Transformer

The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death

By: Nick Lane

Narrated by: Richard Trinder

Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins

Publisher's summary

For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight-how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise.

Lane is among the vanguard of researchers asking why the Krebs cycle, the "perfect circle" at the heart of metabolism, remains so elusive more than eighty years after its discovery. Transformer is Lane's voyage, as a biochemist, to find the inner meaning of the Krebs cycle-why it is still spinning at the heart of life and death today.

Transformer unites the story of our planet with the story of our cells-what makes us the way we are, and how it connects us to the origin of life. Enlivened by Lane's talent for distilling and humanizing complex research, Transformer is a must-listen for anyone fascinated by biology's great mysteries. Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.

©2022 Nick Lane (P)2022 Tantor

Excellent Exploration of the Krebs Cycle

If you love biochemistry and its relevance to understanding life and our place on this planet or even if you simply wish to contemplate how the dance of molecules might generate consciousness, then this is a must read!
The epilogue hints at what I hope will be the direction of Lane’s future writings. I recommend reading it before the rest of the book and then again at the end.

Great and interesting book, I learnt a lot

I really enjoyed this book; the reading was slow in the first two chapters (increasing the speed with 10% worked) but catched on after that.

I'm a little disappointed that the cool FAD small molecule is not mentioned in the electron transfers, FAD is really the electron donor in most cases not NADPH, the latter donates a hydride, while the FAD takes the hydride and split it into electrons and a proton.

A great story of life

I’m a computer scientist, physicist, and performing artist, and I found this book engaging and fascinating.

Great Book - Bad Reading

Nick Lane’s work is fascinating and insightful, but the reader’s performance makes listening to the book difficult. Instead of reading naturally, he halts on every other word. These interruptions make the audible version of the book unlistenable for me. It’s possible this reading style works well for others, but be forewarned that listening may not be a comfortable experience.

Best review of biochem explains origin of carbon based life

How life started, the roles of protons, water, proto-cells, vents, anaerobic life, oxygen, Krebs Cycle, Pentose Phosphate, acetyl-CoA, NADH, NADPH, flux, membranes, ATPases, cascades, electromotive force, steady states, non-equilibrium thermodynamics, potential energy, kinetic energy, molecular machines, mitochondria, aging, etc etc are all brought together in incredible coherency and clarity

Don’t miss out this essential book!

This is his s best book thus far! Despite my prior knowledge in the field and some disagreements with some of the author’s conclusions, this is a book that every scientist must read (or science buff). The author was able to explain each puzzle piece in order that when he connects it all to a larger picture, the reader will be in awe. Whether the day to day of a scientist that comes to a great discovery without recognition from his surroundings (can inspire and give hope in the darkest of times) or how the current knowledge especially in mitochondria is the essential key to explain many biological processes. A must have and read! (Thank you for this book)

Great Book for Geneticists and Microbiologists

This book was a little over my head, although the author's style and the narrator's voice drew me in to try the clouds eye view, and therefore I did get some grasp of the deep science of microbiology and genetics. AND a dislike of phages!

Great synthesis of important aspects of biochemistry.

It was a little tough for me in audio book format so I bought the book to allow me to review in more detail. Love the topic and the writing style.

Great book but a difficult audiobook

This one is better to read rather than listen to, the dense science requires merits re-reading multiple sentences, the rewind button doesn’t quite have the same impact.

Completely transformed my sense of being alive

I could only vaguely sense how the complicated biochemistry described by the author leads to glimpses into the possible chemical origins of life and all its complexity. [And by the way, he doesn’t dumb it down much for non-scientist readers (listeners) like me.] But I can no longer have quite the cavalier attitude to what I eat and do as I did before this book. The author’s descriptions of the transformations that must occur at the molecular level in our cells, that cause growth or death, have given me a new sense of astonishment about life itself. At the end, the author describes the transformations that he speculates might give rise to consciousness. I found it electrifying to learn and think about it all. And anyone who reads or listens to the book will appreciate the extra meaning in that description.