What Is Life?: With Mind and Matter and Autobiographical Sketches
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- Author：Erwin Schrödinger
- ISBN：1107604664
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Summary
Nobel laureate Erwin Schrodinger's What is Life？ is one of the great science classics of the twentieth century。 It was written for the layman， but proved to be one of the spurs to the birth of molecular biology and the subsequent discovery of DNA。 What is Life？ appears here together with Mind and Matter， his essay investigating a relationship which has eluded and puzzled philosophers since the earliest times。 Brought together with these two classics are Schrodinger's autobiographical sketches， which offer a fascinating account of his life as a background to his scientific writings。
Reviews
Peter
，
In its time， "What is Life？" was a work of genius and it still has a high reputation。 However， it must be said that the discovery of DNA a few years after it was written makes much of it redundant。 Schrodinger's insight was in understanding in principle how genes might work from physics。 We know how this works， so little of his brilliant analysis now feels quite as revelatory as it once must have。 Nonetheless， the insights into life and entropy must still be a foundation for thinking about life。 In its time， "What is Life？" was a work of genius and it still has a high reputation。 However， it must be said that the discovery of DNA a few years after it was written makes much of it redundant。 Schrodinger's insight was in understanding in principle how genes might work from physics。 We know how this works， so little of his brilliant analysis now feels quite as revelatory as it once must have。 Nonetheless， the insights into life and entropy must still be a foundation for thinking about life。More radical for us， perhaps， are his philosophical speculations， particularly in Mind and Matter。 Concerns about the operation of natural selection on humans seem to have uncomfortable echoes of eugenics， though he stops well short of that。 （Schrodinger fled from the Nazis to Ireland。） His approach to the mind-body problem though was new to me。 （Admittedly， I have only a tenuous grasp of philosophy of mind。） The dichotomy that he reaches， of accepting either Leibniz's monadology （which he regards with horror） or the single mind of Vedanta is stark and， I suspect， unlikely to find favour with philosophers。 Schrodinger's understanding of and ease with philosophy is striking and reminds us that the great physicists of his generation， including Einstein and the other originators of quantum theory， were throroughly grounded in philosophy， in contrast to the dismissive attitude of many modern physicists。 Given the advances made in physics in the early 20th century compared to the present stagnation of the field， one wonders whether we might be missing something。 。。。more
Dr。 Javid Jafarov
，
A wonderful book。 A lot of interesting things。
Alejo。Tobon
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It’s a profound philosophical discussion around quantum mechanics and biology with very good arguments for the time the book was written。 The second part related to mind and matter has also very interesting insights。 The last part， biographical sketches， clarifies somehow the background of the book and its motivation。 Deep insights and good philosophical reading definitely （not too much on physic though）。
Angela
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I read this in a fevered trance last night because Schrodinger is a surprisingly good writer， but I cannot say I really got what the point is， except that in really tiny things like atoms， ordered and stable behavior is not always usual。 And ordered and stable behavior over hundreds of years is even less likely。 But yay for us， we have amorphous/aperiodic crystals called DNA in us that somehow maintain ordered， stable behavior that keeps us from spilling out our guts and organs into the ether ra I read this in a fevered trance last night because Schrodinger is a surprisingly good writer， but I cannot say I really got what the point is， except that in really tiny things like atoms， ordered and stable behavior is not always usual。 And ordered and stable behavior over hundreds of years is even less likely。 But yay for us， we have amorphous/aperiodic crystals called DNA in us that somehow maintain ordered， stable behavior that keeps us from spilling out our guts and organs into the ether randomly and/or spontaneously。 Or…something？ 。。。more
Raghunathan Kaushik
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One of the most stimulating essay/book I have read。
Tarun Krishnaswamy
