Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution

Update 2015. I upped the rating to 4 stars from 3.
I reread the book again, after reading many more books on microbiology and biology.
I enjoyed it more the 2nd time through, as I was better able to appreciate what the author was getting at.

If you don't have much of a biology background you might not pick up on the significance of how these things evolved.

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The material in the book is incredible. Its fascinating, broad, and deep, and better than other books. The author introduces one idea after the next, and takes the reader step by step through a problem or process, explaining the consequences along the way. Even reading one chapter will give you a lot to think about.

The big problem I have with the book is its not well organized. Its disjointed, and rambling, and some important things are not explained well. If you are a Bio-Chemist or have an advanced degree in Biology you may not mind, and then this book is a 5 star book for you.

If you have a general science background, or are just interested in the subject, you will probably have a hard time absorbing more than a fraction of the material. I was looking at a couple of other similar books, and this one is so much better, its a shame it wasn't edited better. I much prefered the first half to the second

This may be the best book I've read that ulimately failed, because the ideas were not explained well.

I picked up this book based on the recommendation of the Royal Society (Best science book of 2009). Absolutely full of interesting tidbits and little-known facts pertaining to the evolution of life, from bacteria to humans, LIFE ASCENDING is sure to please the curious and will provide many impressive conversation pieces. It is a great resource for those wishing to expand their knowledge on the fascinating topic of evolution, and science junkies will devour it in no time. A word of caution, however, for those not already familiar with the rudimentaries of evolution, genetics, and molecular biology: Nick Lane jumps right in with some complicated concepts that will leave some readers behind. I wouldn't recommend this book to those without a good foundation in these topics.

The book, while broken up into 10 critical (according to Lane) evolutionary "inventions", is compiled in a way to tell a complete and continuous tale about how life as we know it has come to be. From the beginnings of life in theoretical deep-ocean vents to the scientific view of how and why consciousness arose, this book covers a broad spectrum of topics that together spell out an incredible multi-billion-year journey that continues to this day. Parts of the book, especially the first and last couple of chapters, deal with some fairly speculative ideas, but Lane does a wonderful job of meshing the prevailing hypotheses and evidence into plausible (usually convincing) scenarios that come close to explaining some of the most complicated questions humans have dared ask ourselves.

To me, the first few chapters (Origin of Life, DNA, Photosynthesis, and Complex Cells) were a bit dry, while informative, reminding me of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry classes from my graduate-school days. This part of the book was longer than it needed to be and yet simplified things a bit too much, making it seem almost easy for such insanely complicated mechanisms and reactions to arise. To me, cramming something that baffles the mind into a falsely-understandable box runs counter to Lane's intentions, and was disappointing in this book. The next four chapters (Sex, Movement, Sight, and Hot Blood) were much better in my opinion, explaining the importance of each topic, then detailing how and why life would evolve them. Plausible, interesting, and well-founded in current research, this portion of the book was more like what I had expected out of the entirety. The last two chapters, however, were easily my favorite. Examining Consciousness and Death in light of evolution is something that I had not before considered, and Nick Lane's efforts here were absolutely magnificent. Full of speculation by necessity (we still know little about why these phenomenons evolved), these chapters discussed some of the most interesting and important topics in current biology. It is this kind of grand explorations and unanswered questions that inspire new scientists, and it was these chapters that brought my ranking up to a perfect 5-stars.

I highly recommend this book to those with an understanding of evolution and a good foundation in genetics. A very well-written and fascinating history.

I read this book after Oxygen and found it equally informative. Evolution is a topic that I've read many book and scholarly journal articles about and I still found myself highlighting sections to refer back to in my AP Bio class. Someone with a general interest in science may be able to navigate this one better than Oxygen, but it is intended more for people with a scientific background. This is the first book on evolution that has tackled consciousness and how it could have evolved and made a great case for dinosaurs needing to have a four chambered heart while likely also being endotherms. A lot of good information on how life could have evolved from deep sea vents to form genetic material, eyes and more. Overall an entertaining read that I recommend. Because of it, I will continue to read all of his books because I always am fascinated by what I learn.

The first four chapters are the greatest. They explain and convince the reader how elementary chemical reactions under very special circumstances can lead to self-perpetuating entities. In other words, it was somehow just the case that our planet earth was conducive to the development of things like the Kreb cycle, RNA and DNA. As Lane marvels, "We are lucky to be here at all" (p. 117)

The middle chapters ("Movement", "Sight", "Hot Blood") are a bit different from the earlier chapters. They are more about physiology than biochemistry but still highly interesting and relevant. They are not as chronological as the previous chapters.

I am however a bit diasppointed by the chapter on consciousness. Being a medical specialist myself, I easily spotted some minor inaccuracies on some medical conditions (p.240). These by no means are vital. More crucially I don't think this chapter is totally appropriate to be in the book to start with. Lane himself says that regarding the question of consciousness, "at present we can barely conceive of how the answer might look" (p.234). So the whole chapter is filled with a lot of speculations which is very different from the rest of the book. It will be fitter to replace it with a chapter on the brain instead.

