What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology Reprint Edition

by Addy Pross (Author)

219 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-0199687770

ISBN-10: 9780199687770

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What is Life?: How Chemistry Becomes Biology (Oxford Landmark Science)
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Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrodinger posed a profound question: 'What is life, and how did it emerge from non-life?' This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists ever since.

Living things are hugely complex and have unique properties, such as self-maintenance and apparently purposeful behaviour which we do not see in inert matter. So how does chemistry give rise to biology? What could have led the first replicating molecules up such a path? Now, developments in the
emerging field of 'systems chemistry' are unlocking the problem. Addy Pross shows how the different kind of stability that operates among replicating molecules results in a tendency for chemical systems to become more complex and acquire the properties of life. Strikingly, he demonstrates that
Darwinian evolution is the biological expression of a deeper, well-defined chemical concept: the whole story from replicating molecules to complex life is one continuous process governed by an underlying physical principle. The gulf between biology and the physical sciences is finally becoming
bridged.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Review from previous edition: "Addy Pross's growing sense of excitement is palpable in this lucid, thoughtful, and accessible exploration of the very foundations of that most exquisite and extraordinary property of matter, life." ―Peter Atkins

"Strikingly, [Pross] demonstrates that Darwinian evolution is the biological expression of a deeper and more fundamental chemical principle: the whole story from replicating molecules to complex life is one continuous coherent chemical process governed by a simple definable principle." ―GrrlScientist blog 5 October 2012

"A thoughtful and readable manifesto Pross gets high marks for his effort to demystify genesis and put chemistry in its place." ―Franklin M. Harold, Microbe, Volume 8 Number 3 2013

"A lively, intellectually stimulating examination of profound scientific and philosophic questions. It provides an intriguing and possibly plausible way to think about life and its origins. It provides much food for constructive thought." ―Chemical and Engineering News 17 June 2013

"A fascinating and insightful read. It has utility and enjoyment value to readers from a wide variety of backgrounds. Definitely food for thought." ―Niles Lehman, Trends in Evolutionary Biology 2013

"By formulating a new stability kind in nature, Addy Pross has uncovered the chemical roots of Darwinian theory, thereby opening a novel route connecting biology to chemistry and physics. This book is more than worth readingit stirs the readers mind and paves the way toward the birth of further outstanding ideas." ―Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry

"[ What is Life?] is a stimulating and thought-provoking read, and provides a sound chemical framework for considering the various theories and strands of research directed towards understanding the ultimate question - what is life?" ―Chemistry World 01/06/2013

About the Author

Addy Pross received a Ph.D in Organic Chemistry from Sydney University in 1970. He is currently a Professor of Chemistry at Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, and a recognized authority in the area of chemical reactivity to which he contributed with the highly cited and acclaimed
Pross-Shaik model of chemical reactivity. He has held visiting positions in many universities word-wide, including the University of Lund, Stanford University, Rutgers University, University of California at Irvine, University of Padova, the Australian National University Canberra, and Sydney
University. He has served on the editorial board of chemical and biological journals and a variety of academic management boards. In recent years he has directed his attention to the biological arena where he has applied his expertise in chemical reactivity to the Origin of Life problem and the
broader question of the problematic chemistry-biology interface.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0199687773
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; Reprint edition (April 1, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 200 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9780199687770
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199687770
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.7 x 0.6 x 5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #542 in Molecular Biology (Books)
- #1,669 in Biology (Books)

Customer Reviews:
219 ratings

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Top reviews from the United States

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skepticart

Does not definitely explain how chemistry becomes biology

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2020

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The book fails to demonstrate how chemistry can become biology. The book laboriously plods through all the possible avenues of research to somehow reveal how the living DNA molecule could have emerged from an abiogenic molecule through chemical reactions. He references research where the DNA molecule can replicate through catalytic reaction in a carefully prepared solvent. But the emergence of life through a DNA molecule in a living cell is more complex than a chemical catalytic process. The perplexing question is trying to define life. A living cell must be able to metabolize food into energy, replicate itself and pass on his genetic structure to its offspring. How does it coordinate these complex activities which are together more complex than the individual chemical reactions? Other life origin research attributes these living activities to a semiotic mechanism which is basically an elaborate algorithm or computer program which choreographs the delicate but elaborate individual reactions that results in life. Where does the life activating software come from? Where does the semiotic mechanism reside in the DNA molecule chain of base pairs? If the DNA molecule were a car the author explains how the engine works and how the transmission works. But he does not explain the enabling process by which the car starts and then propels the car by a driver with a purpose. Can a “Grand Designer” be discounted?

