The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life

Nick Lane is a biochemist in the Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment at University College London, and leads the UCL Origins of Life Program. He was awarded the 2015 Biochemical Society Award for his outstanding contribution to the molecular life sciences. He is the author of Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, which won the 2010 Royal Society Prize for Science Books, as well as Power, Sex, Suicide: Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life and Oxygen: The Molecule that Made the World.

“[Nick Lane] proves an able guide through treacherous scientific terrain. He writes in lucid, accessible prose, and while the science may get dense, the reader will be rewarded with a strikingly unconventional view of biology.”
- Tim Requarth, The New York Times

“An amazing inquiry into the origins of life.”
- Bill Gates

“If I were a rich man, I would buy up the print run of this book and give a copy to every science undergraduate ahead of his or her first course in cell biology.”
- Franklin Harold, Microbe Magazine

“One of the deepest, most illuminating books about the history of life to have been published in recent years.”
- The Economist

“Masterful.... This terribly important book...is a manifesto for the future of basic biology.”
- Adam Rutherford, Observer (UK)

“He is an original researcher and thinker and a passionate and stylish populariser. His theories are ingenious, breathtaking in scope, and challenging in every sense...intellectually what Lane is proposing, if correct, will be as important as the Copernican revolution.”
- Peter Forbes, Guardian (UK)

“This is a book of vast scope and ambition, brimming with bold and important ideas.... The arguments are powerful and persuasive...an incredible, epic story.”
- Michael Le Page, New Scientist (UK)

“Comes triumphantly close to cracking the secret of why life is the way it is, to a depth that would boggle any ancient philosopher's mind.”
- Matt Ridley, The Times (UK)

“A scintillating synthesis of a new theory of life.”
- Clive Cookson, Financial Times (UK)

“In this, his third book about energy and life, [Lane] comes triumphantly close to cracking the secret of why life is the way it is, to a depth that would boggle any ancient philosopher’s mind.”
- Matt Ridley, The Sunday Times (UK)

“The Vital Question is not a long book but it is a big one. ...Lane’s vivid descriptions and powerful reasoning will amaze and grip the reader.”
- Caspar Henderson, The Sunday Telegraph (UK)

“An exciting tale, thrillingly told.... This is a potent book, one that not only brings you up to date with biology but also stuns you with the wonder of it all.”
- Bryan Appleyard, The Sunday Times (UK)

“Magnificent.... [The Vital Question] contains as convincing an account of the origins of life as any on offer. ...Lane belongs to a small and persuasive cabal that is using studies of the way cells access energy to gain insight into all sorts of questions, from why there are different sexes to why creatures grow old.”
- Oliver Morton, The Economist Intelligent Life

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