in the reader getting the gist of the debate elements. The big advantage is completeness of coverage, the drawback is the shallowness of each chapter, where you really want to know more about what Davies has thought about.
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Title: Other Worlds by P. C. W. Davies ISBN: 0140138773 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: May, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Are We Alone?: Philosophical Implications of the Discovery of Extraterrestrial Life by P. C. W. Davies ISBN: 0465004199 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: August, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Lucifer's Legacy: The Meaning of Asymmetry by F. E. Close ISBN: 0198503806 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $27.50 |
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Title: How to Build a Time Machine by P. C. W. Davies ISBN: 0670030635 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 28 February, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Hole in the Universe: How Scientists Peered over the Edge of Emptiness and Found Everything by K. C. Cole ISBN: 015100398X Publisher: Harcourt Pub. Date: 25 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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