A World From Dust
How the Periodic Table Shaped Life
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- £34.99
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- £34.99
Publisher Description
A World From Dust describes how a set of chemical rules combined with the principles of evolution in order to create an environment in which life as we know it could unfold. Beginning with simple mathematics, these predictable rules led to the advent of the planet itself, as well as cells, organs and organelles, ecosystems, and increasingly complex life forms. McFarland provides an accessible discussion of a geological history as well, describing how the inorganic matter on Earth underwent chemical reactions with air and water, allowing for life to emerge from the world's first rocks. He traces the history of life all the way to modern neuroscience, and shows how the bioelectric signals that make up the human brain were formed. Most popular science books on the topic present either the physics of how the universe formed, or the biology of how complex life came about; this book's approach would be novel in that it condenses in an engaging way the chemistry that links the two fields. This book is an accessible and multidisciplinary look at how life on our planet came to be, and how it continues to develop and change even today.
This book includes 40 illustrations by Gala Bent, print artist and studio faculty member at Cornish College of the Arts, and Mary Anderson, medical illustrator.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
McFarland, professor of biochemistry at Seattle Pacific University, attempts to map the history of life via the periodic table, with mixed results. He repeatedly returns to the idea that the characteristics of chemical elements such as their relative abundance or scarcity, and their capacity to bond to other elements determine how life developed on our planet. Like all good works of science for the general public, McFarland's is full of fascinating examples, a dash of humor, and just plain cool facts. These are so prevalent, however, as to obscure his main theme. He mixes metaphors and confusingly moves between different analogies within the same paragraph, describing the movement of electrons between pigment molecules as "a string quartet keeping tempo" and then "a ship sailing out to sea." Chemistry isn't regarded for its intuitiveness, so when McFarland writes that "it is easy to imagine a microbe randomly stitching double-bonded carbons together and then surviving better because of the protective role those electrons can play," some readers may beg to differ. It is possible to glimpse some interesting concepts, but in his eagerness to express them, McFarland gets in his own way. Illus.
