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1. Life Evolving: Molecules, Mind, and Meaning by Christian de Duve | |
Hardcover: 360
Pages
(2002-10-17)
list price: US$55.00 -- used & new: US$25.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0195156056 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (5)
Regarding Science-Ejected Vitalism, 2002:
One giant leap of faith after another Unfortunately, the book delivers neither. As another reviewer pointed out already, De Duve divulges the reader into the basics of cell biology; a nice introduction of life chemistry, proteins, RNA, DNA, enzymes and such. De Duve then spends few chapters on paving the way from a pre biotic world to one that is dominated by protocells. He believes that proteins are a by-product of RNA and therefore RNA must have preceded proteins. Judging by the complexity of RNA, he postulates that peptide bonds _somehow_ formed among amino acids with the help of what he calls "multimers" (amino acids among other things), and those short peptides could have played the role of a primitive catalyst. What De Duve fails to provide through out his book is data + examples. To convince any reader with the possibility of such event, common wisdom dictates a minimum amount of experimental data to support the "building" blocks of his hypothesis. In 1997, Ghadri group synthesized a peptide ligase. That is, a self-replicating 32 amino-acid long peptide. It is the constant lack of evidence that makes Du Duve arguments weak. Then he says that ATP and other NTPs _somehow_ arose, and the discussion for their "existence" is beyond the scope of the book. Then our catalyst peptide forms an RNA-like structure from ATP and others. Then he says that many bases were initially bound, not just A, U, G, and C. But once we had a "rare" RNA with A, U, G, C, it is _somehow_ more stable and more reproducible. De Duve does not really discuss why he believes this is the case, other than it must be because this is what we have now. In one occasion, De Duve says "Admittedly, this is all hypothetical. But the hypothesis rests on undeniable foundations and has the advantage of suggesting experimental approaches". He made it clear on several occasions than many areas of pre biotic chemistry lack experimentation despite their significance in origin-of-life research. After suggesting an experiment, he concludes "This is what I would do if I were 20 years younger". De Duve then goes on to explain how the RNA led eventually to proteins (RNA attaches itself to some amino acids, and using the RNA itself as a catalyst, we form protein). And that once we had proteins, life needed cells at that stage to compete and protocells were created. The RNA made proteins, and RNA that made better proteins for the cell survived and got duplicated. The cell at this has some rudimentary membrane, and can replicate itself via division. What he skipped is how such membrane forms, why it forms, and how the division process in this protocell exactly takes place. I really wished that De Duve paid more attention to such critical details. Different people might read the book for different reasons, I read it for the goal of gaining an understanding on abiogenesis. Being a strong believer in abiogenesis myself, I was quite enthusiastic when I began reading the book. However, skepticism over Duve's take on abiogensis kept growing as I read more chapters. Unfortunately, I lost faith in his approach to this critical issue.