2 people found this helpful

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Jeffrey W. Rudisel

THE MOMENT LIFE BEGAN

Reviewed in the United States on April 17, 2015

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This is a book about abiogenesis; how chemical auto-catalytic replicating molecules developed metabolism (energy gathering abilities) and complexification in it's continuing "drive" toward Dynamic Kinetic Stability, and gradually became what we today call biology.

There is a good deal of enlightenment here.
As chemistry merges into biology.
Enticing insights and illumination on the topic of the abiogenesis of Earth life.
Very worthwhile.
A very illuminating and fascinating and persuading way of describing what we know about life's processes and emergence from chemical reactions.

Dynamic Kinetic Stability. Persistence.
Replication. Metabolism (Energy gathering capabilities).
Complexification. Reaction Networks Formation.
Systems Chemistry.

"A working definition of life: a self-sustaining kinetically stable dynamic reaction network derived from the replication reaction."

"The moment some non-metabolic (downhill) replicator acquired an energy-gathering capability, could be thought of as the moment that life began."

9 people found this helpful

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Marcelo Scofano Diniz

Amazing

Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2017

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The work is very well based and argued. Some people say that is repetitive, but it is the way of Inductive Reasoning.
Having saying that, I recommend that before read it, read Lynn Margulis (all), Kevin Kelly (What Techium wants and Bootstrapping Complexity), Harold Morowitz (The emergency of Everything); probably it's worth to read too Steven Strogatz (Sync) and Sean Caroll (Serengeti Rules) too.
After this, although none author referred by him, you will better appreciate the deep impact of these insights here exposed.

10 people found this helpful

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Mike

Interesting Yet Unsatisfying

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2017

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As a chemist, I was fascinated by the central theme of this book. Without spoiling it, the basic idea is a unification of the biological and chemical sciences, explaining both in terms of a chemical effect. The book is a bit too wordy for my taste and its central concept, dynamic kinetic stability, seems under-developed. The author cites systems chemists haphazardly, which causes the central argument of the book to rest on shaky foundations (to say the least).

8 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Read This

Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2017

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Mr. Pross lays out an intriguing and rational argument regarding the origin of life while raising questions (albeit not necessarily new) concerning just where an organism ends.

I originally picked this up as an Audible book, but found I that there were some sections I wanted to jump to, so I picked up the Kindle version for the WhisperSync mostly for the ability to add in annotations and make it easier to review the sections that I needed more time to wrap my head around.

5 people found this helpful

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Wes Knowles

This is a very good book. Life he defines as having purpose I ...

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2016

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This is a very good book. Life he defines as having purpose I agree. Evolution is a fact as much as a such things in the past can possibly be proven. Similarly, we evolved from the same primitive life forms that all life on this planet arose from. However, his proof that purpose is an emergent property falls very short. The origins of life are still a huge mystery. Like the origins of the universe which also seems to have a purpose, the origins of life may lie outside of sciences' capabilities. It is good, even imperative that we try to search and research for the answers to these questions regardless that we may not be able to find them. Addy Pross' book is another step in the right direction.

4 people found this helpful

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Leonel Lerebours Nadal PSR-03294

Perspectives to explain why we exist

Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2019

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The purpose of the author is to try to answer the life question from the perspective of physical and chemical behavior of life. He tries to bridge the gap between these two worlds by citing and quoting a lot of the brilliant work done by many scientists that had the same curiosity about what is life. This book can be very inspiring for somebody who wants to write about sci-fi using real science. After reading this book, I'm s sure now that the puzzle of life is far from being solve but what we know now is more amazing than anything. We should invest more in this topic as humans.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Anthony Webb

Armchair philosophy book, no insights contained within

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 29, 2019

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The question posed by the title of this book is one of the great current questions of our time. Having now finished the book I can confirm that no insights are provided, and nothing new is said. It reads like the vanity project of an armchair philosopher who enjoys framing questions eloquently and at length, but makes no real attempt at answering them.

To save you the trouble of trawling through the text I will quote the author's conclusion: "life on earth emerged through the enormous kinetic power of the replication reaction acting on unidentified, but simple replicating systems, apparently... RNA or RNA like, capable of mutation and complexification." This statement is not sufficient justification for a book. It is barely sufficient justification for a paragraph...

