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In Search of Cell History: The Evolution of Life's Building Blocks, by Franklin M. Harold
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The origin of cells remains one of the most fundamental problems in biology, one that over the past two decades has spawned a large body of research and debate. With In Search of Cell History, Franklin M. Harold offers a comprehensive, impartial take on that research and the controversies that keep the field in turmoil.
Written in accessible language and complemented by a glossary for easy reference, this book investigates the full scope of cellular history. Assuming only a basic knowledge of cell biology, Harold examines such pivotal subjects as the relationship between cells and genes; the central role of bioenergetics in the origin of life; the status of the universal tree of life with its three stems and viral outliers; and the controversies surrounding the last universal common ancestor. He also delves deeply into the evolution of cellular organization, the origin of complex cells, and the incorporation of symbiotic organelles, and considers the fossil evidence for the earliest life on earth. In Search of Cell History shows us just how far we have come in understanding cell evolution—and the evolution of life in general—and how far we still have to go.
- Sales Rank: #667607 in Books
- Published on: 2014-10-29
- Released on: 2014-10-29
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.00" h x 1.00" w x 6.00" l, .0 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 304 pages
Review
“A must-have. . . . In Search of Cell History is a wise and useful summary of the issues facing origins research. Importantly, it refocuses the origin problem onto the cell in toto, as a unit of living matter; it represents a solid foundation for origins research where chemists have begun only very recently to make significant advances in understand the crowding and structuring of biomacromolecules in living cells. There is no need to throw in the towel yet.” (Jan Spitzer, Mallard Creek Polymers, Inc. Microbe)
“Harold manages to cover a lot of ground, offers a piece of writing that is highly instructive and broad in its treatment of cellular evolution, and includes a helpful glossary at the end. He also provides a wonderful historical summary and perspective. . . . We can thank Harold for his fine work, so broad and sweeping, on leading us to nature’s ultimate mystery—the link of the LUCA to the cosmos.” (Paul Schimmel, Scripps Research Institute FASEB Journal)
“Wonderful. . . . A loving distillation of connections within the incredible diversity of life in the biosphere, framing one of biology’s most important remaining questions: how did life begin? . . . Using [a] deceptively casual approach, Harold cleans up the vast untidy mess of biology and stacks the fundamental concepts in an orderly and creative way for readers to enjoy. . . . Harold’s book is like a balloon that will let [young scientists] rise above the trees for a while and look down to better understand the scope and shape of the forest—and perhaps then descend to pluck some low-hanging fruit. Senior scientists like myself will take pleasure in comparing perspectives with Harold’s. This is, after all, a story to conjure with—that of how life began and evolved into eukaryotic cells, a hundred trillion of which compose the human body. No one can yet tell this story in its entirety, but Harold’s book is a good place to start.” (David Deamer, University of California, Santa Cruz Nature)
“The big questions in evolution are the ones that grab our imagination: How did life begin? Where do cells come from? How did eukaryotes come to be? How does life become organized? How does it become complex, and what is biological complexity in the first place? How does energy figure into cell evolution? Where did the genetic code come from? Those are the kinds of questions that Franklin Harold, a grand master of cellular workings and bioenergetics, has packed into his latest book. . . . Sound interesting? It is. The book is a must for those interested in microbial evolution, life’s origin, or both. . . . Coming into the final chapter, the reader gets a strong sense that judgment day and the unabated Wrath of God are lurking just around the corner, to be delivered ablaze with lightning bolts from above. There is chilling suspense that Harold is finally going to part the waters and thunder forth what he really thinks about all these ideas on early evolution, namely that individually and in sum they cut neither ice nor mustard, and that we are best advised to repentantly seek our drawing board, eraser firm in hand, with renewed resolve to do better in our next sixty years of attempt. I will not divulge here how much hellfire and damnation the final verdicts hold.” (William F. Martin, University of Düsseldorf, Germany BioEssays)
“Within In Seach of Cell History Harold deftly discusses the definition of life, successes and problems of classification of cells, how cells get and use energy, the great divergence of cell types into three loose families, cell symbionts, and even tackles the ultimate riddle of where cells first came from. His approach is a classic scientific one, starting with what is known and provable then moving into theories of what is not known. He is clear to separate fact from speculation, not hesitating to state his own opinions as such and contrasting them point by point with others in the field. It is very refreshing to read about the forward edge of cell research without polemics of any kind. The talent of his writing is twofold, first; I felt a part of a conversation among the leading lights of cell research, and second; Harold has no problem stating what is not known. . . . This is a book that illustrates what scientific writing should be; precise, exciting, and presenting the unknown in such a way as to inspire us to want to learn more.” (San Francisco Book Review)
