Life Ascending

The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution

De: Nick Lane

Narrado por: Graeme Malcolm

Where does DNA come from? What is consciousness? How did the eye evolve? Drawing on a treasure trove of new scientific knowledge, Nick Lane expertly reconstructs evolution's history by describing its 10 greatest inventions - from sex and warmth to death - resulting in a stunning account of nature's ingenuity.

©2010 Nick Lane (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Reseñas de la Crítica

• Royal Society Prize for Science Books, 2010

"Original and awe-inspiring . . . an exhilarating tour of some of the most profound and important ideas in biology." (New Scientist)

“For about 150 years, we have known how species evolve. The emergency of life itself remains more obscure. But as Lane shows with clarity and vigor in Life Ascending, fascinating studies on the subject abound.” ( The New York Times Book Review)

“In this wonderful book….Lane does a masterful job of explaining the science….” ( Publishers Weekly)

Captivating

Great depth, wonderful explanation, I quite enjoyed the descriptor level, historical guidance, character sketches, and scientific defense.

technical but enlightening

The most technical of the many science/biology books I've read to date--not for those who hated biology class.

It was particularly good on the theories origins of life/DNA, photosynthesis, and eukaryotic cells. Not so great on consciousness (I think it's hard to make a case that that is one of the greatest "inventions" of evolution from the overall picture of life) and death (really a chapter about how we can avoid the degenerations/infirmations of old age--SPOILER: eat less).

I thought I had, at last, a science book that doesn't try to persuade us that evolution is true but, alas, in the final chapter the author made his pitch. It was a powerful one, though, so I'll excuse it.

Definitely moments where I started to drift off but, overall, this is a good read for those who love biology.

excellent

Any additional comments?

Lane provides an excellent and enjoyable narrative. It contains interesting and informative facts on evolution and genes in an easily understood manner.

Far reaching consequences

The way single events have impacted our world is explained beautifully by the author. The book was quite technical at times but surely very informative.

Brilliant writing + lapses of impenetrable writing

In its best moments, this book is beautiful and actually quite funny, delivered just right by Graeme Malcolm's wizardly British accent. It felt like hanging out with Newton in his study, listening to him reveal the secrets of the world.

And then, in moments, Lane seems to give up on any pretence of speaking to a wider audience, using terminology few outside of biology will follow. I found it baffling, because elsewhere, he takes such care to explain things in terms anyone could grasp. It's unclear to me whether he truly didn't realize what concepts others wouldn't know, or whether he just got lazy in places. From reading reviews of his other books, this seems to be an ongoing problem he has.

Unfortunately, these moments are most common in the earlier chapters, when he's discussing metabolism, the origin of life and photosynthesis. My advice? Just let the tangled bits glide past you, because there is a TON of fascinating material throughout the book, and the latter chapters offer few hiccups.

I do absolutely recommend this book, despite the caveats. Learning about the origin of life alone was worth the price, and the chapter on eyes is brilliant. The section on consciousness is also a nice speculative bonus.