Seven Clues to the Origin of Life : A Scientific Detective Story (Canto)

Rating:
Summary: Witty, but self serving
Review: A. Graham Cairns-Smith has created a small gem in his Seven Clues to the Origin of Life. The book, a discussion of the pre-biotic stage of the evolution of life, is concise, logical and lucid and explained in terms that would be comprehensible to anyone from the junior high student with a basic science education to beyond it. As Daniel C. Dennett writes in the journal Nature about another of the author's books, "Cairns-Smith is a brilliant explainer of difficult ideas, bringing to the task an imagination that is magnificently disciplined by detailed scientific understanding."

I had heard of the concept of a crystal template for the creation of organic molecules while studying mineralogy for a geology degree in the 1980s, so Cairns-Smith's topic had already intrigued me. When I found reference to this book in the annotated bibliography of another I was reading, I decided to look it over too. I wasn't disappointed.

Dr Cairns-Smith is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. The main area of his research has been in simple non-nucleic acid genetic systems which might have been important in the earliest stages of the evolution of life, a topic on which he has collaborated with others and continued to publish in professional journals as recently as 1996. So he is eminently prepared to discuss the pre-biotic era of life.

Although the book is old for a work of science (1985), it is nonetheless still very much a leading idea in the subject of the early stages of life. Furthermore, the author cleverly puts the topic into terms that most of his readers will understand, even borrowing concepts from architecture/building, the nature of ropes, and the history of technology to do so. Avoiding confusing professional jargon, he leads the reader through the material in a logical, step by step manner until his conclusion: that we may owe our existance to the character and evolution of clay materials. While one may not necessarily believe that this is actually how the process worked-or for religious reasons may disagree altogether-it is still a cogent work, one that illustrates how science comes up with its theories of how things got to be as they are.

Rating:
Summary: Concise, logical, lucid
Review: A. Graham Cairns-Smith has created a small gem in his Seven Clues to the Origin of Life. The book, a discussion of the pre-biotic stage of the evolution of life, is concise, logical and lucid and explained in terms that would be comprehensible to anyone from the junior high student with a basic science education to beyond it. As Daniel C. Dennett writes in the journal Nature about another of the author's books, "Cairns-Smith is a brilliant explainer of difficult ideas, bringing to the task an imagination that is magnificently disciplined by detailed scientific understanding."

I had heard of the concept of a crystal template for the creation of organic molecules while studying mineralogy for a geology degree in the 1980s, so Cairns-Smith's topic had already intrigued me. When I found reference to this book in the annotated bibliography of another I was reading, I decided to look it over too. I wasn't disappointed.

Dr Cairns-Smith is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. The main area of his research has been in simple non-nucleic acid genetic systems which might have been important in the earliest stages of the evolution of life, a topic on which he has collaborated with others and continued to publish in professional journals as recently as 1996. So he is eminently prepared to discuss the pre-biotic era of life.

Although the book is old for a work of science (1985), it is nonetheless still very much a leading idea in the subject of the early stages of life. Furthermore, the author cleverly puts the topic into terms that most of his readers will understand, even borrowing concepts from architecture/building, the nature of ropes, and the history of technology to do so. Avoiding confusing professional jargon, he leads the reader through the material in a logical, step by step manner until his conclusion: that we may owe our existance to the character and evolution of clay materials. While one may not necessarily believe that this is actually how the process worked-or for religious reasons may disagree altogether-it is still a cogent work, one that illustrates how science comes up with its theories of how things got to be as they are.

Rating:
Summary: a quick read on the origins of life
Review: Although I'm not too enamoured by Cairns-Smith's idea that clays were the origin of life, this book does a good job explaining his point of view. It's a short book but covers quite a bit of the science involved with trying to dissect how life is arranged today and how it may have begun. If you're worried about his "clay" theory being a clandestine attempt to say the Bible was right after all, it's not.

Rating:
Summary: True? False? Who knows? But definitely a great read!
Review: First, I have to preface my review by saying that I haven't yet read other books about the origin of life, so I have nothing to compare this book to...anyway

This short book is absolutely fascinating. The thrust of the author's argument is this:

Life as we know it is too complex to have originated in its present form. Nucleic acids and proteins and most organic molecules necessary for life are too complex to have originated in the primitive atmosphere even if the conditions were favorable. We need to find something that is capable of growing, replicating (not perfectly), and providing a substrate for the formation of molecules necessary for life as we know it today. What could possibly do that? Ah yes, crystals of clay! Clay is abundant. It grows and replicates but not perfectly thus allowing for irregularities to accumulate. These crystals with irregularities could then provide a surface that brought molecules together in close proximity so that they could interact and produce the organic molecules needed for life. Eventually, the secondary organisms that resulted from this process achieved a certain complexity that gave rise to life as we know it.

