Cover -- Half-title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Preface -- CHAPTER ONE Illustrious Predecessors -- SCHRÖDINGER AND VON NEUMANN -- EIGEN AND ORGEL -- MARGULIS -- KIMURA -- CHAPTER TWO Experiments and Theories -- CHEMISTRY -- GENETICS AND PALEONTOLOGY -- The Deep Hot Biosphere -- THEORIES -- Oparin -- Eigen -- Cairns-Smith -- CHAPTER THREE A Toy Model -- THE MEANING OF METABOLISM -- DETAILS OF THE MODEL -- CONSEQUENCES OF THE MODEL -- CHAPTER FOUR Open Questions -- WHY IS LIFE SO COMPLICATED? -- Other Questions Suggested by the Toy Model -- Were the first living creatures composed of molecules resembling proteins, or molecules resembling nucleic acids, or a… -- At what stage did random genetic drift give way to natural selection? -- Does the model contradict the Central Dogma of molecular biology? -- How did nucleic acids originate? -- How did the modern genetic apparatus evolve? -- How late was the latest common ancestor of all living species? -- Does there exist a chemical realization of my model, for example, a population of a few thousand amino acids forming an… -- What will happen to my little toy model when the problem of the origin of life is finally solved? -- WIDER IMPLICATIONS -- Bibliography -- Index.