Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth (Princeton Science Library): The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth - Updated Edition: 35

I cannot agree more with the other 5-star reviews of this book. It was a complete joy to read. Never patronising nor overly technical, it is a mature but accessible summary of probably the most fascinating topic in all biology. What was a bonus was the easy yet realistic portrayal of how scientific ideas develop through individuals and debate, not the outrageous skewed portrayals so often seen in other "popular science" books (let alone our mass media).A beautiful example of how to write a scientific account for the intelligent reader. If only other popularisers of this area could learn something from Andrew Knoll (I am thinking here of Richard Fortey).

Well written account of a pretty esoteric subject for folk with a decent general science background. Before there were any creepy crawlies or even any plants, there were little critters for millions of years: mostly bugs and algae. A good account of how modern science thinks they got to be there. In particular explains respiration without oxygen, which seems to be key and challenges suppositions about extra-terrestrial life. Still, it leaves more questions unanswered than answered.

Very useful for my Evo Bio course, wouldn't say it was a light read and I will almost certainly be returning and re-reading sections when I become a little more familiar with the topic.

Very informative and well written. Good delivery time.

Andrew Knoll is a true scientist and a great writer.

Expensive but interesting

Great read

Don't make the same mistake I did, and think you can jump into this book just because it says "popular science" on the back.I picked this up because I didn't know much about microscopic life and wanted to know more - I can distinguish between a prokaryote and a eukaryote but if you say to me:>"Wachterschauser and his colleagues have generated acetic acid by the chemical fixation of carbon monoxide on a slurry of iron and nickel sulfides. These slurries also catalyse the formation of peptide chains from activated amino acids. [...] This scenario still faces the formidable problem of integrating metabolism with nucleic acids and proteins." (a quote from chapter 5.)...then I'm probably likely to give you a blank look. This book is clearly aimed more at those who already have a good understanding of geology, geochemistry and cell metabolism and want to know how those things fit into the landscape of an early earth.I feel a couple of introductory chapters explaining the basics of cell biology and geochemistry would have gone a long way in this book, which is ostensibly aimed at a general reader. Instead, from the get-go we are gallavanting around the world to Knoll's favourite paleobiology hotspots (and not always in chronological order) learning piecemeal facts about cyanobacteria and methanogensis. By the end, you probably will have learned enough to go back and understand the first half of the book with much more clarity, but it doesn't make for logical or compelling reading to do it in that order.Knoll is at his best when he has a target in mind. For example, one of the best chapters in the book is Chapter 8 (the origins of eukaryotic cells). He starts off with a professed question in mind ("eukaryotic cells contain these specific features; how and when did they evolve?") and then walks the reader along his thought process to find the answers. Even if you don't know much about that feature (e.g. mitochondria), his logic is still easy to understand.By contrast, the fieldwork/geology chapters are almost impossible to follow at times, invariably starting off with a misty-eyed reminiscence on a student field trip to Australia, getting lost in jargon, fossil descriptions and hodge-podge summaries of research papers on the way, and ending with a conclusion about how this apparently explains why the Earth has so much Oxygen.Judging by the other reviews, lots of readers enjoyed this book immensely. I found it a bit frustrating. Next time I'll pick up some A-Level Biology and Geology textbooks and read those first.