Rating: 
Summary: Led by the nose...
Review: A rather convoluted attempt at answering the central question: What is life? But Smith and his co-author fail in other respects too. Among the subsidiary problems surrounding the question of life and its origins is a rather more specific question on how exactly cells with the same genetic information become different adult structures. In other words, animals, for example, are composed of many different cells - muscle cells, nerve cells etc - that are all identical, but in development they become different in shape, composition, and function. The answer (already well known) is that cells are not different because they have different genes, but because some genes are active while others are not. Maynard Smith pops the central question in developmental biology (page 18): how does three dimensional form arise during development; how does it come about that the right genes are active in the right places. He repeats this question on p18, p28,p100,and finally on page 115 once again, he repeats"...how is it that different genes are active in different cells...we will return to this question in a moment". Now I get fed up, when is he going to answer this question! But wait, on page 117, yes, here it comes, he finally says, yes, one more time - "how is it that different genes are active in different cells...the answer finally on page 117 - WE DO NOT KNOW!! What a run around! At this point I turf this book aside, and decide to slate this author for jerking me around.
Rating: 
Summary: Both Dense with information and a Pleasure to read.
Review: As a 20-something year-old graduate student of computer science, I frequently find myself branching out and studying other fascinating branches of knowledge. I finally decided to quench my interest in cell biology by reading a few chapters on the cell cycle. Next, I craved something comprehensive on evolution and the origins of life. It had to be self-contained (due to my limited knowledge on the subject) and yet scientifically satisfying. This book, to my startled surprise, was exactly what I was looking for. Of course much is yet unknown in the field, but the authors present a lot of convincing information. I enjoyed the reoccuring linkage between different levels of development. Whether metaphorical or literal, when the authors relate, for example, symbiosis at the level of a single cell to symbiosis at the level of a human society, the message is made clear and communicated effectively. This linkage between levels is made easier by the organization of the book. Each chapter takes one more step forward, starting from the primitive soup and ending with human language. Rather than being a collection of essays crammed into a single book, it is a book whose authors have paid attention to such details as motivating topics, flow, and clarity. Just to make it clear, this is scientific writing infused with great literary style. It is not literature infused with a bit of science. I agree with a review on the book's back cover that describes the book as both "jargon-free" and "a pleasure to read." Many 200-page science books written for the general public meet one of these descriptions, but few merit both. This one does.
Rating:
Summary: Both Dense with information and a Pleasure to read.
Review: As a 20-something year-old graduate student of computer science, I frequently find myself branching out and studying other fascinating branches of knowledge. I finally decided to quench my interest in cell biology by reading a few chapters on the cell cycle. Next, I craved something comprehensive on evolution and the origins of life. It had to be self-contained (due to my limited knowledge on the subject) and yet scientifically satisfying. This book, to my startled surprise, was exactly what I was looking for. Of course much is yet unknown in the field, but the authors present a lot of convincing information. I enjoyed the reoccuring linkage between different levels of development. Whether metaphorical or literal, when the authors relate, for example, symbiosis at the level of a single cell to symbiosis at the level of a human society, the message is made clear and communicated effectively. This linkage between levels is made easier by the organization of the book. Each chapter takes one more step forward, starting from the primitive soup and ending with human language. Rather than being a collection of essays crammed into a single book, it is a book whose authors have paid attention to such details as motivating topics, flow, and clarity. Just to make it clear, this is scientific writing infused with great literary style. It is not literature infused with a bit of science. I agree with a review on the book's back cover that describes the book as both "jargon-free" and "a pleasure to read." Many 200-page science books written for the general public meet one of these descriptions, but few merit both. This one does.
Rating:
Summary: Non-specialist version of Major Transitions in Evolution
Review: As stated in the preface, this book presents to a general readership the same ideas as the authors' 1995 book "The Major Transitions in Evolution." I found it still challenging, but richly rewarding. The most interesting questions in evolution deal with the evolution of new levels of organization. The authors identify only eight such transitions starting from cooperating collections of replicating molecules up through multicellular organisms, colonies of ants and bees, and finally human societies with language. Anyone interested in the question of how cooperation evolved in human societies needs to also understand how cooperation evolved in the other seven transitions. This appears to be the definitive work on that subject that is accessible to a non-specialist.
Rating:
Summary: Non-specialist version of Major Transitions in Evolution
Review: As stated in the preface, this book presents to a general readership the same ideas as the authors' 1995 book "The Major Transitions in Evolution." I found it still challenging, but richly rewarding. The most interesting questions in evolution deal with the evolution of new levels of organization. The authors identify only eight such transitions starting from cooperating collections of replicating molecules up through multicellular organisms, colonies of ants and bees, and finally human societies with language. Anyone interested in the question of how cooperation evolved in human societies needs to also understand how cooperation evolved in the other seven transitions. This appears to be the definitive work on that subject that is accessible to a non-specialist.