Interesting and thought provoking book De Duve gives a great review of just how cells work at the molecular level. There is adequate depth without getting bogged down in details. What I really wanted to see was his explanation for the origin of life. De Duve proposes that Abundant triphosphates somehow arose to provide energy The key to his proposal is molecular selection. "This mechanism, it must be emphasized, represents at the molecular level exactly that imagined by Darwin to account for biological evolution". In other words, the way to get around the incredible odds of accomplishing each of the proposed steps to life listed above is by having non-living molecules competing with each other. The winning molecules then advance to the next level of competition. De Duve is rather less than kind to those who disagree. He is distressed that many intelligent people, even scientists, do not agree that this is a plausible explanation to the origin of life. As one with a background in the earth sciences, I am one of the skeptics. My major problem is that he seemingly ignores data from other scientific disciplines. His premise depends on assumptions that are either wrong or improbable at best. His proposal requires a benign chemical environment with a rich prebiotic soup from which the peptides, RNAs, and proteins could form. Geochemists and planetary physicists have conclusively demonstrated that this soup simply didn't exist. The neutral atmosphere of the early earth could not form prebiotics. In addition, there was sufficient photogenic oxygen in the atmosphere and radiogenic (radiation-induced) oxygen in the oceans to destroy them if they did form. No "prebiotic soup" has ever been found, although "post-biotics" are extremely common. What does exist in abundance are deposits of poisonous heavy metals and rare-earth elements. The early ocean more closely resembled the deadly effluent from a toxic waste dump than the prebiotic soup De Duve needs. Entire industries exist to mine these materials which were once poisons dissolved in the early oceans. De Duve proposes that prebiotic materials were delivered to the Earth from outer space. Small amounts of nucleic acids have been found in some meteorites, and comets often contain some carbon compounds as well. In reality, the volume of chemicals is small, but the energy release is not. For example, the Shoemaker-Levy comet which struck Jupiter in 1994, probably contained hundreds of tons of organic compounds. This is the proverbial "drop in a bucket" in terms of getting a meaningful volume of prebiotics into the ocean. However, the impact event was roughly 100 million megatons of TNT. This is ten thousand times the power of all of mankind's nuclear weapons combined. We would all be dead if this impact had occurred on Earth. Another problem occurs in obtaining concentrated baths of organic compounds. The scenarios De Duve mentions are Darwin's "warm little pond" and Stanley Miller's "drying lagoon". These are physical impossibilities on the early earth, where tides were measured in hundreds of feet and wind speeds were measured in thousands of miles an hour. Think of the movie "Perfect Storm" and consider that the weather never got that nice 3.9 billion years ago! There is no plausible mechanism available to generate a concentrated bath of prebiotic compounds in such an environment. The last several chapters delve into esoteric astronomical subjects far from De Duve's area of expertise, including life on other planets. Large numbers are quoted, but there is little discussed in the vein of cause-and-effect from which a meaningful statistical calculation could be made. He acknowledges that the physical properties of the universe exhibit evidence of incredible precision which allows life to exist. Inconceivably tiny deviations in a number of parameters would make life impossible. This "anthropic principle" has led many formerly atheistic or agnostic scientists to a belief in God. I know one radio-astronomer who wrote "Astronomers who do not draw theistic or deistic conclusions are becoming rare", while his atheist collegue complained that his fellow astronomers are rushing off to join "the First Church of Christ of the Big Bang." De Duve apparently prefers the explanation that there are an infinite number of universes, perhaps even evolving via natural selection, and ours is the lucky one. De Duve's final appeal is that "something positive must be proposed that can eventually replace the myths propagated by religion." God does not exist, but we need "spiritual guides" to provide ethics and morals. "The religious feeling is deeply embedded in our nature, probably carved into it by natural selection" I enjoyed De Duve's excellent description of cellular biology. However, I found his proposed mechanisms for the origin of life unconvincing and unsupported by actual chemical pathways. He ignored the hard evidence from other scientific disciplines that render his explanations highly implausible. His premise that science has demonstrated naturalistic explanations to how the universe, the earth, and mankind got here requires more faith than I can muster. I remain skeptical, and tend to agree with the astronomers, who are finding increasing evidence of "something else behind it all".
Intellectually Engaging However, evolutionary convergence shows that the history of life is not as contingent as some critics of de Duve's positions would argue. Quite surprisingly, the author does not discuss any cases of molecular convergence in Life Evolving. The small, but very revealing, list of known examples includes the independent development of biosynthetic pathways for molecules such as lysine or the imizadole moiety found in purines and histidine as well as the polyphyletic origin of several nonhomologous classes of nucleic acid polymerases. With only one example of biology (Earth's own) we cannot calculate probabilities, but the search for extraterrestrial life may assist us in evaluating the evolutionary odds of life and consciousness. The idea that life on Earth is the result of a miracle or of a rare chance event has been replaced by an evolutionary narrative. Still, as William Blake wrote in There Is No Natural Religion, "Reason, or the ratio of all we have already known, is not the same that it shall be when we know more." The discovery of dozens of planets orbiting nearby stars and the prospect of searching for compounds of possible biological origin in their atmospheres suggest that in the not-so-distant future we may have more factors to consider when addressing the issues de Duve raises. Whether or not one agrees with de Duve's strong statements, Life Evolving forces the reader to avoid intellectual complacency and to articulate one's own arguments to effectively address his position. These are, in themselves, major reasons to appreciate the book.
