Life Ascending: The Ten Great Inventions of Evolution, by Nick Lane

This book covers ten key events in evolution, from the origin of life to the origin of death. Lane is a biologist and knows his stuff. He is also very good at explaining complicated science. I thought the chapters on the evolution of photosynthesis, of muscles and of the eye were especially good.

I enjoyed all the chapters except one--the one on consciousness. For some reason, he believes the key unit of consciousness is a feeling rather than an integration, and induction or even a choice to focus. He doesn't seen to realize that feelings are automatic evaluations made by our brain to tell us if our current situation is good or bad according to the values we've chosen.

However, even in the flawed chapter on consciousness, he did provide several interesting facts on how the brain works such as the synchronous waves around 40 hertz which appear to be necessary to bring something from the sub-conscience up to the conscious level.

Overall, the book is a fascinating look into how biological systems work and how they came to be.