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 I am not even sure if I am qualified to say something about the book， yet I have the freedom to speak and even more freedom to type here。 I would rather like to mention how I felt while reading the book。 First off， there are many questions， which implied that there are many pieces to the puzzle of life discussed here that need further reading or a pre-requisite preparation。Nonetheless， the way the chapters are drafted seems to express how the author must have categorically come to a logical conc I am not even sure if I am qualified to say something about the book， yet I have the freedom to speak and even more freedom to type here。 I would rather like to mention how I felt while reading the book。 First off， there are many questions， which implied that there are many pieces to the puzzle of life discussed here that need further reading or a pre-requisite preparation。Nonetheless， the way the chapters are drafted seems to express how the author must have categorically come to a logical conclusion。 It was a more mathematical approach to life。 I know that sounds weird but Mathematics depends on the fundamentals of axioms （ex， 1 line segment between 2 points） from which theorems are inferred and so the building blocks form。There is no doubt Erwin Schrodinger was an excellent mathematician and hence the thought process。 This book is not to get you an emotional sense of life。 This is not about spiritual thinking。 As it says in the introduction。 It is a physicist's approach to get a fundamental understanding of life 。。。more
امید رضا بیات
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برای فهمیدن مطالب این کتاب احتیاج به دانش درمورد موضوعات ژن و فیزیک کوانتوم هست، فهم تمام مطالب کتاب برای من که صرفا از سر کنجکاوی و علاقهی غیر حرفهای کتابهایی درود ژن و فیزیک کوانتوم خونده بودم سخت و خیلی جاها غیر ممکن بوداما اونجاهایی هم که مقداری متوجه داستان میشدم خیلی برام جذاب میشد！ این کتاب （مقاله） تاثیر بسزایی روی خیلی از دانشمندان بعد از خودش داشته بخصوص در گرایش از سمت فیزیک به خاک ژنتیکخوندنش خالی از لطف نیست و سوژههای خوبی به خواننده میده تا به مسئله تا به امروز حل نشدهی «آگا برای فهمیدن مطالب این کتاب احتیاج به دانش درمورد موضوعات ژن و فیزیک کوانتوم هست، فهم تمام مطالب کتاب برای من که صرفا از سر کنجکاوی و علاقهی غیر حرفهای کتابهایی درود ژن و فیزیک کوانتوم خونده بودم سخت و خیلی جاها غیر ممکن بوداما اونجاهایی هم که مقداری متوجه داستان میشدم خیلی برام جذاب میشد！ این کتاب （مقاله） تاثیر بسزایی روی خیلی از دانشمندان بعد از خودش داشته بخصوص در گرایش از سمت فیزیک به خاک ژنتیکخوندنش خالی از لطف نیست و سوژههای خوبی به خواننده میده تا به مسئله تا به امروز حل نشدهی «آگاهی» فکر کنه 。。。more
Vincenzo Harty
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no cats :（
Steve Johnson
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What Is Life？Influential book， but I'll admit it was only in the final pages that I was truly interested。 That is， when Schrödinger started talking about consciousness and the world at large。 He has an interesting writing style， but it's not always easy to follow。 3。5/5 starsMind and MatterBasically the most interesting parts about What Is Life？ expanded to its separate book。 Interesting insights， definitely worth a read。 4/5 stars。Autobiographical SketchesDecent background reading about Schrödi What Is Life？Influential book， but I'll admit it was only in the final pages that I was truly interested。 That is， when Schrödinger started talking about consciousness and the world at large。 He has an interesting writing style， but it's not always easy to follow。 3。5/5 starsMind and MatterBasically the most interesting parts about What Is Life？ expanded to its separate book。 Interesting insights， definitely worth a read。 4/5 stars。Autobiographical SketchesDecent background reading about Schrödinger's life。 3/5 stars 。。。more
Kostya Lukyanenko
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80% of it was a gobbledygook to my humanitarian mind。 Yet another 20% percent I found extremely interesting。 Especially I liked the twist of the question “Why do atoms have to be so small？” - “It’s rather why does the human body have to be so big”。 And I guess the answer is （at least one of them） that so the unpredictability and quantum jumps of individual quants could not significantly affect the whole body that is defined as a collection of quantum fields or something alike。
Nerea
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Está bien （supongo） pero el final es bastante mejorable
Harry Gardner
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers。 To view it， click here。 It is a fascinating book， based off a series of lectures that Schrodinger gave back in 1944 on biology and physics， how the 'aperiodic' crystal that is chromosome is relatively unimpacted by quantum indeterminancy。 The ending though is an utterly beautiful attempt to circumvent the contradiction between biological determinancy and the lived experience of free will--adopting the philosophical posture of an Aldous Huxley in the process。 Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history of It is a fascinating book， based off a series of lectures that Schrodinger gave back in 1944 on biology and physics， how the 'aperiodic' crystal that is chromosome is relatively unimpacted by quantum indeterminancy。 The ending though is an utterly beautiful attempt to circumvent the contradiction between biological determinancy and the lived experience of free will--adopting the philosophical posture of an Aldous Huxley in the process。 Highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history of science。 。。。more
