We are all familiar with the idea that machines are powered by electricity, but perhaps not so aware that this is also true for ourselves. The Spark of Life is a spectacular account of the body electric, showing how, from before conception to the last breath we draw, electrical signals in our cells are essential to everything we think and do. These signals are produced by some amazing proteins that sit at the forefront of current scientific research - the ion channels. They are found in every cell in Earth and they govern every aspect of our lives, from consciousness to sexual attraction, fighting infection, our ability to see and hear, and the beating of our hearts. Ion channels are truly the 'spark of life'.Award-winning physiologist Frances Ashcroft weaves real-life stories with the latest scientific findings to explain the fundamental role of ion channels in our bodies. What happens when you have a heart attack? Why does an electric eel not shock itself? Can someone really die of fright? Why does Viagra turn the world blue? How do cocaine, LSD and morphine work? Why do chilli peppers taste hot? How do vampire bats sense their prey? Was Mary Shelley right when she inferred that electricity is the 'Spark of Life? Frances Ashcroft explains all this and more with wit and clarity. She introduces a cast of extraordinary personalities whose work has charted the links between molecule and mind over the centuries. She recounts the scientific detective stories involved in the development of our ideas about animal electricity, and shows how these are intimately entwined with our understanding of electricity itself. And she describes how the latest advances have led to the identification, and in some cases the cure, of a new class of disease. Anyone who has ever wondered about what makes us human will find this book a revelation.
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The Spark of Life: Electricity in the Human Body
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Revue de presse
This is a wonderful book. Frances Ashcroft has a rare gift for making difficult subjects accessible and fascinating (Bill Bryson )
Selected as one of the Ten Books to look out for in 2012 (New Scientist )
The more incredible the process, the more elegant Ashcroft's explanation...achieves the sort of rich simplicity most science writers can only dream about (Simon Ings Seven magazine, Daily Telegraph )
Lively, conversational prose - refreshingly accessible (Daily Telegraph )
Fascinating (Nature )
Compelling and very readable ... Do read this excellent book (Literary Review ) --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Selected as one of the Ten Books to look out for in 2012 (New Scientist )
The more incredible the process, the more elegant Ashcroft's explanation...achieves the sort of rich simplicity most science writers can only dream about (Simon Ings Seven magazine, Daily Telegraph )
Lively, conversational prose - refreshingly accessible (Daily Telegraph )
Fascinating (Nature )
Compelling and very readable ... Do read this excellent book (Literary Review ) --Ce texte fait référence à l'édition Relié .
Biographie de l'auteur
Frances Ashcroft is Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Trinity College Oxford. She is also Director of OXION, a consortium of scientists studying ion channels, the heroes of this book. Her scientific research focuses on how a rise in your blood sugar level stimulates the release of insulin and what why this process goes wrong in diabetes. She has won many prizes for her research, most recently the L'Oreal/UNESCO 2012 Women in Science award. Her first book for the general reader was Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival.
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4.6 étoiles sur 5
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27 internautes sur 27 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
Energy of life
29 septembre 2012
Par Sinohey
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Relié
The author is a renowned physiologist at Oxford University who is recognized in the scientific circles for her seminal work on Insulin, since 1984.
As a surgeon and a scientist I was intrigued by the title and purchased the book as an afterthought without even leafing through it. I judged the book by its cover! And I am so glad that I did.
The chapters are well organized in an orderly historical sequence that guides the reader from the early days of the discovery of electricity, it's crude applications and simple experiments until finally reaching the modern era of the electron microscope and sophisticated imagery. The contributions of Benjamin Franklin, Luigi Galvani, J.J. Thompson, Hodgkin & Huxley et al are explained in clear terms, eschewing scientific jargon. The physiology of cells, where the "sodium pump" plays a vital role, the production of electrical pulse and its effect on organ function is lucidly explained. The lay interested reader and the scientist will find the work fascinating.
The book is 339 pages and is well worth the investment in dollars and time.
As a surgeon and a scientist I was intrigued by the title and purchased the book as an afterthought without even leafing through it. I judged the book by its cover! And I am so glad that I did.
The chapters are well organized in an orderly historical sequence that guides the reader from the early days of the discovery of electricity, it's crude applications and simple experiments until finally reaching the modern era of the electron microscope and sophisticated imagery. The contributions of Benjamin Franklin, Luigi Galvani, J.J. Thompson, Hodgkin & Huxley et al are explained in clear terms, eschewing scientific jargon. The physiology of cells, where the "sodium pump" plays a vital role, the production of electrical pulse and its effect on organ function is lucidly explained. The lay interested reader and the scientist will find the work fascinating.
The book is 339 pages and is well worth the investment in dollars and time.
8 internautes sur 8 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
Readable and fascinating
7 décembre 2012
Par Sid Nuncius
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Relié
I thought this was a terrific book. The subject perhaps sounds a little dry, but Frances Ashcroft writes exceptionally well and shows, with genuine enthusiasm and great expertise, how the electrical systems of the body determine so much of its ability to function and their effect on our everyday (and not so everyday) lives. She is at the forefront of research in this area (specifically ion channels) and her depth of knowledge and understanding are apparent throughout the book.
Ashcroft explains the molecular mechanisms by which electrical signals are transmitted in the body, their effects and their vital importance with great clarity and very interestingly. She often draws on examples of familiar (and not so familiar) illnesses and the effects of well-known poisons to illuminate what she is saying, and the book is well illustrated with very clear line-drawings which I found invaluable. I found the whole thing fascinating and although this certainly isn't a book which you can read like a novel, I often found myself engrossed and wanting to read just a bit more.
If you have any interest in science this book will interest you. It isn't always a light read and requires some pretty serious concentration in places, but the effort is well worth it. Some background knowledge of chemistry or biochemistry certainly helps but is by no means essential, and anyone who has tried Brian Cox's books, for example, would find this on a comparable intellectual level but with far less mathematics and fewer utterly counter-intuitive ideas. This is one of the best science books for the general reader which I have read for some time and I recommend it very warmly.
Ashcroft explains the molecular mechanisms by which electrical signals are transmitted in the body, their effects and their vital importance with great clarity and very interestingly. She often draws on examples of familiar (and not so familiar) illnesses and the effects of well-known poisons to illuminate what she is saying, and the book is well illustrated with very clear line-drawings which I found invaluable. I found the whole thing fascinating and although this certainly isn't a book which you can read like a novel, I often found myself engrossed and wanting to read just a bit more.
If you have any interest in science this book will interest you. It isn't always a light read and requires some pretty serious concentration in places, but the effort is well worth it. Some background knowledge of chemistry or biochemistry certainly helps but is by no means essential, and anyone who has tried Brian Cox's books, for example, would find this on a comparable intellectual level but with far less mathematics and fewer utterly counter-intuitive ideas. This is one of the best science books for the general reader which I have read for some time and I recommend it very warmly.
12 internautes sur 15 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile
5.0 étoiles sur 5
Please make an audio version
29 septembre 2012
Par H. Connelly
- Publié sur Amazon.com
Format:Relié
I hope the publisher and author decide to make an audio version of this book. This material is going to be the future of medicine and the biochemistry and electrical physiology converge, diseases like parkinson's alzheimer's and other brain diseases can only be cured through a deep understanding of the electrical processes in the brain. the heart has alpha and beta, we do not yet know the key molecules that make electricity in the brain.
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