Rating: 
Summary: Origins of Life
Review: For a small book this one is very densely packed; almost too densely packed. Although parts of the work are probably a little too technical for the non-professional, they may be much too general for the expert--ie. the transition from the non-living chemical replicators to living organisms. This means both types of reader will probably be left dissatisfied. Topics included are a definition of what is "alive," where life might have evolved if not on earth itself, the increasing complexity of living things, etc, all subjects really too great to be covered adequately in so small a space even for the nontechnical reader. In general there are probably better written books on these topics.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but a bit skimpy on details
Review: I didn't learn much new from this book - most all of the material is covered, in more depth, in other books on the origin of life. Also, some main transitions were discussed but mostly in a summary manner - the supporting details were absent or scarce. Most explanations were conceptual. For instance, for autocatalysis the authors state that a series of reactions occurs where molecule A catalyzes the production of molecule B, which catalyzes the production of molecule C, which catalyzes the production of molecule D, which then catalyzes the production of 2 molecules of A (each of which then begins the series of reactions anew). Therefore, the reaction pathway has the capability of exponential growth. However, what molecules A, B, C, and D are and how they are involved in the origin of life is not mentioned. As another reviewer noted, the title is a bit misleading as the origin of life itself is not covered in depth - the subtitle is more appropriate than the title itself. Still, the book gives the reader current information on the origin of life and contains no obvious flaws or outdated notions (that is why I rated it higher than a 2). I believe this is a dumbed-down, if you will, version of a book the authors produced a couple of years ago - personally, I wish I had gotten the other version.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but a bit skimpy on details
Review: I didn't learn much new from this book - most all of the material is covered, in more depth, in other books on the origin of life. Also, some main transitions were discussed but mostly in a summary manner - the supporting details were absent or scarce. Most explanations were conceptual. For instance, for autocatalysis the authors state that a series of reactions occurs where molecule A catalyzes the production of molecule B, which catalyzes the production of molecule C, which catalyzes the production of molecule D, which then catalyzes the production of 2 molecules of A (each of which then begins the series of reactions anew). Therefore, the reaction pathway has the capability of exponential growth. However, what molecules A, B, C, and D are and how they are involved in the origin of life is not mentioned. As another reviewer noted, the title is a bit misleading as the origin of life itself is not covered in depth - the subtitle is more appropriate than the title itself. Still, the book gives the reader current information on the origin of life and contains no obvious flaws or outdated notions (that is why I rated it higher than a 2). I believe this is a dumbed-down, if you will, version of a book the authors produced a couple of years ago - personally, I wish I had gotten the other version.
Rating:
Summary: Concentrated!
Review: I would agree with the previous reviewer that this book (for the non-specialist) is concentrated -- it covers a lot of territory in little time. I enjoyed the book tremendously and think that it is a great introduction to the problems, and the mechanics, of the origins of life. I would highly recommend it!
Rating:
Summary: Information transmission from genes to memes
Review: Readers cruising through the wealth of books on evolution that have appeared in recent years will see one name [after Darwin] appearing almost universally. Either found in the text or the Bibliography, the name of John Maynard Smith stands ubiquitous. There's a good reason for such respect - Maynard Smith is both a capable scientist and strong presenter of science. This book, brief as it is, stands out as a prime example of his skilled writing hand. His collaborator, Eors Szathmary an Hungarian chemist, has clearly provided a wealth of resource information on many aspects of how life's mechanisms determined the path of evolution of early life. This is their second association, and it's a splendid result of the merger of two disciplines. This work, like their previous book, puts to rest the idea that evolution by natural selection is a 'group' or species phenomenon. Evolution works at individual levels. An animal, cell or even a gene - how it operates, survives and replicates. For all these elements to function successfully and pass their behaviours on to succeeding generations, a wealth of mechanisms must occur without serious hitch. Maynard Smith and Szathmary take us through these biological steps with unsurpassed clarity. Yet with all this wealth of detail, the reader finds nothing obscure or confusing in their descriptions. This book starts with descriptions of attempts to understand how life started. Now that it is understand that life's history is but a bit less than the existence of our planet, the beginnings of life must be a chemical phenomenon. Maynard Smith and Szathmary show how these reactions occurred and how they originated the steps leading to the complex life forms sharing the globe with us today. If their text wasn't clear enough [and it definitely is that] the accompanying line drawings spell out graphically how chemistry drove, and is driving, life's forces. Those seeking a wealth of information on various species will be disappointed. What this pair superbly depict are the mechanisms uniform over all life. Discussions of evolution cannot avoid addressing that creature who considers all life to have been created to ultimately produce it - the human being. The pair depart from their basic concept here by addressing human society. And rightly so. The ability of humans to modify their environment utilize powers that overcome the chemical basis by which we live. This ability rests on the use of language to convey ideas. No other animal possesses this capacity and the authors conclude this work with some ideas about the future course of human evolution and the role language will play in it. The major factor will be Dawkins' idea of the meme. They see memes as a Lamarckian element in human culture, guiding the path of our ongoing development. Clearly, a required companion volume to this book is Susan Blackmore's THE MEME MACHINE. This is a superb summation of evolution's workings and a must read for anyone wishing a start in the mechanics of life. Please buy, read and point your friends to this seminal effort.
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