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The author profiled in the piece, Nick Lane, wrote a really thought-provoking earlier book called The Vital Question. Addresses some similar points, esp the asp
by jeffhwang 4y ago
The author profiled in the piece, Nick Lane, wrote a really thought-provoking earlier book called The Vital Question. Addresses some similar points, esp the aspect where biologists have (understandably!) focused a lot on information theory since 1953 DNA discovery. But that they have neglected integrating understanding of energy. By integrating both perspectives, Lane and his collaborators have generated fascinating (and testable) hypotheses about how/where life began in the ocean as well as the sequence of steps that led to eukaryotes and eventually multicellular organisms. Plus has implications for why sex, aging, and death might have evolved! Highly recommend it.
Although a pretty good HS or early college foundation in redox chemistry is pretty needed to get the most out of the book.
- cpach 4y agoDid you read/enjoy TVQ? I have it on my book shelf but so far I haven’t picked it up (:
- jeffhwang 4y agoThe Vital Question is the only book I've read cover to cover. I got through about 15% my first attempt and decided I had forgotten too much chemistry to truly appreciate it. A few years later I undertook an intensive chemistry self-study for reasons unrelated to Lane. After that, I was ready to tackle TVQ again; this attempt went a lot better. Truly loved it and got me thinking and reading related peer-reviewed papers. I've been thinking about which of his other books to try next but I've gotten to a point where I actually prefer to do problem sets in early/intermediate college-level organic chemistry! Will check back in with Lane in a year or two.
- qvrjuec 4y agoI did. I loved it, and I am only superficially familiar with the chemistry being discussed in the book. It's quite eye opening!
- pchristensen 4y agoIt's phenomenal. There were dozens of thought provoking discoveries and conclusions drawn from what I had previously thought was an esoteric subject. Nick Lane has also been on some good podcast interviews: - Long and in depth on Lex Fridman, plus it was funny because he is about the only guest that didn't play along with Lex's goofy off the dome ideas - https://lexfridman.com/nick-lane/ - Sean Carroll - a more serious discussion - https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/05/23/198-nick-lane-on-powering-biology/
- reubenswartz 4y agoone of the more interesting books I've ever read. And I've even gone back to reread parts of it, which almost never happens.
- rsync 4y agoI have read all of Lanes books and I think Sex, Power, Suicide is the best - and probably the easiest / most approachable read.
- 725686 4y agoSex, Power and Suicide is an extraordinary read. I'm a little frightened to buy his newest Transformer since it looks a little heavy on chemistry. Can anyone comment?
- pchristensen 4y agoI'm partway through it on Audible. He doesn't pull any punches with the science, but he's such a good writer. A lot of it has been a history of biochemistry in the 20th century - I didn't realize that Krebs and others were so recent. If you were comfortable with the difficulty of The Vital Question, you can handle Transformer.
- oxfeed65261 4y agoFTA: “Although “Transformer” is aimed at laypeople, it’s not a particularly easy read: there are diagrams of chemical reactions alongside talk of succinate, oxaloacetate, and the reduction of this and that. Reading it, I had to consult Wikipedia and Khan Academy.”