Table of Contents

Prologue: The Second Creation
One: Birth of a Cell
Two: Schrodinger
Three: Unlocking the Secrets of Life
Four: The Fiftieth-Anniversary Coronation and Dismissal
Five : ATP and the Meaning of Life
Six: Origins
Seven: The Spandrels of San Marco
Eight: The Twilight Zone
Nine: The Synthetic Cell Turing Test
Ten: What Is Life?
Notes, Bibliography, Acknowledgments, Index

About the Author

Ed Regis is a full-time science writer, contributing to Scientific American, Harper's Magazine, Wired, Discover, and The New York Times, among other publications. He is the author of several books, including The Biology of Doom.

Reviews

"Elegant, simple, clear, beautifully written. Regis takes up where Erwin Schrödinger left off and tackles the ultimate mystery of biology. This book is a scrumptious gem." -- Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone
"Ed Regis is always a careful researcher, always an independent thinker. In this subversive litte book, he shows that the biggest of big questions is still worth asking - more urgently now than ever." -- David Quammen
"A Comprehensive and elegant analysis of the physical basis of life: an up-to-date successor to Schrödinger's 1944 book." - Marvin Minsky, Toshiba Professor of Media Arts and Sciences, M.I.T., and author of The Emotion Machine
"Clearly written and entirely accessible to those without any science background...a delightful and informative introduction."--The Quarterly Review of Biology
Listed in Science Book News No. 160 (7/6/09)