Examines how humans have evolved and developed |
2. Singularities: Landmarks on the Pathways of Life by Christian de Duve | |
Hardcover: 274
Pages
(2005-10-24)
list price: US$58.00 -- used & new: US$42.40 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 052184195X Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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Preview Kindle sample before buying!
the first stirrings of life
Never fear, it's not a "Creationist/ID" text
Unprecedented clarity on the origin of life |
3. Genetics of Original Sin: The Impact of Natural Selection on the Future of Humanity (An Editions Odile Jacob Book) by Christian de Duve, Neil Patterson | |
Hardcover: 256
Pages
(2010-12-14)
list price: US$26.00 -- used & new: US$17.16 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0300165072 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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4. A Guided Tour of the Living Cell (Students ed) by Christian De Duve | |
Paperback: 443
Pages
(1984-06)
list price: US$33.95 Isbn: 0716760029 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Customer Reviews (1)
Excellent content, excellent illustrations |
5. Construire une cellule by Christian De Duve | |
Paperback: 353
Pages
(1997-12-01)
-- used & new: US$62.98 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 2729601813 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
6. Biography - De Duve, Christian (1917-): An article from: Contemporary Authors Online by Gale Reference Team | |
Digital: 10
Pages
(2006-01-01)
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7. A l'écoute du vivant by Christian de Duve | |
Paperback: 401
Pages
(2002-11-13)
Isbn: 2738111661 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
8. Aus Staub geboren: Leben als kosmische Zwangsläufigkeit (German Edition) by Christian de Duve | |
Hardcover: 540
Pages
(1995-10-10)
list price: US$49.95 -- used & new: US$49.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 3860253522 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
9. Tocopherol, Oxygen and Biomembranes 1977: International Conference Proceedings | |
Hardcover: 388
Pages
(1978-03)
Isbn: 0444800433 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
10. Die Zelle: Expedition in die Grundstruktur des Lebens (German Edition) by Christian de Duve | |
Hardcover: 455
Pages
(1993-05-10)
Isbn: 386025071X Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
11. Christian de Duve | |
Paperback: 308
Pages
(2010-08-10)
list price: US$105.00 -- used & new: US$104.19 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 6130682875 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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12. The lysosome by Christian De Duve | |
Unknown Binding:
Pages
(1963)
Asin: B0007H4M6Y Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
13. La Vida En Evolucion (Spanish Edition) by Christian R. De Duve | |
Hardcover: 344
Pages
(2004-08)
list price: US$60.80 -- used & new: US$58.00 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 8484325407 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
14. Die Genetik der Ursünde: Die Auswirkung der natürlichen Selektion auf die Zukunft der Menschheit (German Edition) by Christian René de Duve | |
Paperback: 250
Pages
(2010-11-04)
list price: US$29.95 -- used & new: US$29.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 3827427088 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Dieses Buch beschreibt in anschaulicher Weise, wie durch natürliche Selektion alle heutigen Lebensformen aus einem gemeinsamen Ursprungsprozess hervorgegangen sind. Dann blickt der Autor nach vorn und entwirft einige Zukunftsszenarien, von denen die meisten durch den genetisch determinierten Evolutionsdruck (der „Ursünde“) zu einem katastrophalen Verschwinden allen Lebens auf diesem Planeten führen werden. Den Menschen weißt der Autor eine besondere Rolle zu. Wenn sie es nur wahrhaben wollten, könnten sie sich der drohenden Gefahren bewusst werden und durch ihr Wissen und ihren Geist der natürlichen Selektion entgegenwirken. Dafür nimmt der Autor die Wissenschaft, die Religion und speziell auch die Frauen in die Verantwortung. Der renommierte Forscher und Moralist Christian de Duve appelliert an uns alle, jegliche Anstrengung zu unternehmen, um dem Leben auf dieser Erde eine Überlebenschance zu geben. |
15. Prix Nobel Belge: Maurice Maeterlinck, Auguste Beernaert, Ilya Prigogine, Christian de Duve, Dominique Pire, Jules Bordet, Albert Claude (French Edition) | |
Paperback: 48
Pages
(2010-08-06)
