Cradle of Life

Rating:
Summary: Quick Course In 3.5 Billion Years Of Evolution
Review: For anyone without a biology background, this book may be a bit unwieldy; however it does a good job in discussing the difficulty in trying to dissect the intractable past.

Rating:
Summary: Good basic book on Precambrian life
Review: I disagree with an earlier review that this is not for the lay person. I am a lay person who has read a few books on evolution, and I enjoyed the degree to which this was readable and understandable to the *intelligent* lay person. (say no more.)

Yes, Schopf occasionally writes some whoppers, such as 10 to the 47 being half of 10 to the 80. He also begins with the attitude that we do not actually know for sure that life developed in this path, but here is the evidence that it did. Then he switches to an attitude of: we do know how life developed, and here is the progression. It is an easy jump for an expert in the field to go from "we believe it most probably went this way" to "it did go this way." Galileo got into trouble for that.

Nevertheless, I like how in the middle, he shows that the various energy strategies are minor alterations of one another, showing that the Intelligent Design school critics such as Behe are overblown in their claim that these enzyme pathways are just too irreducibly complex to have evolved by natural selection.

A nice review of the history of this area, by a participant. A nice review of the science behind paleobiology. A nice read.

Rating:
Summary: Very Interesting
Review: I don't really like biology. There is too much memorizing, and not enough math for my tastes. When I picked up this book, I figured I'd give it a try anyway. I had read Richard Fortey's book _Life_ (a good intro to the history of life) and wanted a little more depth. Boy did I get it.

This is a well written book. The first section is about the history of the quest to find these early fossils and the different theories. I found the stories interesting and fascinating, especially the encounter with Salvador Dali.

I don't want to give away any of the suprises. I found that he explained everything very well. I was able to follow the biological ideas and I have only had one class in college biology. I think if you have not had ANY biology knowledge you probably should get the basics down before reading this book.

But that shouldn't stop you from reading it. If you have any interest in how life started on Earth you have to read this book.

Rating:
Summary: A good read for nonscientist and scientists alike
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. It was non-technical enough for a non-palentoligist like myself to understand, and compelling enough to create an earnest desire to turn the next page.

I was a bit troubled by some errors. For example, Schopf mentioned that little children at play sometimes feel a stitch in their side, a condition he ascribed to a build up of lactic acid. Even first-year exercise physiology majors know this to be untrue. (One proof is that people who are incapable of producing lactic acid can still feel this pain). Another is when he says that 10 to the 47th power is rouglhy half of 10 to the 80th. These are both minor points I know, but when I read basic mistakes in a science book, I wonder about the validity statements of which I have no previous knowledge.

However, I enjoyed the concepts and the rendering of the topics, especially the section on radioactive dating techniques and the "Sagan-esk" chapter on life on Mars.

A worthwhile read.

Rating:
Summary: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma
Review: Schopf escorts us into the realm of deep time, introducing us to our earliest microbe ancestors found locked away in ancient rocks. The path is often vague and indistinct, but Schopf is a sure and eloquent guide. Not only has he traversed the route before, but he's helped select and clear the track. This fine book reflects Schop's lighthearted "trailside" manner. He fully enjoys scrutinising the rocks for early lifeforms, and the enjoyment is infectious. It's a pleasure to accompany him on this journey.

Of all the ideas of the origins of life, none proved more exciting than the experiments of Harold Urey and Stanley Miller. Their zapping of elemental chemicals to produce amino acids seemed the final answer to how it all began. Years of criticism of their work and assumptions led to the acclaim fading, but Schopf here attempts to resurrect its primacy. His argument relies on his findings of evidence of wide-ranging shallow seas - Darwin's famous "warm, shallow pond" as the place of life's origins. Schopf argues these seas were present at the same time simple life-forms emerged. In Darwin's time, the techniques for analysing the early rocks were limited. Today, as Schopf demonstrates, looking in the right place with the proper tools brings rich paleontological rewards.

After tracing the histories of several researchers in Pre-Cambrian fossils, Schopf goes on to illustrate the most recent finds and their significance. Some of the finds are beyond the realm of the rocks alone. His description of the process of polymer formation illustrates the beginning of complex chemistry leading from non-life to life. The distinction, as he notes, has become vague as research from many disciplines has been applied to evolutionary studies. As life progressed, it developed such talents as use of light energy, self-perpetuating activities, and the emergence of metabolism. He explains these processes in quite readable prose, but also depicts them with fine illustrations. It's a rare combination of multi-level presentation.

Schopf's tour takes us not only into deep time, but deep space. At the end of the book he examines the issues surrounding the "Martian meteorite" which was suspected to contain remnants of life on that planet. Schopf was the lone dissenter in NASA's presentation of the likely presence of micro-organism fossils. His disappointment in the presentation and the hype surrounding the proposal is keenly expressed. One of his proposals in this book is the universality of life's roots. Lifeforms of some level are almost inevitable on other worlds, given the necessary conditions. He argues the components are available throughout the cosmos, needing only the proper environment to start evolving. It would be exciting to detect evidence of past life on Mars, but meteorite ALH80001 didn't provide it.

