Ebook275 pages6 hours
How Life Began: Evolution's Three Geneses
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
()
About this ebook
The origin of life is a hotly debated topic. The Christian Bible states that God created the heavens and the Earth, all in about seven days roughly six thousand years ago. This episode in Genesis departs markedly from scientific theories developed over the last two centuries which hold that life appeared on Earth about 3.5 billion years ago in the form of bacteria, followed by unicellular organisms half a millennia later. It is this version of genesis that Alexandre Meinesz explores in this engaging tale of life's origins and evolution.
How Life Began elucidates three origins, or geneses, of life—bacteria, nucleated cells, and multicellular organisms—and shows how evolution has sculpted life to its current biodiversity through four main events—mutation, recombination, natural selection, and geologic cataclysm. As an ecologist who specializes in algae, the first organisms to colonize Earth, Meinesz brings a refreshingly novel voice to the history of biodiversity and emphasizes here the role of unions in organizing life. For example, the ingestion of some bacteria by other bacteria led to mitochondria that characterize animal and plant cells, and the chloroplasts of plant cells. As Meinesz charmingly recounts, life’s grandeur is a result of an evolutionary tendency toward sociality and solidarity. He suggests that it is our cohesion and collaboration that allows us to solve the environmental problems arising in the decades and centuries to come. Rooted in the science of evolution but enlivened with many illustrations from other disciplines and the arts, How Life Began intertwines the rise of bacteria and multicellular life with Vermeer’s portrait of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the story of Genesis and Noah, Meinesz’s son’s early experiences with Legos, and his own encounters with other scientists. All of this brings a very human and humanistic tone to Meinesz’s charismatic narrative of the three origins of life.
How Life Began elucidates three origins, or geneses, of life—bacteria, nucleated cells, and multicellular organisms—and shows how evolution has sculpted life to its current biodiversity through four main events—mutation, recombination, natural selection, and geologic cataclysm. As an ecologist who specializes in algae, the first organisms to colonize Earth, Meinesz brings a refreshingly novel voice to the history of biodiversity and emphasizes here the role of unions in organizing life. For example, the ingestion of some bacteria by other bacteria led to mitochondria that characterize animal and plant cells, and the chloroplasts of plant cells. As Meinesz charmingly recounts, life’s grandeur is a result of an evolutionary tendency toward sociality and solidarity. He suggests that it is our cohesion and collaboration that allows us to solve the environmental problems arising in the decades and centuries to come. Rooted in the science of evolution but enlivened with many illustrations from other disciplines and the arts, How Life Began intertwines the rise of bacteria and multicellular life with Vermeer’s portrait of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, the story of Genesis and Noah, Meinesz’s son’s early experiences with Legos, and his own encounters with other scientists. All of this brings a very human and humanistic tone to Meinesz’s charismatic narrative of the three origins of life.
Related to How Life Began
Related ebooks
Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Life in the Universe: A Beginner's Guide Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5From Extraterrestrials to Animal Minds: Six Myths of Evolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolution: The Triumph of an Idea Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpace, Time and Number in the Brain: Searching for the Foundations of Mathematical Thought Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFire: The Spark That Ignited Human Evolution Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Darwinism (1889) An exposition of the theory of natural selection, with some of its applications Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsActive Biological Evolution: Feedback-Driven, Actively Accelerated, Organismal and Cancer Evolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsConceptual Breakthroughs in Evolutionary Genetics: A Brief History of Shifting Paradigms Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Charles Darwin: The Founder of the Theory of Evolution and Natural Selection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBiology of Life: Biochemistry, Physiology and Philosophy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Chain of Life in Geological Time: A Sketch of the Origin and Succession of Animals and Plants Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Holes: Why Do They Spin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gene: From Genetics to Postgenomics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cicada Prophecy: Thrillers, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEpigenetic Mechanisms of the Cambrian Explosion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Cultural History of Heredity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Jules Verne Collection: 38 Novels and Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEvolution: A View from the 21st Century. Fortified. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNature: An Economic History Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Australopithecine Face Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Pedro G. Ferreira's The Perfect Theory Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHow Life Began: A Speculative Study in Modern Biology Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTheories of Population Variation in Genes and Genomes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrigins of Intelligence: The Evolution of Cognitive Development in Monkeys, Apes, and Humans Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThis Is Your Brain On Parasites: How Tiny Creatures Manipulate Our Behavior and Shape Society Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why?: The Philosophy Behind the Question Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World in Which We Occur: John Dewey, Pragmatist Ecology, and American Ecological Writing in the Twentieth Century Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsQuarks to Culture: How We Came to Be Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science & Mathematics For You
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago: The Authorized Abridgement Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Outsmart Your Brain: Why Learning is Hard and How You Can Make It Easy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Letter to Liberals: Censorship and COVID: An Attack on Science and American Ideals Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Crack In Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Born for Love: Why Empathy Is Essential--and Endangered Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Big Book of Hacks: 264 Amazing DIY Tech Projects Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Activate Your Brain: How Understanding Your Brain Can Improve Your Work - and Your Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/52084: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Psychology of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Memory Craft: Improve Your Memory with the Most Powerful Methods in History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus That Caused It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Free Will Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No-Drama Discipline: the bestselling parenting guide to nurturing your child's developing mind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hunt for the Skinwalker: Science Confronts the Unexplained at a Remote Ranch in Utah Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for How Life Began
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
2 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
How Life Began - Alexandre Meinesz
Enjoying the preview?
Page 1 of 1