What Is Life?

How Chemistry Becomes Biology

By: Addy Pross

Narrated by: Derek Perkins

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Seventy years ago, Erwin Schrdinger posed a simple, yet profound, question: What is life?. How could the very existence of such extraordinary chemical systems be understood? This problem has puzzled biologists and physical scientists both before, and 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? Did life begin with replicating molecules, and, if so, 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 entities results in a tendency for certain 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 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.

Download the accompanying reference guide.

©2012, Addy Pross (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Very capable theory of life developed here.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely, if you're very interested in life origin that is. It was a slow boil with the last two chapters carrying the best content.

Which scene was your favorite?

I was constantly impressed to learn how much has been discovered about the replicating behavior of DNA.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The winding explanation of the difficult (to me) concept of dynamic stability which is responsible for the increasing complexity in living systems was gratifying and very substantive.

Any additional comments?

This book feels current and far ahead of any thing I had previously learned about the subject.

Smart idea, poorly expressed

Important and thought-provoking thesis, but the prose is turgid and self-indulgent. Needs editor or probably a co-author.

excellent book, make's me want to read it again.

there's so much information on everything single topic of life imaginable, in love with this book.

An accessible layman’s into to molecular biology

This is an accessible layman’s into to molecular biology with excellent examples opening up life’s mysterious roots in the emergence of order from the “molecular storm.“

What are the chances?

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes.

Have you listened to any of Derek Perkins’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I don't believe I have but would again. I was pleased with his work.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't really have any 'extreme' reactions to the book.

Any additional comments?

I'm one of those persons that always believed that extraterrestrial life in all forms is far more likely than not likely. After listening to the facts that this book puts fourth I understand more now how so many circumstances must come together for this to work. But since it did happen in the past (i'm here) it still can happen. I hope so. I don't want us to be alone in the universe.

CHEMISTRY OF LIFE

The chemistry of life takes on new meaning in the book, “What is Life?”. Chemistry professor and author Addy Pross argues that two RNA strands meet in a primordial swamp, replicate themselves and, over time, create the complexity of life. Pross believes the origin of life can be explained and scientifically proven by “systems chemistry”. Pross chooses to classify his explanation as “ahistorical” for two reasons. One, it is historically and therefore scientifically impossible to recreate the environment of life’s origin. (This is a true statement of any historical event but particularly a history that goes back 4.5 billion years.) And two, there is no way of knowing the location of life’s beginnings. If one cannot recreate or locate, Pross chooses to speculate. In fairness, Pross supports his speculation with some chemical science experiments that reinforce his belief.

Pross uses everyday examples to help explain a chemical theory of the origin of life. For a non-scientist, Pross artfully explains his belief in the origin of life. One might think–so what?

Pross is saying biology is merely a subset of chemistry. For one thing, his view of chemistry opens a field of research that offers a first stage event (two strands of a duplicating and metabolizing factoid) that could create artificial intelligence that competes with a life we think we know. Whether it is correct or not remains for others to prove. Pross, like all adherents of science has supporters and detractors. (For a critical analysis see Dutch biologist–Gert Korthof’s publication dated 10/6/14.)

Great popular-ish science book!

This is one of the best of the popular science books that I've read (and I read a lot of them!). Just enough background to get most people oriented (first chapters are rather basic), but going pretty deep into some more technical systems and ideas later on.

The greatest thing about the book is the noble restraint used in not getting super "humanistic" like many of these books do. The author did not seem to feel super obligated to defend how this view maintains our morality or other human characteristics that some science authors so often do.

One complaint from a philosophically minded person, is that, as is also often the case in theses discussions, the terms "we" or "you" are used wantonly, making a rather blatant equivocation between the human entity and the individual's concept of self. This problem creates all sorts of false paradoxes that we really shouldn't be dealing with at this stage in the dialog.

Great book though and nice summation of the incremental movement toward a more useable concept of life and of evolution.

Enlightening lecture

The narrator was captivating, the material intriguing, I hope there's more. Books like this are a continuum to the learning experience.

Interesting explanation of life and the state of biology

A bit heavy slogging for an interested lay person and the reading is a bit flat. Worth the time though

Wow!!!!

Wonderful teacher. Wonderful material. Wonderful reader. Can’t be read while distracted. Be prepared to see the world in a different way!