Thoughts on the Origin of Life

Essays are a means of putting one's thoughts on paper. So this book reflects that now my thoughts, though still steeped deeply in science, tend mostly to religion. In the title essay, trying to make a case for the creation of the human soul, I felt it necessary to show my background knowledge of the relevant science. The same logic applies to the short essay on water, but I get more philosophical in the third essay about the difference between humans and other animals. My philosophy becomes more personal in the two essays on theological virtues and birth control. I hesitate to call the final item in this collection an essay, because it is largely a quote of my father's diary. However, I include it because of its relevance to current huge world problems with refugees and totalitarianism.

Radmila Boruvka Raikow was born in Prague. Her mother was still postpartum in a hospital when the Nazi's marched into that grand old city. After the war, her family, managed to escape from Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia and migrated to the USA. There, thanks to her family's support, she received a good education (crowned with a PhD in genetics from UC, Berkeley) and married a native-born American, a fellow student of science, with whom she had two children. She spent twenty five years in biological research, and in retirement has turned to popular writing. Her three publications (Heterosis, Where Is My Home and Mind Control) are short novels. This is her first non-fiction book.