Saturday, December 9, 2017

Vast and Protean, Unimaginably Hungry












From The Tunnel, read out loud if you can, if you want:


3 comments:

  1. the unabridged reading of the tunnel by gass takes 45 hours

    http://articles.latimes.com/2006/mar/26/books/bk-reyes26

    my local library does not have the 3 mp3 cds version

    it does have a link to a website giving the official story of boston's 'big dig' which says it was 'worth the wait'

    the page about those hungry, hungry grasshoppers reminded me of my desire to read nick lane's book the vital question: energy, evolution, and the origins of complex life, described this way at amazon:

    To explain the mystery of how life evolved on Earth, Nick Lane explores the deep link between energy and genes.

    The Earth teems with life: in its oceans, forests, skies, and cities. Yet there's a black hole at the heart of biology. We do not know why complex life is the way it is or, for that matter, how life first began. In The Vital Question, award-winning author and biochemist Nick Lane radically reframes evolutionary history, putting forward a solution to conundrums that have puzzled generations of scientists.

    For two and a half billion years, from the very origins of life, single-celled organisms such as bacteria evolved without changing their basic forms. Then, on just one occasion in four billion years, they made the jump to complexity. All complex life, from mushrooms to man, shares puzzling features, such as sex, which are unknown in bacteria. How and why did this radical transformation happen? The answer, Lane argues, lies in energy: All life on Earth lives off a voltage with the strength of a lightning bolt.

    Building on the pillars of evolutionary theory, Lane's hypothesis draws on cutting-edge research into the link between energy and cell biology in order to deliver a compelling account of evolution from the very origins of life to the emergence of multicellular organisms while offering deep insights into our own lives and deaths.

    Both rigorous and enchanting, The Vital Question provides a solution to life's vital question: Why are we as we are, and indeed, why are we here at all?

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  2. Replies
    1. Thank you, fixed.

      I've been doing that for forty years.

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