Every Life Is on Fire
How Thermodynamics Explains the Origins of Living Things
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life.
Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't.
For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded us. But in Every Life Is on Fire, physicist Jeremy England argues that the answer has been under our noses the whole time, deep within the laws of thermodynamics. England explains how, counterintuitively, the very same forces that tend to tear things apart assembled the first living systems.
But how life began isn't just a scientific question. We ask it because we want to know what it really means to be alive. So England, an ordained rabbi, uses his theory to examine how, if at all, science helps us find purpose in a vast and mysterious universe.
In the tradition of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Every Life Is on Fire is a profound testament to how something can come from nothing.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
England, a physicist and rabbi, debuts with an ambitious but disappointing multidisciplinary inquiry into the origin and meaning of life. Interested in the question of how life is differentiated from nonlife, he asks what physics can reveal about "when and how things that are not alive start to become more lifelike." England also moves into the philosophical and theological realms, addressing such questions as "Are humans simply animals, or something more?" with guidance from the Hebrew Bible. However, the bulk of the book deals with physics, including entropy, the nature of time, and energy flow, as well as his own hypothesis "that building blocks with diverse possible response properties to a given drive should spontaneously organize themselves to either reduce their energy absorption or else direct it into powering orderly, regular motion." Amid all this, biology is often lost. Similarly, though each chapter begins with a quotation from Exodus or Genesis, these are only fleetingly integrated into the text. Those attracted by England's lofty premise are unlikely to be satisfied by the diffuse execution.