list price: US$14.14 -- used & new: US$14.13 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1159903786 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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16. Belgian Nobel Laureates: Maurice Maeterlinck, Jules Bordet, Ilya Prigogine, Albert Claude, Dominique Pire, Christian de Duve | |
Paperback: 52
Pages
(2010-05-04)
list price: US$19.99 -- used & new: US$19.99 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1155427025 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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17. Lauréat Du Prix Francqui: Henri Pirenne, Georges Lemaître, Paul Magnette, Ilya Prigogine, Christian de Duve, François Englert, Pol Swings (French Edition) | |
Paperback: 112
Pages
(2010-07-29)
list price: US$20.21 -- used & new: US$20.21 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1159518262 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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18. Médecin Belge: Valentin Van Hassel, Ivan Colmant, Albert Guérisse, Gérard Adam, Christian de Duve, Arthur Van Gehuchten (French Edition) | |
Paperback: 170
Pages
(2010-08-03)
list price: US$25.60 -- used & new: US$19.46 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 1159769982 Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
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19. Our Cosmic Origins: From the Big Bang to the Emergence of Life and Intelligence by Armand H. Delsemme | |
Paperback: 320
Pages
(2001-02-15)
list price: US$43.00 -- used & new: US$28.95 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0521794803 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (5)
The BIG picture! Without getting bogged down in details, Our Cosmic Origins sketches the basic story of reality as it is understood by science today, leaving open the questions that science cannot (and may never be able to) answer. It does get a little technical at times (there are even a few chemical equations) but it reads more like a detective novel than a textbook. The science is necessary to gain the confidence of readers who already have some knowledge of physics, chemistry, and biology. Others can skim these explanations and take the conclusions on faith without losing the bigger truths revealed in this book. Every thinking person should read this book; it provides a solid foundation relating all empirical knowledge. I can't wait for it to be revised when the unified field theory is discovered!
Mind-expanding! Delsemme, after a career in French-speaking Europ, is now Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Toledo, Ohio. His book was first published in French, in 1994. The American edition has been revised, updated and expanded. The author's background in a French, European cultural tradition is a special attraction for the English-speaking reader. The author has succeeded well in his efforts to reach the non-specialised reader. As Nobel laureate Christian de Duve writes in his brief foreword: "This is an eminently readable and informative account, consistently written in a language that tries to eschew technical difficulties, while remaining solidly anchored to the realities of scientific concepts. Readers could not wish for a better introduction to the history of the universe." I am myself neither an astronomer, nor a biologist. But I have a long-standing interest in both disciplines. I have read this book with increasing admiration both for the author's wide-ranging knowledge, and his ability to present it in a very palatable form. He also gives the general reader insight into the basics of scientific research. In particular, he exhibits the scientific attitude, which implies hypotheses, which start as creative guesses, but do not emerge as full-fledged theories until tested by carefully designed observations or experiments. Like most modern astronomers, Delsemme adheres to the Big-Bang theory, emphasizing the increasing evidence in its favour. His own special field is the comets, a subject that has received much attention in the last decade, leading to the daring, but not implausible conclusion that the oceans of the earth have arisen from a massive bombardment of the planet by comets in the first billion years of its existence. Darwin's Natural Selection concept, the scientific basis of his evolution theory, is nowadays accepted as a foundation for biological science as a whole. Delsemme extends Darwin's creative insight not only to the creation of the physical world, but also, at the other end, to the world of the mind. Man also , like the physical universe he inhabits, is a product, literally, of star dust. This is popular science at its best. A fascinating, mind-expanding book. For further reading I suggest Edelman & Tononi: A Universe of consciousness.