Aleph
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Capolavoro del pensiero moderno。 Schrödinger， come Heisenberg e tutti gli altri collaboratori alla fisica quantistica， dispongono di un'acutezza di mente che non ha eguali nella storia dell'umanità。 Capolavoro del pensiero moderno。 Schrödinger， come Heisenberg e tutti gli altri collaboratori alla fisica quantistica， dispongono di un'acutezza di mente che non ha eguali nella storia dell'umanità。 。。。more
Yury Kashnitsky
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The part with basics of biology outlined by a physicist was very pleasant to read。 The arguments about entropy， “orderness” and food as a way to decrease entropy and avoid death - are more speculative。 Lastly， the philosophical closing is hard to follow， doesn’t seem to build upon physical or biological facts described earlier and simply sounds very hand-wavy。
Saramp96
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Me he sorprendido conmigo misma leyendo este ensayo porque buena parte del contenido me ha recordado a lo que aprendí en biología en el instituto， ¡y lo que me gustaban los ejercicios sobre genética y las leyes de Mendel！ Solo que que aquí Erwin expande el tema mucho más， con un tono más científico y， sobretodo， más físico。 Aunque el último capítulo es filosofía pura。Sin embargo， han habido conceptos de física que no he logrado entender muy bien， cuando se me ha aparecido por medio del texto una Me he sorprendido conmigo misma leyendo este ensayo porque buena parte del contenido me ha recordado a lo que aprendí en biología en el instituto， ¡y lo que me gustaban los ejercicios sobre genética y las leyes de Mendel！ Solo que que aquí Erwin expande el tema mucho más， con un tono más científico y， sobretodo， más físico。 Aunque el último capítulo es filosofía pura。Sin embargo， han habido conceptos de física que no he logrado entender muy bien， cuando se me ha aparecido por medio del texto una fórmula me he quedado más hundida en el sofá que sentada。 Por otro lado， hay textos que vienen acompañados por imágenes muy esclarecedoras sobre el funcionamiento de la genética， los cromosomas， etc， que es todo lo que me ha gustado leer y lo que mejor he comprendido， y por muy poco que sepas sobre las materias que tratan， creo que todo el mundo tenemos esa incógnita de '¿Qué es la vida？' y sepamos más o menos sobre física o biología， creo que todos podemos sacar alguna conclusión。 Me reservo este párrafo para el último capítulo， que es el más me ha gustado porque trata finalmente sobre la percepción y la consciencia que tenemos cada uno del "yo" con un toque más filosófico que científico。 。。。more
Erfan Abedi
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Schrödinger quite perfectly captures what I think is the essence of being a scientist: curiosity。I know this was written almost 100 years ago， but the fact that he didn't just stick to studying physics and knew quite a lot about biology and philosophy is very inspiring。 Schrödinger quite perfectly captures what I think is the essence of being a scientist: curiosity。I know this was written almost 100 years ago， but the fact that he didn't just stick to studying physics and knew quite a lot about biology and philosophy is very inspiring。 。。。more
Regina Froland
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I had a very hard time following this book。 I feel it is geared more towards people with a science background。
Drew Ericsson
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Somewhat drier than anticipated， and didn't fully address the title of the book。 Somewhat drier than anticipated， and didn't fully address the title of the book。 。。。more
Christopher Willey
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I finished this book a while ago- but there was an additional lecture and autobiography as addendums and I held them back for a bit。 I cannot remember exactly where I heard of this book， but I think it was either James Gleick's Sync， or a Carlo Rovelli's book。 Either way- at that time it peaked my interest。 I'm not exactly sure， of course these ideas are still forming， but I see a relationship between the observer， the context， and the signal。 Each of these areas have energy， each have agency， a I finished this book a while ago- but there was an additional lecture and autobiography as addendums and I held them back for a bit。 