I gave it two stars rather than one, because part of my disappointment with this book probably lies with my own dashed hopes of reading something constructive.

6 people found this helpful

Serghiou Const

A speculative but coherent overview on the emergence of life

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2018

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The book though speculative, is logically consistent, it builds its case methodically, documented in experimental results while its argumentation is tightly knit.

The effort of the author is is to show that the hasm separating chemistry and biology is bridgeable, that Darwinian theory can be integrated into a more general theory of matter, and that biology is just chemistry, in particular what is termed systems chemistry or replicative chemistry.

The hasm rests in that the material world can, in some sense, is subdivided into two parallel worlds obeying different rules - the 'regular' chemical and the replicative world. Transformations in the 'regular' world are governed by the Second Law of Thermodynamics expounded by Boltzmann whereby chemical reactions will only proceed if they are downhill in a thermodynamic sense such that less stable reactants are converted into more stable products, meaning that they have increased entropy or lower energy. In the replicating world, we witness stability over time which refers to the population of replicators that is stable. We call the kind of stability associated with replicating systems as dynamic kinetic stability (DKS) and relates to the emergence of complex, high-energy, far-from-equilibrium systems which are maintained through continuous energy supply and consequently there is no overriding of the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

But how abiogenesis proceeded? Th author offers a reasonable argumentation.

Molecular self-replication of template-like molecules is an established chemical reaction and is kinetically unique. Being auto catalytic, self-replication can lead to to dramatic exponential amplification of that template like molecule until resources ( building blocks from which the chain is composed) are exhausted.

But what happens with a two-molecule, say, RNA system? in a two-molecule RNA system, each molecule was not making copies of itself. Rather, one RNA molecule was inducing the formation of the other, while the other molecule was inducing the formation of the first. In chemistry, we call that cross-catalysis, each RNA molecule was catalyzing the formation of the other.

And finally, what about a many RNA sequences system? The author provides computer modelling of evolutionary changes in a many RNA sequences system which shows that it is not the fittest sequence that is being selected for but the fittest population of sequences-quasespecies- that is selected for. In other words, evolution operates by selecting out improved fitness in a population sense than in an individual sense - heterogeneous populations evolve more effectively than homogeneous ones. The message is clear: the essence of stability in the world of replicators is rooted in populations not individuals. Evolution is a process the populations undergo not individuals. So the more complex system is self-replicating but in a more complex way - each component of the system is not replicating individually, but the system as a whole is replicating. The distinction is important because holistic replication is the norm in biology; that is what cells do when they replicate - the system as a whole makes copies of itself, as opposed to any individual component within the cell copying itself. And this is so because it is the more efficient way.

Evolution in biology is normally associated with the causal sequence: replication, mutation, selection, evolution. The missing link is complexification. The sequence should read: replication, mutation, complexification, selection, evolution and this is true for both the chemical and biological phases.

The book was written in 2011 but the present edition was published in 2016. An epilogue covering the intervening period through 2015 suggests that the approach can be extended. We are beginning to see that biology's roots go deeper than chemistry, reaching into physics, mathematics and even logic. Remarkably, life can now be understood as being a logical/mathematically based phenomenon, not merely some inexplicable empirical reality.

4 people found this helpful

EvUnderwood

Appears to be a wonderful book but the first few pages are missing !

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 14, 2020

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This paperback copy (mistakenly) begins on page xi and so I've read the first few page of the prologue via the "look inside" feature on amazon. This is mildly irritating because although it is not the body of the book, the prologue was a charming, funny, and insightful introduction which I would have liked to have (physically). With that said, I'm still thoroughly excited to continue reading this gem !!

Harrovian

Life for physicists

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 30, 2021

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With my first degree involving physics and chemistry, the difference between living and dead matter was totally obscure to me. With Addy's book, it's certainly not entirely clear, but I feel it's within grasp...

John Moran FRGS

Being alive is no random event. You were meant to be here, and for a purpose!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2019

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For me, this proved to be a seminal work, echoing Einstein's comment: 'What is really incomprehensible about the Universe, is that somehow we can comprehend it '. How is it, that each cell in our body knows more about us, than we can learn in a lifetime? Addy Pross shows that scientific thinking is converging to explore this enigma of existence.

One person found this helpful

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