Likewise, the topic of the last chapter is also puzzling. Whilst death may be inevitable due to the nature of life itself, I would not rank it as one of the "great inventions of evolution".

So overall, despite the last two chapters, I still give it five stars. I have learned a lot and enjoyed it deeply.

I read Nick's previous book, [[ASIN:0199205647 Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life]] first, and just loved it -- fascinating and helpful. This book revisits some of the same themes, with the advantage of time to reflect and to take advantage of new information. Very clear explanations of things you often see mentioned in discussions of longevity, like SIRT-1, TOR, etc.

One of my goals is to optimize my health and longevity, and these books are extremely helpful in understanding the underlying model. Nick's belief is that aging is based on the rate of ROS leak from our cell's mitochondria, and that optimizing ROS leak not only extends lifespan, but prevents the degenerative diseases we associate with aging. Using antioxidants is not the answer, because the ROS leak is a necessary part of internal cell signaling, and extra levels of antioxidants prevent the cell from working correctly. (There are several studies showing that Vitamin C and E supplements prevent cells from upregulating mitochondria production in response to exercise, and I suspect they also prevent the cell from making additional proteins that the existing mitochondria need to minimize internal damage.) There is a mutation in some Japanese that slightly reduces ROS leak, and people with this mutation have far fewer hospitalizations after age 50, and are a disproportionate percentage of centenarians in Japan. So, strategies that minimize ROS leak appear to be critical.

This fits nicely with the things that are known to improve lifespan and health: reducing polyunsaturated fat intake to less than 4% of calories, and balancing omega-6 and omega-3 fat intake, because high PUFA and unbalanced o6:o3 are both known to increase ROS leak from mitochondria. Intermittent fasting, especially 8-hours feeding, 16-hours fasting every day, reduces ROS leakage (and also helps upregulate autophagy to control chronic infection and minimize inflammation). In fact, if you go through the things recommended by the Jaminet's in their superb book, [[ASIN:145169914X Perfect Health Diet: Regain Health and Lose Weight by Eating the Way You Were Meant to Eat]], you can see how all of their recommendations will lead to reduced ROS leakage, longer life, and good health.

So, if you only read one book the earlier one is recommended, and I'd recommend reading it first regardless, but the two of them work well together. This book also includes some new topics that were fascinating in their own right.

One anomaly is the discussion of motion and how muscles work. Nick is generally excellent about discussing alternative theories and then presenting his opinion, but his discussion of how muscles work doesn't even mention the theory that I think is correct! For an alternative, see Gerald Pollack's books: [[ASIN:0962689505 Muscles and Molecules: Uncovering the Principles of Biological Motion]], [[ASIN:096268953X The Fourth Phase of Water: Beyond Solid, Liquid, and Vapor]], and [[ASIN:0962689521 Cells, Gels and the Engines of Life]].

What an absolutely brilliant book. The author skillfully guides the reader through a series of complex yet wonderful steps along the amazing journey of life on our planet, while illustrating beautifully the fundamental scientific process that, in its own never-ending series of steps, continually seeks to illustrate and explain the natural universe we inhabit.

Each chapter surprises the reader with fascinating insights into evolution not previously encountered -it is a fast moving field and Lane is a creative investigator in his own right. Most remarkable are the theories as to how life emerged from precursors which are best described as small (think of bacteria) naturally arising chemical factories - in fact life emerged at LEAST twice resulting in the bacteria and archaea. Even when I thought I was familiar with a topic there was something entirely new to me. For example, the first letter of the DNA code indicates the chemical precursor to the amino acids with that letter, e.g. pyruvate. The second letter indicates where on the hydrophobic/hydrophilic the amino acid lies, although it is not a perfect correspondence – e.g. 5 of the 6 most hydrophobic amino acids have a T. The third letter seems to be information free, but still is not really random. It is thought that before codons were triplets, they were doublets, and that “the 15 amino acids most likely to have been encoded by the early doublet code hog between them 53 out of the 64 possible triplets” (i.e. multiple codons can specify the same amino acid). Moreover, simulation seems to show that the specific choice of 3rd letter led to the most robust set of codons in the sense that a single mutation will have the least catastrophic effect on the protein produced.

Lane has a very engaging writing style, but the book can be challenging and some background is required. The chapters are independent enough so that generally speaking a reader could skip ahead if he/she wished. Lane delights in attacking a subject historically, as the thinking evolved, and it is often not clear where the ball will stop; the reader may not be sure if the idea being discussed is in fact the latest thinking until the next twist in the story is encountered. Sometimes the chapter ends with no “final” theory. This historical approach can sometimes add to the reader’s appreciation and understanding, and can sometimes seem to be more confusing than rewarding. I reread 2 chapters, on “Warm Blood” and “Death”.