I cannot remember exactly where I heard of this book， but I think it was either James Gleick's Sync， or a Carlo Rovelli's book。 Either way- at that time it peaked my interest。 I'm not exactly sure， of course these ideas are still forming， but I see a relationship between the observer， the context， and the signal。 Each of these areas have energy， each have agency， and together- in time- stuff happens。 （lol， that's a funny way to put it）。 I have been calling this interdisciplinary field of inquiry Information Thermodynamics。 Meaning the energetic signal is only wrought from space/time through the energetic behaviors of the observer agent。 This all seems so trivial， but I don't know many others who see things this way- and there's the rub。 This author does- albeit with a much more mathemematic and physics based mind。 The process of distilling energetic information down to the quant level， and slowly building towards the complex adaptive systems at each scale， as they aggregate towards higher orders of systems is extremely exciting to me。。。 it makes me feel less- idk- whackadooThe method of this text's deliver is also endearing。 I want to emulate the setup in my own eventual papers。 At the very very end of this book， during the autobiography- he talks a bit about the importance of education。 I was keen for this part- nature v nurture etc。Ultimately- that is my aim， to more clearly understand the energetic systems and agents involved within a teaching and learning environment。 Good questions came from this- just as they came from Scale before it。 Up next，I'm tucking into the sensations of the observer with philospher David Abram， another Gleick book， and then leaning hard into Albert-Laszlo Barabasi's network/systems theory。 Should be an enriching journey！ 。。。more
Taylor Porter
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It was interesting， but also boring and condescending at times。 I would recommend reading it if you like biology and want to know what physically makes up life。 If your not into that， don’t worry about it。
Ramón Cornejo-Muñoz
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Libro Semana 12/52: "¿Qué es la vida？"， de Erwin Schrödinger， premio Nobel de Física en 1933 por sus contribuciones a la cuantificación de la dualidad onda-partícula a través de la famosa "ecuación de onda"， es una ventana hacia entender porqué la vida se mantiene y prolifera en un Universo que siempre busca lo inerte o， en otras palabras， la maximización de la entropía。Así， este documento no es para nada esotérico ni filosófico （aunque su epílogo sí lo es）， sino muestra lo que actualmente se en Libro Semana 12/52: "¿Qué es la vida？"， de Erwin Schrödinger， premio Nobel de Física en 1933 por sus contribuciones a la cuantificación de la dualidad onda-partícula a través de la famosa "ecuación de onda"， es una ventana hacia entender porqué la vida se mantiene y prolifera en un Universo que siempre busca lo inerte o， en otras palabras， la maximización de la entropía。Así， este documento no es para nada esotérico ni filosófico （aunque su epílogo sí lo es）， sino muestra lo que actualmente se entiende como "entropía negativa"， esto es， la capacidad de ciertos sistemas de encontrar "equilibrios" sin desaparecer al perder energía， como lo son los torbellinos， las células de Bénard， incluso nosotros los seres vivos。 Increíble concepto que ayudó a Watson， Crick y Franklin a proponer y descubrir la estructura de doble hélice del ADN。Recomendable para quienes quieran comprender， pasando por recovecos de física， biología y química， el cómo la vida sí puede ser explicada desde la física， sólo que incluyendo estos conceptos， dado que antes de ellos， estaban completamente separados。 Cabe notar que el libro es del 1943。#queeslavida #ErwinSchrodinger #Schrodinger #readingchalleng #goodreads 。。。more
Kyle
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I should say that the first part of this book， the "What is Life？" part merits 5 stars in my opinion。 It is the With Mind and Matter portion that I often found Schrödinger's viewopint a little less intriguing。 The "What is Life" part is excellent， especially given the time when it was produced。 I like Schrödinger's modesty as a physicist poking into biology themes， but also offering insightful arguments。 I didn't like his argument about "negative entropy" as what he was talking about was free en I should say that the first part of this book， the "What is Life？" part merits 5 stars in my opinion。 It is the With Mind and Matter portion that I often found Schrödinger's viewopint a little less intriguing。 The "What is Life" part is excellent， especially given the time when it was produced。 I like Schrödinger's modesty as a physicist poking into biology themes， but also offering insightful arguments。 I didn't like his argument about "negative entropy" as what he was talking about was free energy， but he then addresses this in a paragraph for fellow physicists。 