“A fine addition to the many books on how cells originated and evolved. It is well written, accessible, thorough, and illustrated with helpful figures, focusing on cellular organization and how that organization diversified as various life-forms evolved. Harold comprehensively discusses the important process of fusion between cells (symbiosis) in cell evolution as well as information on cellular structure and organization that can be gleaned from the fossil record. . . . Highly recommended.” (B. K. Hall, Dalhousie University Choice)
“In Search of Cell History offers an ambitious, one-stop overview of early cell evolution that covers all major theories related to the origin of life, the early evolution and diversification of cells, and the emergence of eukaryotic cells with their structural novelties, such as nuclei, mitochondria, and plastids. . . . The bottom line: I really admire this book and expect to refer to it frequently in the future. . . . Harold does a marvelous job of reviewing and summarizing an unwieldy mass of literature on the origin and early diversification of life and providing some opinions about which theories and lines of research seem promising.” (David Baum, University of Wisconsin-Madison Reports of the National Center for Science Education)
“This book is a rare pleasure: a beautiful, rational, wise, and eloquent framing of life’s greatest mysteries, what remains to be known, and how we might get there. It should be read by anyone who wonders, seriously, how we came to be. If it does not provide all the answers, that is because we honestly do not know.” (Nick Lane University College London and author of "Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution")
“When dealing with difficult questions such as the origin of life, one yearns for writing that is both sagacious and readable, two qualities that don’t always go together. Fortunately, we can forego the need for making a choice. Harold’s book provides an account that is both masterful in the pursuit of the very question and in the clarity with which he unravels relevant phenomena. I daresay that few more helpful guides to a complex terrain have come forth since Dante’s Beatrice.” (Moselio Schaechter, Distinguished Professor, emeritus Tufts University)
“The origin of life is one of the great enigmas yet to yield to modern science. While there are other books that attempt to place their own spin on how life came about, In Search of Cell History stands alone in that it is written not by one of those advocating a particular viewpoint but instead by one who tries to remain a detached, albeit extremely well informed, observer of events. An excellent piece of scholarly work by a suitably unbiased and appropriately skeptical researcher.” (Mark A. Farmer University of Georgia)
About the Author
Franklin M. Harold was born in Germany, grew up in the Middle East, and became a scientist at the City College of New York and the University of California, Berkeley. His professional career spans forty years of research and teaching, mostly in Colorado. He is professor emeritus of biochemistry at Colorado State University and affiliate professor of microbiology at the University of Washington. Harold’s interests include the physiology, energetics, and morphogenesis of microorganisms, with a continuing interest in evolution. He is a member of the American Academy of Microbiology. Harold is also the author of The Vital Force: A Study of Bioenergetics and The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms, and the Order of Life.
Most helpful customer reviews
28 of 29 people found the following review helpful.
something to be thankful for
By j a haverstick
This book arrived the day before Thanksgiving. I had recently read THE AMOEBA IN THE ROOM and was looking to expand my knowledge. Thumbing thru CELL HISTORY I thought I had possibly made a mistake as the sentences I lighted on seemed pretty technical. Next day,however, Thanksgiving, I woke up, lit a fire, cut my finger to the bone paring vegtables with a steak knife, wrapped it up, started the food and sat down with this volume. I saw at once it was a well organized book consisting of twelve self contained chapters of about twenty pages each. So just take it one by one, I told myself. A few hours later, by the time the family drifted in, I was onto chapter four ar five and could hardly put it down.
Harold has a very clear and organized writing technique. Additionally there is an extremely helpful glossary at the back where you can look up tiose familiar words of which you can never remember the meaning, protease, plasmid, gram positive and so on. There are several illustrations and line drawings in each chapter which are most clear and helpful. The book is engaging and takes attention but it is not difficult. I imagine Harold was a very good teacher by the presentation of this book. It deals with the evolutionary history of one celled organisms which turns out to be fascinating. It considers the vexing question of whether the unit of selection is the cell or the DNA. It trys to find a place in the picture for viruses. It fills you in on the significance of lateral gene transferal. By the time you've finished, you've got not only an up-to-date picture (much of this material came to light in only the last decades) of the possible lineages and progenitor of the protists you also have a very clear picture of cell biology in general.