Emergence of the biosphere
Good if you already know quite a bit about the subject Throughout the text, theauthor promotes his own views, often sparring with opponents, usuallyunnamed.Chief among these views is the hypothesis that both water and theorganic building blocks for life were delivered to the earth by comets. Alternative hypotheses, such as that the source of water is degassing ofthe earth's interior, are dismissed in such an offhand way that theuninitiated reader is unlikely to even realize what is happening.The onlyinstance where Professor Delsemme is explicit in identifying an opposingposition is the case of Fred Hoyle and his view that life itself, not justorganic molecules, arose in outer space. There is not much geology inthis book, but what there is contains some errors, including an incorrectexplanation of the origin of marine magnetic anomalies, confusion of"era" and "epoch," various creative spellings ofCretaceous (which may be the translator's doing), and, in a briefdesciption of dinosaurs, use of the terms "sauropod" and"ornithopod" as though they were synonyms for"sauriscian" and "ornithiscian." Nevertheless, thereis much that is interesting and worthwhile in this volume for the readerwho already knows the basics, and is aware of the uncertainties,controversies, and alternatives that swirl around many of these subjects.The chapter I enjoyed reading most is the one on the possibilities of lifebeyond our solar system.So, read this book if you are already intocosmology and the question of the origin of life and want to get aprovocative slant on these topics, but not if you are looking for aground-floor introduction.
A thought-provoking voyage through space and time |
20. Vital Dust: The Origin And Evolution Of Life On Earth by Christian De Duve | |
Paperback: 384
Pages
(1995-12-22)
list price: US$25.00 -- used & new: US$19.24 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0465090451 Average Customer Review: Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan | |
Editorial Review Product Description Customer Reviews (12)
Review of Vital Dust
Obviously nothing to argue with, but leaves beginning of life 'hanging'
Dr. de Duve tells it all!
The story's in the details De Duve's narrative is highly detailed in the opening sections.The conditions and operations he describes are fundamental to life's development.How carbon-based molecules interact in ways that led to replication, then selection, are carefully explained.While many of the early steps were random, perhaps even chaotic, "superior" [because they survived and replicated better] molecular structures became more common.While he notes there are preferred environments for this process, they aren't tightly limited.Change of environment formed selection pressures which even early life could respond to without difficulty.While at first glance this description may appear an account of many chance events, De Duve points out that life started on a "deterministic" path almost from the beginning.The rules of chemical reactions limit what chance can impose.Yet, once the start has been made, similar rules force the process of life forward. This book is a major statement and deserves serious consideration.That this is a technically challenging read should not discourage you.A thorough analysis of life's development, right up to that major achievement of evolution, the human mind, de Duve demonstrates how important knowledge of ourselves is to our survival.He further postulates that values are an essential part human evolution, including wisdom, love, and responsibility for our place in nature.True science, he argues, supports a sense of moral values, it doesn't abandon nor avoid them.Learning about origins of life as a fact of chemistry doesn't reduce it to sterility nor meaninglessness.These ideas aren't necessarily novel with de Duve, but he expresses them better than most.He also provides a better foundation for believing in them than most.A valuable book, it's one that should be considered vital for any student of nature or philosophy. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Part brilliant, part rehashed The best part of the book is early on, when Duve exercises his expertise in biochemistry and discusses how life must have come into existence and made the first moves toward complexity. This is difficult but rewarding reading, and a section I think I will be returning to. The final chapters, discussing the future of mankind, environmental issues, and the nature of consciousness, are almost entirely derivative, consisting of rehashed thoughts of others rather than original concepts or explanations. Still the book is well worth it just for the understanding of how life might have come to be and how it developed into what it is today. Recommended. ... Read more |
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