Eugene weekly., December 04, 2003, Page 20, Image 20

Winter Reading 2003-2004
Realm of Spirit
and Magic
General Non-fiction
5Buddhist5Hindu5Egyptian Deities
5Fairies5Dragons5Mermaids
5Fantasy Chess Sets 5Journals
5Puzzles and Calendars
5Jewelry from Bali5Nepal5India
and Local Artists
Life on a Young Planet: The First Three
Billion Years of Evolution on Earth by
Andrew H. Knoll. Princeton University Press,
2003. Hardcover, $29.95.
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20 DECEMBER 4, 2003
The reader receives a revealing picture
of how women were able to cope in a time
when their rights were severely limited by
law. Eliza provides stability for her fami-
ly, runs a farm and a successful sewing
business in spite of the untimely death of
her first husband during the Civil War. But
a brutal second husband took advantage of
laws that said she was, as a female, little
more than chattel.
Eliza’s life is dedicated to her family,
and although she seems to relish a man’s
role in her life, it is through her efforts and
skill that the family prospers. The off-
spring of her first marriage are left with
considerable assets to continue to build
their lives.
Shaw follows the family through
numerous times of grief, but she recog-
nizes times of joy also. However, the story
becomes confusing with the addition of so
many characters, and near the end, their
identities began to blur in my mind. It’s
still an engrossing read.
Proofreading of the book is somewhat
careless. One long passage is repeated,
verbatim, a chapter later. There are numer-
ous misspellings and grammatical errors
besides the original quotes from historical
records. The archive of family members’
pictures is dramatic.
— Geneva Miller
ver since I learned of the meta-
physically stunning idea that the
sub-parts of our own cells used to
be free-living bacteria, and that bacteria
created our planet’s atmosphere and basic
biological chemistry, I have been boring
people with these facts. But here’s a chance
to get it from a real authority. Andrew
Knoll, Harvard paleontologist and author
of Life on a Young Planet, says:
“As large animals, we can be forgiven
for holding a worldview that celebrates
ourselves, but in truth, this outlook is dead
wrong. We have evolved to fit into a bac-
terial world, and not the reverse. Animals
may be evolution’s icing, but bacteria are
the cake.”
Knoll has written a marvelous book
explaining the current state of knowledge
as to how life arose. Just finding rocks of
the right age (about 3.5 billion years) is a
challenge. Few accessible examples exist
owing to the constant recycling of plane-
tary crust via plate tectonics. And then
interpreting the scanty evidence takes
equal parts imagination, careful reasoning,
and illuminating technology, all of which,
fortunately, are available to paleontology
at the moment.
Knoll explains in layman’s terms, but
without condescension, the basics of read-
ing geological formations; why the tree of
life has recently been reorganized, divid-
ing life into three branches: Bacteria,
Archaea (one-celled creatures similar to
bacteria), and Eucarya (everything else,
including plants and ourselves); and how
genetic analysis of living organisms can
provide clues to past life forms.
He then details the wild creativity of
the microscopic web of creatures who
invented photosynthesis and oxygen respi-
ration, and who organize the great cycles
of the elements carbon, sulfur, nitrogen,
and more through the oceans, atmosphere,
and biosphere, upon which we superior
life forms are utterly dependent.
Knoll’s clear prose, peppered with col-