A New History of Life: The Radical New Discoveries About the Origins and Evolution of Life on Earth

Avant-Garde Politician: Leaders for a New EpochI cannot evaluate the novel scientific propositions presented in this book, such as low oxygen levels and very hot climate bringing about the "most consequential of all mass extinctions, the Permian-Triassic mass extinction" (p. 211), about 252 million years ago, in contrast with the widely accepted massive impact or large scale volcanism explanations.Also, I did not find a comprehensive model of the variables causing the changes between 10 and 30 percentage of oxygen in the air which the authors offer as a main reason for important events in the development of life. Dispersed throughout the book (e.g. pp. 65-89), various causes are mentioned, such as warming of the earth, interaction with flora and micro-fauna, volcanic activities and more. But a systematic treatment of the factors shaping the oxygen percentage would be welcome in future editions of this book.Leaving aside such issues, this is a fascinating book discussing crucial issues of the development of life on earth, summed up in the statement "if there is any lesson from life's history, it is that chance has been one of the two major players at the game of life, with evolution the other, and chance makes any attempt at prognosticating events and trends in the future history of life a very chancy proposition (p. 345)." This fully applied to the eventual domination of earth by Mammals and then modern humans.Thus, after the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction around 250 to 245 million years ago (p. 232), "stem reptiles had two competitive advantages: cold-blooded and could extract more oxygen from air (pp. 257-8). Therefore, "Mammals "never really had a chance in this most consequential competition for not only survivability, but for eventual dominance amid the crises and chaos of mass extinction (p. 258)." However, as well recognized by the authors "The lesson from past mass extinctions is that new occurrences would not have evolved as they did unless substantial extinction had opened the door to the possibility of new morphologies" (pp. 314-5).Moving to implications for contemporary humanity, the warning about "surviving any future Permian-like mass extinction, a prospect far more probable than our species seems to realize (p. 213)" should not be ignored. Furthermore, as stated by Paul Sereno, an expert on dinosaurs quoted in the book, "The ascendancy of dinosaurs on land near the close of the Triassic now appears to have been as accidental and opportunistic as their demise and replacement by therian mammals at the end of the Cretaceous (p. 249)".The ascent of humanity too was, within the this-worldly perspective of the book, accidental, which makes its survival precarious.The accident killing of the dinosaurs and about 75% of all species about 65 million years ago by the impact of a large asteroid hitting earth and its various aftereffects (304-5), following in the opinion of the authors a period of flood basalt volcanism (305-6) which cleared the world for mammals and ultimately the human species becoming dominant. But this means that the existence and dominance of Homo sapiens is in many ways accidental - and susceptible to being terminated by another accidental catastrophe, as noted above, or also aggregating effects of a series of dangerous processes, including many caused by humanity itself. This is a lesson of the history of life on earth that should be ingrained into the minds of all humans and in particular future-impacting elites with political leaders coming first.Reading this book, which I found in many respects superior to some bestsellers dealing with related subjects, further reinforced my awareness that the continuous existence of our species in the partly foreseeable future is far from assured and that existential dangers may be nearer than most of us think. Therefore I strongly recommend this book to all concerned about human futures, including political leaders -- the vast majority of whom are dangerously ignorant (as discussed in my recent book) about what really matters beyond the here and now.Professor Yehezkel Dror

