Life's Chemical Secret

Endorsements “One of the biggest open questions in science is how living, thinking creatures arise from the evolution of ordinary non-living matter. We all know it can and does happen, but the specific mechanisms remain elusive. Addy Pross has long been a leader in investigating how dynamically stable complex systems can arise in physics and chemistry. Now he turns his attention to the origins of thinking and agency. This is a provocative, important book, aiming squarely at some of the most important issues out there.” —Sean Carroll, Johns Hopkins University, author of The Biggest Ideas in the Universe series “Addy Pross truly identifies Life’s Chemical Secret: Dynamic Kinetic Stability: Persistence. Living systems construct themselves to get on with getting on. Life gets to exist at levels of chemical complexity that physics alone cannot explain. It is time for us to rethink.” —Stuart Kauffman, MacArthur Fellow, author of Origins of Order: Self-Organization and Selection in Evolution “You might not have yet heard of Dynamic Kinetic States of matter, but you should learn about them by reading this thought-provoking book, as they may hold the secret to life on Earth and elsewhere...a must read if you want to understand how you came to exist. ” —Tim Coulson, University of Oxford, author of A Little History of Everything “Fascinating… Addy carries us gently into a new paradigm for thinking about the chemical basis of life, and in doing so, he re-frames our deepest sense of why things exist and what it means to call something real.” —Steve Grand OBE, Artificial life researcher, author of Creation: Life and How to Make It “In his beautifully written book, Addy Pross makes three major achievements. First, he clearly explains the distinct conceptual issues posed by the physical and the biological sciences. Second, he describes a new field of chemical research that may provide a bridge to merging our understandings of living and non-living matter. And third, he recognizes the areas between the two fields where scientific answers have yet to be found. It takes intellectual courage to write such an honest book.” —James Shapiro, University of Chicago, author of Evolution: A View from the 21st Century “Addy Pross has uncovered the chemical roots of Darwinian theory, thereby opening a novel route connecting biology to physics and chemistry.” —Ada Yonath, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry