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Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and Death Hardcover – July 12, 2022

by Nick Lane (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 270 ratings
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From the renowned biochemist and author of The Vital Question, an illuminating inquiry into the Krebs cycle and the origins of life.

“Nick Lane’s exploration of the building blocks that underlie life’s big fundamental questions―the origin of life itself, aging, and disease―have shaped my thinking since I first came across his work. He is one of my favorite science writers.”―Bill Gates

What brings the Earth to life, and our own lives to an end?

For decades, biology has been dominated by the study of genetic information. Information is important, but it is only part of what makes us alive. Our inheritance also includes our living metabolic network, a flame passed from generation to generation, right back to the origin of life. In Transformer, biochemist Nick Lane reveals a scientific renaissance that is hiding in plain sight ―how the same simple chemistry gives rise to life and causes our demise.

Lane is among the vanguard of researchers asking why the Krebs cycle, the “perfect circle” at the heart of metabolism, remains so elusive more than eighty years after its discovery. Transformer is Lane’s voyage, as a biochemist, to find the inner meaning of the Krebs cycle―and its reverse―why it is still spinning at the heart of life and death today.

Lane reveals the beautiful, violent world within our cells, where hydrogen atoms are stripped from the carbon skeletons of food and fed to the ravenous beast of oxygen. Yet this same cycle, spinning in reverse, also created the chemical building blocks that enabled the emergence of life on our planet. Now it does both. How can the same pathway create and destroy? What might our study of the Krebs cycle teach us about the mysteries of aging and the hardest problem of all, consciousness?

Transformer unites the story of our planet with the story of our cells―what makes us the way we are, and how it connects us to the origin of life. Enlivened by Lane’s talent for distilling and humanizing complex research, Transformer offers an essential read for anyone fascinated by biology’s great mysteries. Life is at root a chemical phenomenon: this is its deep logic.

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    W. W. Norton & Company
  4. Publication date
    July 12, 2022
  5. Dimensions
    6.6 x 1.4 x 9.7 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0393651487
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0393651485
  8. See all details
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Popular Highlights in this book
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Previous page
  1. The difference between being alive or dead lies in energy flow, in the ability of cells to continually regenerate themselves from simpler building blocks.
    Highlighted by 345 Kindle readers
  2. Metabolism is what keeps us alive – it is what being alive is – the sum of the continuous transformations of small molecules on a timescale of nanoseconds, nanosecond after nanosecond.
    Highlighted by 280 Kindle readers
  3. Core metabolism has changed little in part because it was never powered down in its four-billion-year history. The genes are custodians of this flame, but without the flame life is – dead.
    Highlighted by 252 Kindle readers
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"The writing in the book is so articulate and the unfolding narrative so ambitious that one is carried along helter-skelter… The late Sir Hans would indeed be amazed."
― Wieland Gievers, South African Journal of Science

"[A] thrilling journey . . . the book is a tour de force."
― Laura Eme and Courtney W. Stairs, Nature Ecology & Evolution

"[An] indefatigable exploration of the genesis of biology . . . [Lane] beautifully lays out the sheer improbability of our biosphere, explains why life may be exceedingly rare in our universe, and considers death as a process, not simply as an instantaneous end. "
― Hamilton Cain, The Atlantic

"The story in Transformer is not just lively and engaging but filled with stimulating ideas about life’s origins and evolution. "
― Philip Ball, Nautilus

"A thrilling tour of the remarkable stories behind the discoveries of some of life’s key metabolic pathways and mechanisms. [Lane] lays bare the human side of science… The book brings to life the chemistry that brings us to life. "
― Joseph Moran, Science

"Bold . . . passionate . . . a dramatically revisionist account [of the] origins of life."
― James Somers, New Yorker

"Transformer is a complex yet accessible, illuminating, and thrilling exploration of the vitality and elemental mysteries of our existence."
― George Kendall, Booklist

"This is probably the best book on biology (and more specifically biochemistry) that I've ever read."
― Brian Clegg, author of Game Theory

"One of the most creative of today's biologists ... this is a book filled with big ideas, many of which are bold instances of lateral thinking. "
― Michael Marshall, New Scientist

"In this compulsively readable book, Lane takes us on a riveting journey, ranging from the flow of energy to new ways of understanding cancer."
― Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies

"I loved every page of Nick Lane’s new book."
― Lee Smolin, author of Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

"Hugely ambitious and tremendously exciting."
― Olivia Judson, author of Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation

"In this fascinating book, Nick Lane brings together biology, chemistry, and physics to illuminate the role of energy in bringing matter alive."
― Sean Carroll, author of Something Deeply Hidden

"Nick Lane’s marvelously engaging Transformer refocused my astronomer’s gaze on the vital chemistry of life on our own planet."
― John Grunsfeld, former NASA chief scientist and astronaut

About the Author

Nick Lane is professor of evolutionary biochemistry at University College London and an award-winning author of five books. He codirects UCL’s Centre for Life’s Origins and Evolution (CLOE) and lives in London. Bill Gates calls him “one of my favorite science writers.”

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company (July 12, 2022)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0393651487
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0393651485
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.54 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.6 x 1.4 x 9.7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 270 ratings

About the author

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Nick Lane

Nick Lane

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Nick Lane is a biochemist and writer. He is Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London. "Like his forebears in that same department -- Steve Jones, JBS Haldane -- he's that rare species, a scientist who can illuminate the bewildering complexities of biology with clear, luminous words" (The Observer). His research focuses on the role of bioenergetics in the origin of life and the evolution of cells. Nick was awarded the first UCL Provost's Venture Research Prize in 2009 and the 2015 Biochemical Society Award. He has published four critically acclaimed books, which have been translated into 25 languages. Life Ascending won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books. His books have been shortlisted for two other literary prizes and named a book of the year by the Economist, Independent, Times, Sunday Times, Nature and New Scientist. The Independent described him as "one of the most exciting science writers of our time." In 2016 he was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for excellence in communicating science. For more information, visit www.nick-lane.net

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
270 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

J. Myers
5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great book. Everyone dreads studying the Krebs cycle. Lane makes it readable and engaging.
Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2024
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Lane makes every topic readable and information-packed. Most people who have taken the dreaded biochemistry course haven't learned half as much about the Krebs Cycle as is in this book, and most of them dreaded the course partly because they found it so hard to learn. But of course you wouldn't just look at a car and how some of the parts (wheels, belts) go around that it uses fuel. you would look at how the parts relate to each other and what each one does. That is what Lane does for the Krebs Cycle.

Lane takes the cycle in small steps shows what each one does and how it is essential to the life that runs on oxygen, and by running in reverse, makes oxygen by breaking off from other chemicals. He shows how it can be adapted by its chemical environment to produce other necessary chemicals along the way. His stories of discovery are partly from his own research of deep-sea life. The Krebs cycle is independent of life (I hadn't known this) but can just chug along producing components that can be used by living things as they emerge and become capable of reproducing.

Every book I have read by Lane has been fascinating. I started with Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life and they were all great.
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Jack
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book for those with some background in biochemistry.
Reviewed in the United States on December 5, 2022
Verified Purchase
For anyone, who has "suffered" through memorizing the Krebs/citric acid cycle as presented in biochemistry, this is the rest of the story. For the conventional dogma is so narrow and incomplete that in maybe only a few exceptional courses, does one get an idea of just how much more there is and how that fits in with the whole picture of metabolism.

Well, this book helps to bring one along to see just how marvelous and intricate all of this is, whether the cycle runs forward as taught or (gasp) backward, when there is but a slight change in conditions. You learn all sorts of connecting and informative information about the greater scheme of things as the story unfolds. Lane gives the reader plenty of perspectives as to the history and personalities of those who were pioneers in developing and sorting out this most basic of cellular chemistry.