The Earth is old. The best data we have indicates that our planet is around 4.5 billion years old. We sense an ancient Earth when we see large geologic formations and contemplate how slowly geological forces act upon our world. The planet has been here for far longer than we have and certainly longer than life has.But life is pretty old and its history is fascinating. The question of how life originated and evolved is the topic of Peter Ward & Joe Kirschvink’s book A NEW HISTORY OF LIFE. The authors intertwine three themes throughout the work: 1) life has been more affected by catastrophe more than the slow, gradual forces that normally act, 2) life has been shaped largely by the molecules oxygen, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen sulfide, and 3) the evolution of ecosystems has been the most influential in creating the modern “assemblage of life” that we see today. (4-5) The authors do not disappoint in their telling of this tale with those themes in mind. In fact, of the three themes the first two are especially present.EXTINCTION AFTER EXTINCTIONOne of the constant antagonists to life is the frequent extinction events perpetrated by either extraterrestrial boulders or even suicide. From the very beginning life was on a knife’s edge and one extinction event nearly wiped it out from the get-go.When organisms began producing oxygen the world became a suddenly hostile place. The authors note that there would have been a “snow-ball Earth” at the time when oxygen was relatively plentiful in the atmosphere. But here is the problem with high oxygen levels and cold temperatures: it would have been deadly to much of life at that time. “The Earth with its new oxygen atmosphere was a bizarre place, at least in terms of what was happening, or not happening, to life.” (86) But, as they also note, evolution tends to favor organisms with the ability to thrive in hostile places. Cyanobacteria that were able to process oxygen would have survived in thermal vents or in hot springs. To paraphrase from THE PRINCESS BRIDE, life was only “mostly dead.”Other frightening extinction events were not caused by oxygen-producing organisms. Some were caused by cold snaps that lasted for ages while others were caused by increases in greenhouse gases. Others still were combinations of increased greenhouse gases and the impact of meteors from outer space. (Goodbye, dinosaurs!) Life isn’t a guarantee and environmental changes and rocks from the sky can wipe it out entirely.THE ROLE OF OXYGENAnother prominent player in A NEW HISTORY OF LIFE is oxygen. “High oxygen means good times: large numbers of species, and nothing much new comes along.” But when oxygen is low, species die out at a faster rate than they are replaced, even though the actual number of emerging species is higher than in the high-oxygen times” (159). Not only is the number of species larger when oxygen is high but the species themselves tend to be larger as well. During the Carboniferous the level of oxygen rose, as did the size of reptiles. When oxygen levels decreased, so did the size of the reptiles (207).WHAT IS LIFE?One of my favorite parts of this book was the definition of life that the authors borrow from Paul Davis in his book THE FIFTH MIRACLE. Life performs some “main actions” – it metabolizes, it has complexity, it reproduces, it develops, it evolves, and it has autonomy. It is from that definition of life that the authors go into the concept how life originated. The authors mention a series of “nonliving building blocks” for life on Earth that include lipids, carbohydrates, nucleic acids, and proteins (39-40).The simplicity of the earliest life makes you appreciate just how hazardous the journey was from small non-living components to complicated unicellular and multicellular organisms. Life was never inevitable and the road it travelled was hardly paved with gold.A GOOD STARTIn all, A NEW HISTORY OF LIFE serves as an excellent introduction into the origin and evolution of life on Earth. The authors do an excellent job at substantiating their arguments with evidence and we are never left wondering how they arrived at a particular conclusion. Without a doubt science is the star of this volume and I look forward to seeing just where science takes us in the next decade and whether Ward and Kirschvink will give us a second edition complete with even more discoveries.Let’s hope so.

Well written, insightful. All there in one handy volume.

Livro de divulgação científica, escrito em linguagem de facil entendimento para leigos como eu... Trata de matéria que é de interesse de todos que gostariam de saber como surgiu a vida neste Planeta. Recomendo vivamente

I was blown away by the overall history of the earth and its life as presented here. The latest state of play of what we know of how we got to be here - and the circuitous route it took. I don't think you can get this in any way from even the best (BBC) TV documentary.I've read this book twice and there are several places where the two author's contributions repeat each other - in one place late in the book there are sections on consecutive pages saying the exact same thing in different words. It was probably sourced from separate articles, but the editor should fix that.I still give it 10 out of 10 for the new knowledge it's imparted to me, along with a much improved grasp of long geological time.

For decades research on extinctions has been focussed on the effects of catastrophic meteorite impacts. In "A New History of Life", Peter Ward, introduces another possible cause - bacteria and their influence on ecosystems and climate by releasing or absorbing various gases or chemicals which can lead to shifts in earth's climate.I'll admit that I was not prepared for this theory in the least, but the author has done extensive research on the topic and has the evidence all lined up with the help of microfossils, sedimentary layers dating back to the time of the episodes of extinction, and data from virtually all over the world. There are a very few passages which are difficult for non-chemists, but his writing makes it possible to at least grasp the implications. He also admits to the need for more specific research in some areas.Ward's argumentation for this new theory is well-founded and A New History of Life is what I would call a scientific page-turner: totally absorbing, highly readable, and definitely a book I would recommend to whoever is interested in ecosystems, climatology, evolution and, yes, extinctions. Bacteria may not be as exciting as a meteorite, but their potential is not to be underestimated. I would recommend Falkowski's book Life's Engines as a supplement, explaining as it does which influence bacteria have on our world today, but not as pathogens.

Excellent Book covering a complex topic with many unknowns.The pieces of evidence are well presented.Ignore negative reviews by creationistsRecommended reading