The last two chapters are the most intellectually provoking. Sometimes it seems he's into the mystic, so be careful not to overreact. He's just honestly puzzled. The origens of protists and the origin of life itself are much more murky than I had supposed. It's not like like we just have a few more lines in the crossword to fill in! Harold is very clear on the ignorance we are in, in these areas there has not been much progress. The end of the book is as much philosopihical almost as biological and it was fascinating. Sadly, given the latest hype about the Mars explorer, I probabaly wont be around for any discoveries of extraterrestial organisms; for given what Harold says, I think that's perhaps the most promising way to get a theory (i.e., a larger sample).
The only part which is stuill unclear to me is the energy gernerating chemistry of these organisms. Since Harold has written an introductory book on this topic as well, I think I'm hooked into ordering that one, too. The only downside was the sliced finger and a spilled glass of beer has reduced the resale value, but this is a book I'd never want to get rid of. Most informative reading experience in months. Really food for thought.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Buy this book for the most up to date review of life origin research, and buy it from University of Chicago for print quality
By JayEm
By far the best book I've read for an overview of the current state of research into life's origin on Earth. The author's treatment of the "tree of life" addresses cellular membrane and well as genetic information inheritance, and the difficulties that arise when fitting three-dimensional cell structure into the world of genetic descent with modification. For that alone I thank him for writing the book. The author reviews the history and current status of lateral gene transfer, the origin of the Archaea, the role of symbiosis in the origin of Eukaryota, the evolution of bio-energetics, and the evidence for, and contributions from, a RNA world and the virus world. Well written, lots of new info, and well recommended. You will be pleased.
Don't order the book from Amazon.com. Order it directly from University of Chicago Press. Amazon sent me a print-on-demand copy of this new book, probably made from the eBook/Kindle scan of the original. The copy of Amazon did not look right at all - the illustrations could not be read, low contrast, distinct bands and segmented gray scale in most of the illustrations. Text looked pale on some pages. I contacted University of Chicago Press and told them about the quality of the book as received from Amazon (printed in Kentucky, I think) and they sent me a new copy from their printer. Night and day! Their copy had wonderfully printed grey-scale illustrations that preserved the subtle changes, no "banding" or low contrast. I returned the POD copy to Amazon.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
A masterful synthesis, even if too pessimistic about unraveling the origin of cellular organization
By Roy A. Black
Frank Harold’s “In Search of Cell History” is a masterful synthesis of what we know about the origin and evolution of cells, up to the appearance of eukaryotes about 1.5 billion years ago. There is extensive discussion of the likely attributes of the “last universal common ancestor” of all life on earth today, and of how it diverged to the three domains—bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes. Harold also addresses more specific issues, such as the origin of the energy system used by all cells and the mechanism by which complex components within cells arose. He reserves discussion of the origin of cells for a late chapter; he considers this question to be the “ultimate riddle” and is skeptical that we will ever solve it.
Each topic is carefully introduced, and the prose is clear and lively throughout. Indeed, the book reads as if the author is sitting in a room with you, captivated by the phenomena he describes and eager to tell the story. So it should be accessible to anyone with a basic knowledge of biology. The analysis is nonetheless highly sophisticated, and the book is exceptional in its coverage of competing views and in providing an objective delineation of what's known from what isn't.
The last chapter turns more philosophical, as other reviewers have noted, but I thought this was fine—after telling such a grand story, why not let loose with some speculation as to what if anything it all means? Is life a manifestation of some kind of universal drive toward complexity? I think most of the book actually stands in opposition to this conclusion, but as always Harold’s argument is highly intelligent and articulate.
I will echo a “quibble” noted by David Deamer in his positive review of the book for Nature: I think Harold is excessively pessimistic in his assessment of our prospects for understanding the origin of cells. I agree whole-heartedly that the core of the problem is explaining how cellular organization arose. Pointing to a possible energy source here, a candidate surface for RNA polymerization there, etc. doesn’t address the core problem, and origin-of-life researchers would do well to read Harold’s critique of the field. But as he himself relates, prebiotic molecules called fatty acids actually self-assemble spontaneously into cell-like membrane structures. Moreover, a recent paper in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (disclosure: I am an author) shows that the building blocks of RNA spontaneously associate with such membranes. These simple physical phenomena would seem to offer a plausible explanation for the origin of biological order, and hence remove the issue from the realm of mystery.
But I nonetheless highly recommend reading Harold’s incisive and provocative treatment of this question, as well as the rest of the book.
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