Product Description
In Oxygen, Nick Lane takes the reader on an enthralling journey as he unravels the unexpected ways in which oxygen spurred the evolution of life and death. He shows how oxygen underpins the origin of biological complexity, the birth of photosynthesis, the sudden evolution of animals, the need for two sexes, the accelerated aging of cloned animals like Dolly the sheep, and the surprisingly long lives of bats and birds. Drawing on this grand evolutionary canvas, Oxygen offers fresh perspectives on our own lives and deaths, explaining modern killer diseases, why we age, and what we can do about it. Advancing revelatory new ideas, following chains of evidence, the book ranges through many disciplines, from environmental sciences to molecular medicine. The result is a captivating vision of contemporary science and a humane synthesis of our place in nature. This remarkable book will redefine the way we think about the world.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 20 reviews)

See how the earths atmosphere evolved. by Larry M. Gorman (Silverdale, Wa)

4 Stars
October 21, 2009
This book is pretty dense and probably easier for a fellow chem./physics major then for someone with a humanities background. It required me to re-read some sections 2 and 3 times to follow the idea (but I had to do that in chem/physics also). I am very satisfied with the book in that I understand much more now about how we evolved a breathable atmosphere having come from the compaction of an exploding universe. The sections on anti-oxidents is interesting but maybe a little too speculative.This book is not for the faint of heart or casual reader but is well worth the effort. LG

Oxygen: The stuff of life and death by Steve Reina (Troy Michigan)

5 Stars
October 01, 2009
To paraphrase the great 1960s song: "Life is like oxygen You get too much and you will die Not enough And you're gonna die" Or at least such would be the sentiments of Dr. Nick Lane who takes us on a tour of evolution with a focus on the role played by oxygen. In tracing out the history of life on Earth Lane makes the surprising point that life utilizing oxygen actually preceded the presence of great amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere. Some 3.85 billion years ago, Earth featured life which relied on the energy production possibilities of oxygen when the element actually made up less than one percent of the Earth's free atmosphere. More than just gee whiz facts Lane spends a great portion of the first half of his book explaining how biochemically just exactly these processes work. (Hint: It has something to do with the energy potential of oxygen in biochemical reactions.) Having laid his foundation, Lane goes on to argue his theory: that too much oxygen actually causes death. I guess a good metaphor would be that of fire which when properly harnessed can be utilized for cooking, heating and all other manner of productive uses. However, fire out of control means death and destruction and this is just what happens in the body when cellular mitochondria degrade and lose their ability to prevent the dissemination of free oxygen radicals into the system thereby degrading it, according to Lane. While I think others have excellently made the point that at least as regards to aging there may more to it, I think Lane is to be commended for providing such an accessible work and for having the courage to articulate and support a theory which explains one of mankind's most ancient questions (viz. why we die). Like his later Mitochondria, this book is thorough, thought provoking and engaging. Although I'm not traditionally that big of a student of biochemistry I found myself personally turning pages late into the night. I would recommend this book along with Lawrence Kraus' excellent Atom which also discusses oxygen but from the perspective of how, as a matter of physics, the element oxygen is actually created. Putting the two books together yields a sort Reader's Digest version of "Everything you wanted to know about oxygen but didn't know how to ask..."

Complexity Made Brilliantly Simple by Douglas Long (San Rafael, CA USA)

5 Stars
October 13, 2008
The hallmark of brilliance is to take a complex process and make it understandable. This book not only accomplishes that, but it engrosses you in scientific fields that I didn't know could be interesting. Lane brings together a vast array of scientific disciplines, ties them all together. Even if you were not keen on some aspects of the book (for example, I have a medical background, not geochemistry), you'll enjoy the diversions. This is truly one of the best science books every written.

4.5 Stars for All You Never Knew You Wanted to Know About Oxygen by Bonam Pak (Berlin)

5 Stars
August 13, 2008
I read the 2003 paperback of the 2002 book. Once again, people looked at me strangely when taking a glimpse at the title of the book I was reading. Did I wonder off into chemistry nerdhood? Not really. This book is about a kaleidoscope of issues: the origins of life, sex and sexes; photosynthesis, snowball earth, mitochondria; oxygen poisoning, free radicals, anti-oxidants; ageing, diabetes, dementia; the rise and fall of gigantism in insects and dinosaurs. And the occasional frightening statistic: How many million tons of water are lost to space every year, how many million billion free radicals are taken in with a single puff of cigarette smoke? This book is a perfect example of how important it is to keep up with the doubling of knowledge every five years. The book was already more than five years old when I read it, yet I felt ancient considering the intake of new knowledge. Keep in mind that much of the book is theories in need to get fine tuned, combined with other knowledge or even turned over. But without such brilliant minds as the author's, we wouldn't be able to. The minor subtraction in my rating mirrors the slight repetitiveness (slight in relation to other books, which are much more repetitive than this), that some sections are a bit difficult and that occasionally Nick Lane wrote verbosely, i.e. in quite long sections not at all about oxygen, but for a supposed preparation for a better overstanding of the oxygen-issues to come. There's also a considerate overlap with his later book Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life, nevertheless recommendable to read in addition. There are other/additional/supporting/varying theories about some issues he is elaborating on in "Oxygen". For example about ageing read also The Science of Orgasm and Mutants: On the Form, Varieties and Errors of the Human Body. For the origin of sex and sexes read also Symbiotic Planet: A New Look At Evolution, Liaisons of Life: From Hornworts to Hippos--How the Unassuming Microbe has Driven Evolution and Riddled with Life: Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites That Make Us Who We Are.

Fascinating by Robert J. Shem (Anchorage, AK USA)

5 Stars
April 03, 2008
This book is a hard read if you don't have a good background in natural science and chemistry, but if you do it is fascinating. The author seems to do a very balanced approach to the topics citing references on both sides of the issues discussed. The book takes you from the formation of the earth to modern times and discusses the changes that occurred to the earth and its inhabitants as free oxygen developed.

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