Following is a very simplified summary of the “Death” chapter. There are several overlapping strands. Underlying them all is the conviction that many medical problems are the symptoms of aging, not the cause of aging; therefore, if you can extend life by slowing aging, you will also extend the years before many common maladies show up. Scientists have prolonged lifespan in organisms ranging from yeast to fish to rodents. This benefit has been effected by mutation, restricted diet, chemicals related to the insulin family. Lane theorizes that in all these cases lifespan is prolonged because mitochondrial leak of free radicals is reduced. He asserts that birds, which have a better functioning metabolism, live longer, adjusted for size, than mammals. A single mutation in human DNA related to slightly better mitochondrial function extends expected human life for its lucky possessors. The reason that evolution has not stumbled on longer lifespan is that usually the decrease in leak is accompanied by delays in sexual maturity and reduced fertility.

Courtesy of his first two books, Mitochondria and Oxygen Nick Lane was already firmly established among the top life science writers, in my opinion along with Richard Dawkins and Stephen Gould.

With this book, Lane adds to his happily growing catelogue another entry which is rewarding but often as challenging to understand as life itself.

In this short accessible book Lane attempts to list and describe evolution's ten greatest inventions. In 30 page or so bite size chapters Lane discusses:

The Origin of Life, which sadly is often more a discussion of what we don't know than what we do know.

DNA, which didn't necessarily exist at the beginning.

Photosynthesis a surprisingly complex process.

The complex cell, which comprises the most visible class of creatures on the planet including us.

Sex, ubiquitous among the most visible class of creatures on the planet and in this chapter Lane endeavors to explain just why.

Movement, a process that has some surprising similariites among all creatures on Earth.

Sight interestingly enough a process that Lane says may have originally connected with photosynthesis.

Hot blood a development that allowed some creatures to litterally conquer night and in so doing improve their survival prospects.

Consciousness a process that Lane admits we still know all too little about.

Finally death, which Lane says essentially requires that those candles burning brightest burn the shortest.

For readers interested in more reading on Lane's treatment of origin of life/DNA issues I would suggest his prior book Oxygen as well The Fifth Miracle by University of Adelaide's Paul Davies. For those interested in better understanding Lane's treatment of the complex cell, sex, death and those related issues I would suggest Lane's Mitochondria as well as Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker. For those interested in his treatment of consciousness I would direct readers to Dan Dennett's Consciousness Explained.

Though this book is indeed short in length do not let its length in words deceive you. Though Lane may be sparse with his verbage that in no way limits the scope of depth of ideas he explores so readers new to this topic may well have to revisit paragraphs in order to make sure they've understood all the author's points.

But like all learning adventures, there is some correlation between investment and return. The more this book takes from you the more it gives back.

Much more than the title offers, this book by biologist Nick Lane is an absolute romp through the current state of knowledge in evolution, biochemistry, and genomics. Whether ruminating about the origins of the mammalian eye or why it is that eukaryotic cells (the ones that have nuclei) all have sex and alone dominate the world of biological complexity, he skillfully steers us through decades and sometimes hundreds of years of scientific research, giving due attention as well to bold conjectures, blind alleys, stunning breakthroughs that change everything, and open questions. Time after time he makes the reader wonder, "how in the world could this be?", just before saying himself, insistently, "but why?"

It is a boon to have an active scientist as a tour guide, or else we could not hope to identify the signal research findings in several related fields, must less understand their significance. Lane does all this while putting the questions forth that the research has to answer in a logical order - an order that is often apparent only much later. Then he reviews the main speculations and the theories they lead to, examining sometimes several, commenting on their improbability or the controversy they raised at the time, until finally leading us to the theory that won out. In this way Lane illustrates with many real examples the passion of scientists and the progress of science, as perhaps only a practicing scientist could. Interesting also to us as outsiders peeking into the scientific process, perhaps a little voyeuristically, are Lane's occasional comments on the personalities (Watson and Crick), parties (opthalmologists self-sort into front-of the-eye guys and back-of-the-eye guys at conferences), and feuds (were dinosaurs cold- or hot-blooded?) in science. It is a wonderful and thrilling story that repeatedly reminds why science enthralls.

The prose is as clear, paced, and well-organized as the layout of scientific ideas. There are enough technical terms for the reader to stay connected to previous readings but few enough not to deter the new-comer. If you've had an introductory course in biology, you'll have your reference points; if not, you'll miss nothing essential. The references to previous topics and those yet to come are likewise both few and yet enough to be useful.

More than a top-ten list, this latest book by Lane is a veritable summary of what is known of the evolution of life. It is a body of knowledge that is impressive, awesome, and wondrous.

As one reviewer ( a well known biologist ) suggests, this would be the book he would give Darwin, if he could return to earth, in order to catch up on on evolutionary thinking. It is well written and I expect lay people wold get a lot out of it, and perhaps be stimulated to ask some questions. The book would be highly recommended to high school biology teachers because it illustrates how science develops, and because of its perspective on life.