Translated from the French.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 235-277) and index.

"The Bible states that God created the heavens and the Earth, all in about seven days roughly six thousand years ago. This episode in Genesis departs markedly from scientific theories developed over the last two centuries that hold that life appeared on Earth over 3 billion years ago in the form of bacteria, followed by unicellular organisms less than a billion years later. It is this version of genesis that Alexandre Meinesz explores in this tale of life's origin and evolution." "How Life Began elucidates three origins, or geneses, of life - bacteria, cells, and multicellular organisms - and shows how evolution has sculpted life to its current biodiversity through four main phenomena - mutations, recombination, natural selection, and geological cataclysms. A biologist who specializes in algae, Meinesz brings a novel voice to the history of biodiversity and emphasizes here the role of unions in organizing life."--Jacket.

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