Rating:
Summary: Resolving Darwin's Dilemma
Review: Schopf escorts us into the realm of deep time, introducing us to our earliest microbe ancestors found locked away in ancient rocks. The path is often vague and indistinct, but Schopf is a sure and eloquent guide. Not only has he traversed the route before, but he's helped select and clear the track. This fine book reflects Schop's lighthearted "trailside" manner. He fully enjoys scrutinising the rocks for early lifeforms, and the enjoyment is infectious. It's a pleasure to accompany him on this journey.

Of all the ideas of the origins of life, none proved more exciting than the experiments of Harold Urey and Stanley Miller. Their zapping of elemental chemicals to produce amino acids seemed the final answer to how it all began. Years of criticism of their work and assumptions led to the acclaim fading, but Schopf here attempts to resurrect its primacy. His argument relies on his findings of evidence of wide-ranging shallow seas - Darwin's famous "warm, shallow pond" as the place of life's origins. Schopf argues these seas were present at the same time simple life-forms emerged. In Darwin's time, the techniques for analysing the early rocks were limited. Today, as Schopf demonstrates, looking in the right place with the proper tools brings rich paleontological rewards.

After tracing the histories of several researchers in Pre-Cambrian fossils, Schopf goes on to illustrate the most recent finds and their significance. Some of the finds are beyond the realm of the rocks alone. His description of the process of polymer formation illustrates the beginning of complex chemistry leading from non-life to life. The distinction, as he notes, has become vague as research from many disciplines has been applied to evolutionary studies. As life progressed, it developed such talents as use of light energy, self-perpetuating activities, and the emergence of metabolism. He explains these processes in quite readable prose, but also depicts them with fine illustrations. It's a rare combination of multi-level presentation.

Schopf's tour takes us not only into deep time, but deep space. At the end of the book he examines the issues surrounding the "Martian meteorite" which was suspected to contain remnants of life on that planet. Schopf was the lone dissenter in NASA's presentation of the likely presence of micro-organism fossils. His disappointment in the presentation and the hype surrounding the proposal is keenly expressed. One of his proposals in this book is the universality of life's roots. Lifeforms of some level are almost inevitable on other worlds, given the necessary conditions. He argues the components are available throughout the cosmos, needing only the proper environment to start evolving. It would be exciting to detect evidence of past life on Mars, but meteorite ALH80001 didn't provide it.

Rating:
Summary: An informative, educational and entertaining read.
Review: Two reviewers assert that Schopf says that 10 to the 47th power is roughly half of 10 to the 80th. This may be true of the hardcover edition: the paperback edition says (correctly) that 3 to 100th power is about 5 times 10 to the 47th power, a number "sizable compared to" the number of elementary particles in the Universe (10 to the 80th power). This is ambiguous, but not wrong.

While this book does require some effort, it is definitely readable by a non-specialist. I think it is aimed at beginning undergraduate or even advanced high-school students. The book defines all the terms used: the preliminary knowledge required is very elementary, at the level of a reasonable high-school education in chemistry and biology.

I have found the discussion of the conservativism in the evolution of the metabolic pathways very clear and a good rebuttal to the "Intelligent Design" types: Irreducible Complexity is not so irreducible, after all!

But the most interesting (to me) aspect of the book is the story of the discoveries of the fossils of life forms as old as 3.5 billion years. I also found the stories about the people involved fascinating: They are an entertaining diversion in an otherwise very dense book.

I also think that important (and less so) scientists are good role models for young people. Why should you be interested in the lives of rock stars and not in the lives of working scientists? Clearly, only if you are interested in emulating promiscuous, drug abusing and, often, suicidal morons!

The final chapter, on the Mars "life" fiasco is exactly on target: science by press release is bad science, even if it is often temporarily successful. Sound byte science is one of the worst problems in contemporary society (yes, it is THAT bad): Opposing it is a necessary and courageous act, especially if the opponent is a powerful (and inept) bureaucracy, like NASA.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting topic, presentation needs work.
Review: While the whole topic of microfossils dating back 2-3 billion years is fascinating, the way the information was presented here was, unfortunately, less than stellar.

I'm sure that for those with a more science-based background than I found it very readable. I, however, did not. The first few chapters were easy to follow, but from there it was like reading a very tedious college textbook.

I don't doubt that the author knows his stuff. I just wish he had written in more accessible language. Creating more of a narrative feel might have helped to draw more people in.

Rating:
Summary: Surpised about how much new information has been learned.
Review: Wow. I am surprised at how much has been learned about the early phases of life's development since I last formally studied paleontology. One of my favorite areas of study was invertebrate and early life forms. At the time only a modest amount was known about stromatalites and cyanobacteria. The trace fossils of the soft bodied, multicellular, Ediacaran fauna were known but were considered "late" in geologic and biologic terms. The Burgess Shale community, made famous by Gould's "Wonderful Life" in the late '80s, was known, but the organisms were confusing and many have since been restudied and reclassified. Having been a leading actor in the field of microfossils and early bacterial life forms, Schopf puts everything into perspective in his book, making it virtually a history of research into the topic of life's beginnings.