The book is not overly technical, but it helps if the reader already has some idea of the cycle, even if it was studied a long time ago, for he will bring you up to date and take you way, way beyond as you progress through the various chapters on how life may have begun, what life is, issues around aging (not what you might first think), a metabolic view of cancer, the interplay between metabolic energy and gene expression, dissonance between mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and even how this basic biochemistry and the electric fields associated with charge imbalance across membranes may be at the root of thought and self awareness itself.
8 people found this helpful
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algo41
4.0 out of 5 stars Material 5 stars, presentation 2+ stars for the lay reader.
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2022
Verified Purchase
I am a big Nick Lane fan, and this book was ultimately very rewarding. However, at least for someone with a limited background in chemistry, this book was a slog, and required too frequent use of the internet to supplement; I have included helpful material on glycosis at the end of this review. It would also have helped to separate more of the detailed chemistry from the rest: Lane’s notes are sometimes more readable than the basic text.

While mutations may cause cancer, particularly in young people, most mutations found in people with cancer arise once the process is underway. The major problem is the decline in respiration efficiency with age; damage may be “caused by protein unfolding or cross-linking, oxidation by ROS or glycation (the tendency of sugars such as glucose to react with proteins and lipids).” ROS stands for reactive oxygen species, free radicals. The ROS signals the cell to slow down respiration to control the ROS. The Krebs cycle intermediate succinate accumulates causing epigenetic changes (so gene activity follows faulty metabolism rather than causing it) and the Krebs cycle sometimes flows in reverse, creating biosynthesis (this was the original direction of the Krebs cycle). The cellular environment now “shouts grow”.

As in earlier books, the theory on the origin of life centers around hydrothermal vents: not the deep-water vents around now, but reactions caused by the direct contact between ocean water and the earth’s mantle, in the absence of the earth’s crust which basically did not then exist.

Some interesting observations: the Cambrian explosion was when the Krebs cycle was first used primarily to generate energy not biosynthesis, taking advantage of the increased oxygen available. Rubisco in plants is considered inefficient as it does not adequately distinguish oxygen from carbon dioxide, but this may be necessary to prevent oxidative damage. People with type II diabetes have double the risk of Alzheimer’s, which is increasingly looking like a metabolic disease to Lane and others.

GLycosis.
Converting Carbohydrates into Pyruvic acid uses a total of 10 chemical reactions. However, on finishing Glycosis the cell then decides which process to carry out. If Oxygen is present then the cell uses aerobic respiration (with oxygen) and then continues on to Krebs Cycle. The Pyruvic acid produced during Glycolysis enters the mitochondria and immediately converts to Acetyl Coenzyme A. Some living systems use an inorganic molecule other than O2 such as sulfate. Fermentation pathways, in the absence of oxygen, consist of glycolysis with some extra reactions tacked on at the end. In yeast, the extra reactions make alcohol, while in your muscles, they make lactic acid.
23 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Diedra Goodwin
5.0 out of 5 stars Engaging & Deep
Reviewed in Canada on May 16, 2023
Verified Purchase
So much to learn. Clearly presented insights into origin of life.
One person found this helpful
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Armuntas
5.0 out of 5 stars Biochemistry is explained by using of the ordinary words that everyone understands.
Reviewed in Germany on December 1, 2023
Verified Purchase
I appreciate this book very much for it's pursuit to reveal the relation between the very basics of the biochemistry are the origin of life and death. The knowledge described in this book helps me a lot in the formation of consistent and non-contradictory world-view.
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Sorbiq
5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 16, 2023
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Great content, Nick Lane is yet again proving that he can write interesting book about seemingly boring subject.
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ralunicol
5.0 out of 5 stars passionnante lecture
Reviewed in France on September 9, 2023
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Tellement intriquée et complexe la fonction cellulaire que cela vous donne des frissons de plaisir sachant que tout ceci se passe à une vitesse incroyable en ce moment même à l'intérieur de vous et de chacune de vos minuscules et fragiles cellules. Raison de plus de faire attention à nous en toute moment selon des percepts très anciens..si vous n'avez pas assez de notions de chimie et biochimie les quelques pages de réactions chimiques (passionnantes d'ailleurs car bien conservées par l'évolution depuis de millions d'années dans toute les organismes et cellules vivantes ) peuvent être zappés.
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Soumya
3.0 out of 5 stars Low-quality paperback
Reviewed in India on August 24, 2023
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tiny margins and poor quality print.
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