Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life - Hardcover

De Duve, Christian

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 052184195X ISBN 13: 9780521841955

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Erwin Schrödinger's What is Life? published 60 years ago, influenced much of the development of molecular biology. In this new book Christian De Duve, Nobel Laureate and pioneer of modern cell biology, presents a contemporary response to this classic, providing a sophisticated consideration of the key steps or bottlenecks that constrain the origins and evolution of life. De Duve surveys the entire history of life, including insights into the conditions that may have led to its emergence. He uses as landmarks the many remarkable singularities along the way, such as the single ancestry of all living beings, the universal genetic code, and the monophyletic origin of eukaryotes. The book offers a brief guided tour of biochemistry and phylogeny, from the basic molecular building blocks to the origin of humans. Each successive singularity is introduced in a sequence paralleling the hypothetical development of features and conditions on the primitive earth, explaining how and why each transition to greater complexity occurred.

About this title

Book Description:

In this new book Christian De Duve, Nobel Laureate and pioneer of modern cell biology, presents a contemporary response to Erwin Schrodinger's classic What is Life? providing a sophisticated consideration of the key steps or bottlenecks that constrain the origins and evolution of life.

Review:

"This book is unquestionably for serious students of biology, biochemistry, and evolution, but anyone willing to work through the details will find a logical tour de force and a powerful illustration of the beauty of evolution."
Choice

"This volume is well written and readable, and I enjoyed de Duve's unique perspective on this difficult topic, which is invariably multidisciplinary...Singularities is an excellent book, and recommended reading for anyone interested in the fundamental questions of life and its origins."
The Quarterly Review of Biology, S.Blair Hedges, Pennsylvania State University

"... lucid and superbly organized..."
BioScience

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 052184195X
• ISBN 13: 9780521841955
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 274