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A review by diz_tn
The Meaning(s) of Life: A Human's Guide to the Biology of Souls by M.
5.0
In these days of downsizing and minimalism, it is rare that a book finds a permanent home on my bookshelves. Yet this one has managed to do just that. The Meaning(s) of Life takes the reader on a journey through the development of life from proteins and single-celled organisms up through humans and (potentially) artificial life. Along the way we are given a history lesson on the scientific breakthroughs that allowed us to gain this complete picture of life as we currently know it.
"My aim is not to teach biology, but to select snippets of biology that are now interestingly at odds with the way we are accustomed to thinking about life. It is also not a prescriptive book. It will not teach you how these new perspectives will lead you to a better life. It is mostly a useless book, intended to make you wonder about the meaning of life in new ways - for no reason in particular." p. 13
The author calls these new ways of thinking about life "conceptual gestalt shifts" while the old scientific paradigms he calls "folk biology," "folk chemistry," "folk physics," etc. The author has done an excellent job of breaking complex scientific theories down into easily understandable and logical bits. The analogies were well chosen to illustrate such detail. In spite of that though, I wouldn't necessarily call it an easy read. It is, after all, a book that is meant to make you think.
In spite of claiming to be a useless book, I found the information contained in it very useful. I do indeed look at life in new ways now. In fact, I intend to use this book as a reference if I ever write science fiction that contains alien life. The author goes into great detail about the probable whys of life - why are we bilateral, why do we have a nervous system, etc., etc. It will also make you reconsider (or at least reevaluate) your stance on certain political issues. I would hardly call that useless.
What really captivated me about this book, though, was the integration of a variety of other scientific fields - from philosophy and physics to psychology and sociology.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science. I believe anyone could walk away from this book with a new perspective on life.
"My aim is not to teach biology, but to select snippets of biology that are now interestingly at odds with the way we are accustomed to thinking about life. It is also not a prescriptive book. It will not teach you how these new perspectives will lead you to a better life. It is mostly a useless book, intended to make you wonder about the meaning of life in new ways - for no reason in particular." p. 13
The author calls these new ways of thinking about life "conceptual gestalt shifts" while the old scientific paradigms he calls "folk biology," "folk chemistry," "folk physics," etc. The author has done an excellent job of breaking complex scientific theories down into easily understandable and logical bits. The analogies were well chosen to illustrate such detail. In spite of that though, I wouldn't necessarily call it an easy read. It is, after all, a book that is meant to make you think.
In spite of claiming to be a useless book, I found the information contained in it very useful. I do indeed look at life in new ways now. In fact, I intend to use this book as a reference if I ever write science fiction that contains alien life. The author goes into great detail about the probable whys of life - why are we bilateral, why do we have a nervous system, etc., etc. It will also make you reconsider (or at least reevaluate) your stance on certain political issues. I would hardly call that useless.
What really captivated me about this book, though, was the integration of a variety of other scientific fields - from philosophy and physics to psychology and sociology.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in science. I believe anyone could walk away from this book with a new perspective on life.