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How Science is Reinventing Life Itself
by Adam Rutherford
Within the first billion years after this planet formed, a spark of life spontaneously ignited, turning inanimate chemicals into what we now would recognize as a living thing: a cell. Four billion years later, science has catalogued more than a million species.
Science writer Adam Rutherford shows how unprecedented advances in our understanding of life have equipped us with the ability to create entirely new life-forms: goats that produce spider silk in their milk, bacteria that excrete diesel, genetic codes that identify and destroy cancer cells. This new synthetic biology is poised to offer radical new solutions to the crises of food shortage, pandemic disease, and climate change.
By charting the history of our evolution, questioning what life really is, and identifying the milestones in our understanding of biological processes, Rutherford shows how this frontier of science will kickstart an industrial revolution that will dominate the rest of this century.
"Starred Review. Combining superb science writing with a refreshing wit, Rutherford does an excellent job of bringing genomics and synthetic biology to life in this accessible overview...There's much to savor here - even in the footnotes." - Publishers Weekly
"While it is unlikely that scientists will synthesize a human in the near future, genuinely amazing biology is in the works, and Rutherford delivers a fascinating overview." - Kirkus
"A superbly written explanation of how the origin of life on Earth became a question for science, and what the answer might be." - Sunday Times (UK)
"Rutherford tells the epic history of life on Earth and eloquently argues the case for embracing technology that allows us to become biological designers." - Alice Roberts, broadcaster for the BBC, professor of public engagement in science at the University of Birmingham
"Just as the last century was regarded as the golden age of physics, so it is becoming increasingly clear that the twenty-first is the century of biology. This book is the perfect 'story so far.'" - Jim Al-Khalili, broadcaster for the BBC, professor of physics at the University of Surrey, and author of Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Physics
"A superbly written explanation of how the origin of life on Earth became a question for science and what the answer might be." - Brian Cox, broadcaster for the BBC, professor of physics at the University of Manchester, and author of Why Does E=mc²?
"Suddenly science is close to understanding the Indian rope trick by which life emerged from non-life four billion years ago. Adam Rutherford has written an engaging account of both the mystery and its impending resolution; he has also provided a fascinating glimpse of the impending birth of a new, synthetic biology." - Matt Ridley, author of Genome
"A witty, engaging and eye-opening explanation of the basic units of life, right back to our common ancestors and on to their incredible synthetic future. The mark of a really good science book, it shows that the questions we still have are just as exciting as the answers we already know." - Dara Ó'Briain, comedian
This information about Creation was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Adam Rutherford is a science writer and broadcaster. He is an editor at Nature, writes for the Guardian, and regularly presents programs for BBC Radio 4 in the UK. He has also presented several acclaimed science series for BBC television, including the award winning three-part series The Cell. A geneticist by training, he has a Ph.D. from University College London.
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