Ever since Richard Dawkins wrote The Selfish Gene, we've been dazzled by the importance of the genetic code (or, as Lane points out in one of his many asides, what should really be called the genetic cipher) - but this focus has tended to give an exaggerated importance to the information stored there. Of course it's essential to life - but as this book explores, chemistry and energy are what life is really about. Nick Lane points out that there is no difference in the information in an organism just before and just after it dies - but there's quite a lot of difference in terms of its life.
Biology and chemistry can both be extremely difficult to put across in popular science. Biology because it's so complicated with vast numbers of molecules and processes involved, and chemistry because, dare I say it, it can appear a bit dull. What Lane does wonderfully well is to bring biochemistry to life. He demonstrates this marvellously in his description of the discovery of the Krebs cycle - central to the process of respiration and at the heart of this book. Read a standard description of the cycle, and it's pretty much impenetrable to the non-biochemist. But first by using a very elegant way of visually portraying molecules and then by combining the mechanism of the cycle with the story of its discovery, Lane turns it into something accessible and exciting.
The Krebs cycle is a series of chemical reactions that take place (in part or entirely) in most living organisms. Running in one direction it explains respiration, the process by which organic molecules undergo controlled combustion to produce energy, while in reverse it is one of the ways that complex organic molecules can be constructed. At the same time we see the importance of flows of energy and electrical potentials in understanding life. It's heady stuff. Lane goes on to show how the same processes that support life can produce cancers - and why these processes change over time, resulting in ageing and death.
Another impressive aspect of this book is the way it brings the real scientific method into the spotlight. This is something that science writing tend to over-simplify and treat with almost religious awe. Yet it is undertaken by flawed human beings. In showing how explanations of the Krebs cycle, the workings of mitochondria and more were gradually developed, Lane gives us plenty of stories of human endeavour and how the development of good science is not a straight line to success, but involves detours, misunderstandings and, yes, sometimes human pettiness.
Although I love this book, it does inevitably suffer part way through from the problems of a biology book being read by non-biologists. To start with I was carried along with enthusiasm engendered by those stories and Lane's novel presentation, but there are a couple of chapters midway through where the sheer volume of molecules named becomes somewhat overwhelming and I had to fight myself not to skip to a more interesting bit. It's hard to see how this could be avoided - but it does remain an issue.
We emerge back into the sunlight of comprehensibility and interest, though. In this book, Nick Lane challenges us to see the nature of life differently - not dismissing genetics, but making it an equal partner with the physical and chemical processes that keep life going. A challenge is even presented to the way that biology is taught - Lane sometimes points out aspects of traditional biology teaching that are simply wrong by modern standards. But what keeps us engaged is the author's enthusiasm and insider insights that make this far more than the kind of simplified textbook that is the way many scientists see popular science. It's a fascinating book.
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Review by Brian Clegg - See all of Brian's online articles or subscribe to a weekly digest for free here
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