David W. Deamer is Research Professor of Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His current research focuses on how DNA and RNA emerged on the early Earth before life began. Deamer was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1986 and served as the President of the International Society for the Study of the Origin of Life from 2011- 2014.
* Introduction: A brief history of the early Earth and its origin in
the solar nebula 4.6 billion years ago
* Chapter 1: The early Earth: An ocean with volcanoes
* Chapter 2: Geochemical and geophysical constraints on life's origin
* Chapter 3: Hydrothermal conditions are conducive for the origin of
life
* Chapter 4: Sources of organic compounds required for primitive life
* Chapter 5: Self-assembly processes are essential for life's origin
* Chapter 6: Condensation reactions synthesize random polymers
* Chapter 7; Bioenergetics and primitive metabolic pathways
* Chapter 8: Testing alternative hypotheses: Simulating the prebiotic
environment
* Chapter 9: The Big Picture: Integrating chemistry, geology and life's
origin
* Chapter 10: Falsifying the hypothesis: A critique
* Chapter 11: Where to next? Unresolved questions
* Chapter 12: Prospects for life on other planets