Cradle of Life begins, as such books so often do, with a brief synopsis of Darwin and his theory of evolution, including most critically, its early problems. Thereafter Schopf begins a veritable "who's who" of early paleontology, giving short professional biographies of those who worked in the field as early as the 19th century. He points out where promising leads were suppressed by virtue of the lesser standing of the individual proposing them, and misleading theories given credence because they were proposed by someone of powerful academic credentials. Some of the tales are impressive object lessons in how things can go wrong for human reasons and why science ultimately "gets it right in the end."

One of the more interesting topics the author confronts is how our recent advances in the field of paleontology might help determine whether life exists or has ever existed elsewhere. The author provides an interesting perspective on the Mars meteorite "life forms" that shows how easily it is to be lead astray by high hopes, and how space research scientists can benefit by a familiarity with modern precepts applicable to early life studies on this planet.

The book goes into great detail about the discovery of early life, what forms evidence takes, how it can be mistaken, what information is derived from study of the remains, and what indirect evidence tells us about the early earth. It also discusses how life might have evolved from non-life, how it managed to get started so early, how the atmosphere changed and how that change affected the diversity of earth's biomass. For those who are only casually interested in the topic of fossils, this book might be a little too much information. I love this kind of stuff, but I could certainly see how others might find it incredibly boring. I doubt that those in junior high would find it rewarding, but those in senior high might have enough science background to understand and enjoy it. Certainly for anyone fascinated with science and by how paleontology works, this book will be right up your alley.

FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS: in paleontology, biochemistry, biology, evolution, and history of science, this book would make an excellent bibliographic entry as well as a good source of topics. One might discuss how science works, how "authority figures" can derail even the best ideas, how science like other human endeavors are affected by culture, expectations, what is "known" already, etc., how progress in technology has allowed us to learn more about the distant past, how the tendency to specialize can delay progress, how a recent trend toward consilience (for which see Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by E. O. Wilson) might lead to more rapid advances in science. One might compare the work by Nick Lane (see Oxygen: The Molecule that made the World) or by G. Cairns-Smith (Seven Clues to the Origin of Life) to this one to see how their perspectives are the same and how they differ. What do you believe is ultimately supported by the data?

Rating:
Summary: Surpised about how much new information has been learned.
Review: Wow. I am surprised at how much has been learned about the early phases of life's development since I last formally studied paleontology. One of my favorite areas of study was invertebrate and early life forms. At the time only a modest amount was known about stromatalites and cyanobacteria. The trace fossils of the soft bodied, multicellular, Ediacaran fauna were known but were considered "late" in geologic and biologic terms. The Burgess Shale community, made famous by Gould's "Wonderful Life" in the late '80s, was known, but the organisms were confusing and many have since been restudied and reclassified. Having been a leading actor in the field of microfossils and early bacterial life forms, Schopf puts everything into perspective in his book, making it virtually a history of research into the topic of life's beginnings.

Cradle of Life begins, as such books so often do, with a brief synopsis of Darwin and his theory of evolution, including most critically, its early problems. Thereafter Schopf begins a veritable "who's who" of early paleontology, giving short professional biographies of those who worked in the field as early as the 19th century. He points out where promising leads were suppressed by virtue of the lesser standing of the individual proposing them, and misleading theories given credence because they were proposed by someone of powerful academic credentials. Some of the tales are impressive object lessons in how things can go wrong for human reasons and why science ultimately "gets it right in the end."

One of the more interesting topics the author confronts is how our recent advances in the field of paleontology might help determine whether life exists or has ever existed elsewhere. The author provides an interesting perspective on the Mars meteorite "life forms" that shows how easily it is to be lead astray by high hopes, and how space research scientists can benefit by a familiarity with modern precepts applicable to early life studies on this planet.

The book goes into great detail about the discovery of early life, what forms evidence takes, how it can be mistaken, what information is derived from study of the remains, and what indirect evidence tells us about the early earth. It also discusses how life might have evolved from non-life, how it managed to get started so early, how the atmosphere changed and how that change affected the diversity of earth's biomass. For those who are only casually interested in the topic of fossils, this book might be a little too much information. I love this kind of stuff, but I could certainly see how others might find it incredibly boring. I doubt that those in junior high would find it rewarding, but those in senior high might have enough science background to understand and enjoy it. Certainly for anyone fascinated with science and by how paleontology works, this book will be right up your alley.

FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS: in paleontology, biochemistry, biology, evolution, and history of science, this book would make an excellent bibliographic entry as well as a good source of topics. One might discuss how science works, how "authority figures" can derail even the best ideas, how science like other human endeavors are affected by culture, expectations, what is "known" already, etc., how progress in technology has allowed us to learn more about the distant past, how the tendency to specialize can delay progress, how a recent trend toward consilience (for which see Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge by E. O. Wilson) might lead to more rapid advances in science. One might compare the work by Nick Lane (see Oxygen: The Molecule that made the World) or by G. Cairns-Smith (Seven Clues to the Origin of Life) to this one to see how their perspectives are the same and how they differ. What do you believe is ultimately supported by the data?