A panoramic view of life on earth from a Nobel laureate in physiology and Rockefeller University professor emeritus. Key words in this 4-billion-year chronology are ``complementarity,'' ``spontaneity,'' and ``congruence.'' De Duve (A Guided Tour of the Living Cell, not reviewed) is no miracle monger regarding the development of life. Basic physio-chemical forces permitted the spontaneous coming together of primordial molecules: They fit by means of complementary parts—the key-and- lock principle that would play out in the double helix, antigen- antibody reactions and the cell-cell communication characteristic of multicellular organisms. All this prebiotic sorting and shifting led to what de Duve calls ``protometabolism,'' which would be fully congruent to the chemical processes essential to life. Fully half this text is taken up with the most ancestral forms: protocells and bacteria, the latter splitting into the heat-loving forms found in subterranean thermal vents and the ``eubacteria'' that, de Duve hypothesizes, emerged to conquer the world when climate changed and, through a mutation, were able to adapt to a cooler world. Other crises would follow: Photosynthesis would enrich the atmosphere with toxic oxygen. Finally cells with nuclei emerged, coming together into complex differentiated life forms. So the story unfolds with crisis followed by opportunities down to the present, when human life predominates. Not the be-all and end-all, de Duve affirms—and particularly not at the rate we are disturbing the environment. Indeed, much of the latter part of the book is taken up with issues and schools of thought: mind-body dualism, the Gaia hypothesis, existentialist ``absurd'' philosophy versus Teilhard de Chardin's teleology. De Duve himself opts for a ``meaningful universe''; he believes that life is ``bound to arise under the prevailing conditions'' and exists elsewhere in the universe. This is a heady book with much conjecture and rumination. Withal, the reader cannot help but share de Duve's sense of joy and wonder at the chance and necessity that have created life on earth.
Pub Date: Jan. 25, 1995
ISBN: 0-465-09044-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Basic Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1994
The Johnstown Flood was one of the greatest natural disasters of all time (actually manmade, since it was precipitated by a wealthy country club dam which had long been the source of justified misgivings). This then is a routine rundown of the catastrophe of May 31st, 1889, the biggest news story since Lincoln's murder in which thousands died. The most interesting incidental: a baby floated unharmed in its cradle for eighty miles.... Perhaps of local interest-but it lacks the Lord-ly touch.
Pub Date: March 18, 1968
ISBN: 0671207148
Page Count: 312
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1968
IN THE NEWS
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.
Tyson (Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, 2017, etc.) receives a great deal of mail, and this slim volume collects his responses and other scraps of writing.
The prolific science commentator and bestselling author, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History, delivers few surprises and much admirable commentary. Readers may suspect that most of these letters date from the author’s earlier years when, a newly minted celebrity, he still thrilled that many of his audience were pouring out their hearts. Consequently, unlike more hardened colleagues, he sought to address their concerns. As years passed, suspecting that many had no interest in tapping his expertise or entering into an intelligent give and take, he undoubtedly made greater use of the waste basket. Tyson eschews pure fan letters, but many of these selections are full of compliments as a prelude to asking advice, pointing out mistakes, proclaiming opposing beliefs, or denouncing him. Readers will also encounter some earnest op-ed pieces and his eyewitness account of 9/11. “I consider myself emotionally strong,” he writes. “What I bore witness to, however, was especially upsetting, with indelible images of horror that will not soon leave my mind.” To crackpots, he gently repeats facts that almost everyone except crackpots accept. Those who have seen ghosts, dead relatives, and Bigfoot learn that eyewitness accounts are often unreliable. Tyson points out that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, so confirmation that a light in the sky represents an alien spacecraft requires more than a photograph. Again and again he defends “science,” and his criteria—observation, repeatable experiments, honest discourse, peer review—are not controversial but will remain easy for zealots to dismiss. Among the instances of “hate mail” and “science deniers,” the author also discusses philosophy, parenting, and schooling.
A media-savvy scientist cleans out his desk.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-324-00331-1
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
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