Contents Foreword v Preface ix Chapter 1 Crisis in the Chemistry of Origins 1 2 The Theory of Biochemical Evolution 11 3 Simulation of Pre biotic Monomer Synthesis 18 4 The Myth of the Pre biotic Soup 42 5 Reassessing the Early Earth and its Atmosphere 69 6 Plausibility and Investigator Interference 99 7 Thermodynamics of Living Systems 113 8 Thermodynamics and the Origin of Life 127 xi xii THE MYSTERY OF LIFE'S ORIGIN 9 Specifying How Work is to be Done 10 Protocells 11 Summary and Conclusion Epilogue Appendix Selected Readings