Interesting argument. Is it true? Is it even plausible? I actually don't know the answer to either question, and I have a feeling that there are no definite answers.

I found this book thought-provoking, and it presented an interesting solution to the mystery of the origin of life.

Rating:
Summary: What an interesting book!
Review: I reread this book every year, right before I present the origin of life in my historical geology classes. I spend an entire lecture on this book. The topic and the ideas presented by the author enthrall my students. Someone always asks to borrow it. One of the great things about this book is that my students, even the first year students, can understand it. The ideas presented by Dr. Cairns-Smith make much more sense to me than other ideas I have seen presented on the origin of life on Earth.

Rating:
Summary: Witty, but self serving
Review: The author's specific view on the origin of life on Earth from clay minerals explained in a "see how smart I am" fashion.

For a broader overview in a similarly slim book, read Origins of Life from Freeman Dyson instead. For a much broader overview on three times as many pages read The Emergence of Life on Earth by Iris Fry.

Do read the book if you want to get a short and entertaining first hand explanation of the Carins-Smith theory of the origin of life - which by the way seems to be half way between eccentric and mainstream: widely discussed without being generally accepted.

Rating:
Summary: Good, but could be better written
Review: This book is meticulously thought through and very persuasively argued. But it lacks the eloquent writing of E.O. Wilson, or Matt Ridley. Fortunately, it's short.

Rating:
Summary: Genetic takeover
Review: This reference, intended for the general reader, treats the problem of the origins of life on Earth as a Sherlock Holmes mystery to be solved. The reader is introduced to organic chemistry and the workings of an E. coli, to show how difficult it is to get chemical systems to produce products such as RNA or DNA, and yet, how very complex a simple cell is. It is suggested that perhaps instead of thinking classically as DNA as the controlling element and core of the cell, ie, DNA-> RNA-> proteins, think from a supply perspective, ie, at the core of the cell are carbon molecules such as carbon dioxide -> subcomponents -> amino acids -> nucleotides & DNA, ie, DNA is not at the core, but is most outward layer, and probably evolved the last too. It is proposed that the ultimate ancestor of life on Earth did not use RNA or DNA as a genetic system, but with evolution, a 'genetic takeover' occurred whereby the now-familiar RNA and DNA systems emerged. The phenomenon of self-assembly of molecules, from soap bubbles to the folding of proteins to the formation of crystals is discussed. This leads to the proposal that the very early genes on Earth were in fact 'crystal genes'. The crystallization of supersaturated solutions is discussed, and it is noted how small crystals cause 'reproduction' and 'growth' of more crystal from the supersaturated solution. Geological processes on Earth produce huge amounts of clay minerals. Crystals all have defect structures, with the result no two crystals are identical. The first 'lifeforms' on Earth were inorganic crystal-based entities that reproduced and grew as such. Since the supply perspective of the cell suggests that the biochemical structure is built up from carbon dioxide molecules, it is proposed that via photosynthesis the mineral lifeforms started producing organic molecules. It is noted that iron atoms are common in most clays, and could have 'caught' light and in conjunction with various patterns of clay layers, have synthesized organic molecules. Eventually the clay apparatus of the primitive lifeforms was replaced with RNA-like molecules, amino acids, membrane layers, and so on, and the DNA/RNA/protein form of life we are familiar with emerged. The seven clues referred to in the title of this reference are as follows: 1. Evolution can only occur when there is replication of some sort of genetic information. 2. DNA and RNA are difficult molecules to fabricate, far removed from the core of biochemical pathways. 3. To make an arch of stones needs scaffolding, and similarly, to originate the form of life we are now familiar with required some sort of scaffolding. 4. No particular fiber in a rope has to stretch from one end of the rope to the other end as long as they are adequately intertwined, and similarly, the lifeforms based on inorganic crystalline genes could have gradually evolved into lifeforms based on organic molecular genes. 5. A primitive machine must be easy to make from available materials and work with little fuss, while in the case of an advanced machine, the emphasis is on working well, and often it may be complex to assemble. 6. Crystals put themselves together and could have easily formed a 'low-tech' genetic material, unlike the complicated control required of organic molecules. 7. The Earth produces huge amounts of clay minerals.