Beginnings of Cellular Life: Metabolism Recapitulates Biogenesis

by Harold J. Morowitz

Book Overview

"This book is an extraordinary integration of a lifetime of thought on the subject by an exceptional scholar. Morowitz logically, consistently, and persuasively moves to define arguments that will influence thought in a fundamental realm of biology." -Donald M. Engelman, Yale University "Morowitz develops a model of the origin of life in which cells originate first, proteins follow, and genes evolve last. This model contradicts conventional wisdom...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300102100
• ISBN13: 9780300102109
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 208 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Abiogenesis as basic physical chemistry

Popular hypotheses on the origin of life generally surround the priming by hereditary material, by partitioning by micelles, or by early metabolic cycling. In Beginnings of Cellular Life, Harold Morowitz argues a sort of combination between the latter two, connecting the physical chemistries of carbon fixation, properties of C, O, H, N, P, and S, and extremely specific array of small ( To be sure, this book presents just a hypothesis. It is also probably over the heads of the average layperson. But his "principle of continuity" is the sound logic that any serious discussion on the origin of life must stick to, dismissing even Jacques Monod's vision of the origin of life as an event that has happened in the past and is truly unique, such that it cannot be recreated in the lab (Chance and Necessity, 1971). Simply put, the origin of life is at least conceptually accessible to science, and therefore any relevant hypothesis must be falsifiable (or conversely, verifiable). And as far as scientifically-argued explanations for the origin of life go, Morowitz has raised the bar, and having read the book, I'm surprised that this book has not gotten more publicity.