Life’s Ratchet

How Molecular Machines Extract Order from Chaos

By: Peter M. Hoffman

Narrated by: Paul Hodgson

The cells in our bodies consist of molecules, made up of the same carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen atoms found in air and rocks. But molecules, such as water and sugar, are not alive. So how do our cells - assemblies of otherwise "dead" molecules - come to life, and together constitute a living being?

In Life’s Ratchet, physicist Peter M. Hoffmann locates the answer to this age-old question at the nanoscale. The complex molecules of our cells can rightfully be called "molecular machines", or "nanobots"; these machines, unlike any other, work autonomously to create order out of chaos. Tiny electrical motors turn electrical voltage into motion, tiny factories custom-build other molecular machines, and mechanical machines twist, untwist, separate, and package strands of DNA. The cell is like a city - an unfathomable, complex collection of molecular worker bees working together to create something greater than themselves.

Life, Hoffman argues, emerges from the random motions of atoms filtered through the sophisticated structures of our evolved machinery. We are essentially giant assemblies of interacting nanoscale machines; machines more amazing than can be found in any science fiction novel. Incredibly, the molecular machines in our cells function without a mysterious "life force", nor do they violate any natural laws. Scientists can now prove that life is not supernatural, and that it can be fully understood in the context of science.

Part history, part cutting-edge science, part philosophy, Life’s Ratchet takes us from ancient Greece to the laboratories of modern nanotechnology to tell the story of our quest for the machinery of life.

©2012 Peter M. Hoffman (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

This book blew my mind, aka my brain!

I am going to listen to this one again there was a lot to unpack. Great book!

From molecular storm to chance and necessity

Fascinating explanation of some of life’s mysteries— for lay readers like me — at the nanometer scale. This gets interwoven with a recap of important discoveries as scientists have groped and grappled along the way to discovery.

Minor quibbles:

1) The author evidently felt compelled to repeat
himself at times to ensure readers stayed with him;

2) For this reader it would have been helpful to hear more about how energy gets transformed to do so many important things at the molecular level. Does ATP, for example, serve as the cell’s energy currency always and everywhere by releasing vibrational energy? Perhaps the author has more to share with us in the future...

All in all, quibbles aside, a rich way to spend eight hours listening!

Very good book

Very interesting to read. Highly recommended! I learned a lot, the book goes into detail but is easy to follow.

a great book

The first chapters are a review of western thinking about science and life from ancient Greece forward, which did not excite me. Eventually the book delves into current understanding of the components of life at the level of molecular machines and how they survive and make use of the incredibly powerful frenzied chaos of Brownian motion. A well written explanation of the amazing complexity of a living cell. The conclusion turns back to philosophical ideas about the life,universe,and everything, which I enjoyed as it was based on a much deeper understanding of what is happening than the ancients, or anyone until very recently could have any clue.

The reader's pronouncements are distracting, not sure if he speaks a dialect correctly or was unfamiliar with the vocabulary, but once you get used to that, the reading is very good.

a very great book!

What makes something "alive"?

Great story overall. Is obviously a subject the author has thought about a lot, cares about, and on which is a technical expert. Can get a little too technical sometimes, but otherwise a good mix of philosophy, science, and storytelling.