Life Itself: Exploring the Realm of the Living Cell

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Summary: More of a review of Trueskeptic
Review: A fascinating look at the mind-boggling complexity of cells - miniscule factories seemingly totally controlled by and communicating with each other through the interaction of amazing molecular machines.

Even more mind-boggling is the author's blind faith that this arose through chance and evolution, thus such intellectually and scientifically vacuous statements like, "evolution solved this problem by" ... useless sops to fundamentalist Darwinism, and totally useless scientifically. Nowhere are such statements elaborated upon; the existence of the first cell is assumed, thereby glossing over one of the greatest frustrations in current biology. He sprinkles such religious statements liberally throughout, instead of questioning, as Behe did in "Darwin's Black Box." However, his accounts of the scientific details of the cell are fairly clear and fascinating, with some neatly done illustrations; and so this book becomes, unwittingly, a perfect companion to Behe's "Darwin's Black Box."

His scientific rigorousness is spotty - but not unusual for an evolutionist. In keeping with outdated evolutionist "science", he presents Haeckel's now-discredited, faked embryo drawings as proof of evolution ('Embryonic fraud lives on', New Scientist 155(2098):23, September 6, 1997).

But the further one reads, the more the skeptical mind is inclined to question, "How," "When," and "Why". For example, he describes the intracellular transportation network early on. This leads us to question, when reading that this molecule or that vesicle has to move from here to there, just how does it do this, what means of locomotion does it employ, and how is this orchestrated purely in terms of proteins and such? He does a generally good job of anticipating these questions, although each answer adds to the implausibility of the system developing by chance. But the more interesting question, "How did these systems originate?" is glossed over with "It evolved."

Elsewhere, he says that the processes of life are "no more mysterious, though often far more complex and wondrous, than the crystallization of water molecules into snowflakes. ... their formation is obviously no miracle." A strangely scientifically naive view (but not uncommon among fundamentalist Darwinists), he has ironically missed the point of his own book.

He does not realize that his very own descriptions of the workings of the cell, to the open, skeptical mind, most certainly do point to a miracle.

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Summary: A GREAT SUPPLEMENTAL TEXT!
Review: A great text to supplement boring textbook descriptions of the cell organelles. Honors/AP Bio students have truly enjoyed reading about the inner workings of the cells, the molecular motors that drive movement, and the genetic basis of life. A great book that brings contemporary biology to life. Highly recommended!

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Summary: An Excellent book for the general reader
Review: After reading another reviewer's complaints about the author's treatment of the biology of aging, I went back and reread that section. I think I have become so accustomed to "reading around" such wording in evolutionary writing that I didn't even notice it until I looked for it. Sure enough, the author does sound as if he is making group selection arguments, but I don't think that is what he means. I think he is just being a bit sloppy with his language. If the Hayflick limit offers no insights into organismal aging, as the earlier reviewer claims, it nonetheless is a curious observation that average species lifespan correlates closely with the allowable number of cell divisions for the species. As a non-biologist scientist, I found the book a fascinating update to my highschool biology course (ancient history).While it gives a clear explication of the workings of the cell, it is written engagingly and simply enough that I am having my middle school children read it as an introduction to biology before they take it in high school. A book this size and at the level it is written obviously can't do justice to the full depth and breadth of cellular biology and biochemistry, but it does provide a sound introduction and certainly whets the appetite of the scientifically inclined.

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Summary: Really helped visualize the cell
Review: After reading another reviewer's complaints about the author's treatment of the biology of aging, I went back and reread that section. I think I have become so accustomed to "reading around" such wording in evolutionary writing that I didn't even notice it until I looked for it. Sure enough, the author does sound as if he is making group selection arguments, but I don't think that is what he means. I think he is just being a bit sloppy with his language. If the Hayflick limit offers no insights into organismal aging, as the earlier reviewer claims, it nonetheless is a curious observation that average species lifespan correlates closely with the allowable number of cell divisions for the species. As a non-biologist scientist, I found the book a fascinating update to my highschool biology course (ancient history).While it gives a clear explication of the workings of the cell, it is written engagingly and simply enough that I am having my middle school children read it as an introduction to biology before they take it in high school. A book this size and at the level it is written obviously can't do justice to the full depth and breadth of cellular biology and biochemistry, but it does provide a sound introduction and certainly whets the appetite of the scientifically inclined.

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Summary: Who Is In Charge Here?
Review: For most of us the cells that make up our bodies are as well known as aliens from another galaxy. I took college biology back in an era that seemed not far distant from when Leeuwenhoek developed the microscope. In that time cells seemed to be blobish creatures that led mysterious, ill-defined lives. Boyce Rensberger brings us a fascinating, up to date, tale of who these little people are. I say "little people", because in the telling of it you can't but wonder if these smallest parts of biological existence don't lead an almost sentient life. I found myself developing a personal theory that millions of years ago a group of cells got together and decided to build some big creatures that would go out and hunt food for them. They are in charge, not us.

Our cells have ports in their membranes that require a special key to get in. If a morsel of cell food (glucose) arrives in a little boxcar (vesicle) it must have a key that fits in the membrane receptor. Vesicles travel around the cell cytoplasm on microtubules, which are like so many train tracks. A seven step process takes place that changes the glucose to pyruvate which is then shipped to little organelles called mitochrondia which change this substance to ATP which is the universal cell food. The marvelous thing is that things are moved, and acted on by various protein molecules. How do little things like molecules dash about carrying out various assignments? In another part of the book the author describes the replication of the chromosomes. Not only do molecules carry out this assignment, but another molecule checks the finished work for accuracy. Throughout the book I kept saying over and over, "but how can these molecules actually do this?" How do cilia and sperm cells wag? Essentially a protein molecule holds on to a stiff fiber, reaches over to another fiber and bends it towards the first fiber. Incredible.

I'm just a layman, but this is one of the most exciting science books that I have ever read. Mr. Rensberger makes it very accessible by providing diagrams, and by using extremely useful analogies to help you understand a most complex life form. I've also taken a college course in human physiology, but these little microscopic life forms seem much more fascinating and complex than the operation of the human body itself.

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Summary: Cells are entities
Review: This book is based on the author's popular series of articles on cell biology for The Washington Post newspaper. This reference drives home the point that the cells making up our body are each complex, fairly autonomous entities.

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Summary: An INCREDIBLE book.
Review: This has to be one of the best science books I've ever read. I've always been put off by cell biology which seem masses of unrelated disconnected facts. This book puts it all together, covering both the science we know and the experimental techniques we used to learn it. Of the many books I read each year, about five get to stay in my library while the rest are tossed. This book easily makes that cut.