Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imparative

by Christian de Duve

Book Overview

Is the emergence of life on Earth the result of a single chance event or combination of lucky accidents, or is it the outcome of biochemical forces woven into the fabric of the universe? And if inevitable, what are these forces, and how do they account not only for the origin of life but also for its evolution toward increasing complexity? Vital Dust is a groundbreaking history of life on Earth, a history that only someone of Chrisitian de Duve's...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465090443
• ISBN13: 9780465090440
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Dr. de Duve tells it all!

This book is structured along the time line from anaerobic times to multi-celled organism. In addition to its primary topic of how life evolved from plants and bacteria to multi-celled, it also discusses the external environment's role in "driving" the evolution of life. Dr. de Duve uses a most wonderful writing device by citing MODERN organisms (Giardia), things we can study TODAY, to illustrate ancient organisms and our cellular metabolism. He established the unbroken chain from waaaaay back when to now. I wanted to know how we 'learned' to 'make' mitochondria, and other very important symbionts. His chapter Oxygen Crisis in combination with The Guests Who Stayed explained it. His chapter on Membranes gave me a whole new view of the importance of membranes, another huge body of knowledge that I must study-up. Please do pay attention to his wonderfully helpful "end matter," bibliography, glossary and Further Reading. Do read carefully his comments about Further Reading: it ranges from books on cosmology (another of my enthusiasms), through biochem, molecular bio, cell structures, evolution... all the way to Philosophy. It shows the common thread through all these fields of science. The suggested reading includes his own illustrated book, "A Guided Tour of the Living Cell," ISBN: 0716750023. It's a Scientic American product so you can rely on excellent illustrations. "Vital Dust" is compehensive in scope without being superficial (unlike so many trade books on science), and written by a real scientist (not journalist) and Nobel Prize winner "for [his]discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell." A pdf of his Nobel lecture is downloadable from the Nobel Prize site. This book has plenty of detail as well being thought provoking and well-written, but an undergrad bio, or biochem background would help you get more out of it. Even so, it warrants several readings.

The story's in the details

Ever since Charles Darwin postulated the beginnings of life in "some warm little pond" science has probed into origin mechanisms. As it became clearer that life is a molecular phenomenon, researchers have delved deeper into chemical processes to work out life's start. De Duve joins that quest with a detailed examination of these mechanisms and the environments in which they come about. In his explanation of life's origins, it becomes clear that the mechanisms leading to life are common. Earth, therefore, is not alone - "the universe is awash with life". If conditions are right, and many of the processes can't go forward unless the environment permits them to, life at some level is sure to begin. "Life is one", he stipulates, but likely in many places.De Duve's narrative is highly detailed in the opening sections. The conditions and operations he describes are fundamental to life's development. How carbon-based molecules interact in ways that led to replication, then selection, are carefully explained. While many of the early steps were random, perhaps even chaotic, "superior" [because they survived and replicated better] molecular structures became more common. While he notes there are preferred environments for this process, they aren't tightly limited. Change of environment formed selection pressures which even early life could respond to without difficulty. While at first glance this description may appear an account of many chance events, De Duve points out that life started on a "deterministic" path almost from the beginning. The rules of chemical reactions limit what chance can impose. Yet, once the start has been made, similar rules force the process of life forward.This book is a major statement and deserves serious consideration. That this is a technically challenging read should not discourage you. A thorough analysis of life's development, right up to that major achievement of evolution, the human mind, de Duve demonstrates how important knowledge of ourselves is to our survival. He further postulates that values are an essential part human evolution, including wisdom, love, and responsibility for our place in nature. True science, he argues, supports a sense of moral values, it doesn't abandon nor avoid them. Learning about origins of life as a fact of chemistry doesn't reduce it to sterility nor meaninglessness. These ideas aren't necessarily novel with de Duve, but he expresses them better than most. He also provides a better foundation for believing in them than most. A valuable book, it's one that should be considered vital for any student of nature or philosophy. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

Vital cells

Easy to read overview of the evolution of life on Earth over the past four billion years. Emphasis on the importance of the cell in evolution.

A grand old man's finest teaching.

Christian De Duve answers questions you've always wondered about. He does his best to provide a complete picture while being honest about the leaps of imagination he has to take. I love when he asks us to wonder more at the becoming of a bee, not at the few primitive motions it makes to build a mud hut. He's a wonderful teacher, carefully helping us build a vocabulary so that we'll appreciate the findings of microbiology. I want to attack the reading list he includes. Who has time for novels now?

A Revelation

The meat of this book is the first 200 pages which describe in depth the origin and evolution of single celled organisms. I used to wonder why there seemed to be so little evolution till multicellular organisms evolved but this book shows that this is an illusion; most biochemistry was "invented" by single celled organisms. Particularly interesting are the description of why and how eukaryotes evolved, and the discussion of the origin of sex. The later evolution is covered in less detail but is still a good read. The best book on evolution I have read, and better than "Microcosmos" by Margulis and Sagan.