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  1. Home
  2. Books
  3. Origins of Life
  • Cited by 180
  • 2nd edition
  • Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
August 2009
Print publication year:
1999
Online ISBN:
9780511546303
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511546303
Subjects:
Life Sciences, Evolutionary Biology, Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, and Structural Biology
Information

Book description

How did life on earth originate? Did replication or metabolism come first in the history of life? In this book, Freeman Dyson examines these questions and discusses the two main theories that try to explain how naturally occurring chemicals could organize themselves into living creatures. The majority view is that life began with replicating molecules, the precursors of modern genes. The minority belief is that random populations of molecules evolved metabolic activities before exact replication existed. Dyson analyzes both of these theories with reference to recent important discoveries by geologists and chemists. His main aim is to stimulate experiments that could help to decide which theory is correct. This second edition covers the enormous advances that have been made in biology and geology in the past and the impact they have had on our ideas about how life began. It is a clearly-written, fascinating book that will appeal to anyone interested in the origins of life.

Reviews

‘This is first class update of the first editon.’

Peter Mata Source: Spaceflight

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