The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

By addebook • Jun 25th, 2008 • Category: Biology

The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology

The Emergence of Life: From Chemical Origins to Synthetic Biology
By Pier Luigi Luisi

Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Number Of Pages: 332
Publication Date: 2006-07-17
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0521821177
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780521821179
Binding: Hardcover

The origin of life from inanimate matter has been the focus of much research for decades, both experimentally and philosophically. Luisi takes the reader through the consecutive stages from prebiotic chemistry to synthetic biology, uniquely combining both approaches. This book presents a systematic course discussing the successive stages of self-organisation, emergence, self-replication, autopoiesis, synthetic compartments and construction of cellular models, in order to demonstrate the spontaneous increase in complexity from inanimate matter to the first cellular life forms. A chapter is dedicated to each of these steps, using a number of synthetic and biological examples. With end of chapter review questions to aid reader comprehension, this book will appeal to graduate students and academics researching the origin of life and related areas such as evolutionary biology, biochemistry, molecular biology, biophysics and natural sciences.

Summary: Great book by a true scholar!
Rating: 5

Pier Luigi Luisi is well known for his scholarly work in astrobiology, the field that studies origins of life on Earth and possibly Mars and other extraterrestrial objects. Prof. Luisi’s work has always been on the forefront of the field, full of creativity, and elegantly presented. Prof. Luisi is always fair in giving credit to others. His papers are written in a balanced way. He never overstates his case.

So, Prof. Luisi is a great scientist. But this does not guarantee a good book, or even less a good textbook. I was very curious how he has performed in those areas.

Prof. Luisi performed brilliantly. I have found that his coverage of the material is superb, presented in a balanced scholarly way, and yet presented in an engaging manner, written beautifully. The boxes with summaries are helpful, as are the questions for the readers at the end of each chapter. The reference section is excellent. All the references have titles, which is helpful for deciding on the potential follow up.

It is clear that Prof. Luisi wrote this book to teach the readers, and in the process he made a superb reading. The readers should have a general scientific background to benefit the most from this book. If you are a college teacher, you may wish to use this book as a textbook in teaching an astrobiology course or a module.

Why should you read this book? In my opinion it is important for the readers to learn about the origins of life on Earth and possibly on Mars, since we are now in the middle of the most exciting missions by NASA and other space agencies that are dedicated to these topics

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