This candor and honesty about trying to reach lay audiences is well-appreciated。 I still have great qualms about Schrödinger's identification of entropy with disorder， but for the points he's making they are fine。 The Mind and Matter portion I didn't find quite as insightful， as it depends somewhat on the idea that our minds are one （this ambiguity of all minds being one or each single mind being indivisible is left open， in my opinion）， and I think discoveries （like split-brain patients） strongly challenge Schrödinger's assumptions about consciousness。 There's nothing wrong with it， but I wasn't as interested in this argument， and while Schrödinger avoids going into mysticism， there just wasn't a lot of experiments or great observational data that could be used to test mind ideas at the time。The final autobiographical sketches are a fun read for anyone who enjoys physicist history。Overall， I felt the mind and matter part were ok， while the other parts were excellent and worth reading if you have an interest in history or physics/biology crossover。 。。。more
Kyle Zollo
，
Short， fun， old-timey popular science book。 Didn’t quite deliver exactly as I was expecting， but I still might reread in the future。
Ray Dunsmore
，
A very fascinating book about the potential origins of life itself。 I will admit to not understanding a fair deal of the book， but that honestly says more about me than it does Schrodinger， he really does try to reach out to the common man with this book （albeit the common man of 1944 with most of the academic jargon of its time intact）。 Still - a fascinating， valuable read。
Ahmed Obeid
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A small book but a hard one， I think that's because Erwin is a physicist， not a biological specialist。 This book is talking about the physical side of biology。 the more you don't know about biology， the harder you'll find this book。 so If you're a beginner; don't go on。 A small book but a hard one， I think that's because Erwin is a physicist， not a biological specialist。 This book is talking about the physical side of biology。 the more you don't know about biology， the harder you'll find this book。 so If you're a beginner; don't go on。 。。。more
Wasi Rizvi
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This is a sweet fruit of very powerful curiosity。 It feels like time travelling to library in the past and picking up an interesting title。 You can see him organize thoughts around unknown and unchartered territories。 What happens when a physicist looks at life and realizes what he does not know is bigger than what he does。
Alessandro Piovaccari
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Very inspirationalThis book is composed of three parts， and even if I read all three， my review is only of the first part， which is the title of the book。 This book is certainly outdated， as many fundamental discoveries have been obtained in biology， obviously including the DNA。 That said， it is fascinating how ES is able to devise great inside of the mechanism， operation， and physical dimensions of the genes component based only on empirical evidence。 A great exemplary lesson to learn for any i Very inspirationalThis book is composed of three parts， and even if I read all three， my review is only of the first part， which is the title of the book。 This book is certainly outdated， as many fundamental discoveries have been obtained in biology， obviously including the DNA。 That said， it is fascinating how ES is able to devise great inside of the mechanism， operation， and physical dimensions of the genes component based only on empirical evidence。 A great exemplary lesson to learn for any intellectual investigator。 I find also extremely valuable the explanation of the the possible connections with statistical mechanics。 The language is often too heavy and complex， and I do not necessarily agree with some of the positions， but I still found it a must-read inspirational book！ 。。。more
Richard Thompson
，
Yes， we all know Schrodinger's famous cat， but beyond the cat， his wave equations are at the heart of the theory of quantum mechanics。 This guy was a genius for sure， so I was excited to have a chance to read some material from him that is written for the lay reader。The first part of this book is great。 It is amazing how much that was correct and smart could be said about genetics and heredity from the point of view of physics several years before the discovery of the double helix strtucture of Yes， we all know Schrodinger's famous cat， but beyond the cat， his wave equations are at the heart of the theory of quantum mechanics。 This guy was a genius for sure， so I was excited to have a chance to read some material from him that is written for the lay reader。The first part of this book is great。 It is amazing how much that was correct and smart could be said about genetics and heredity from the point of view of physics several years before the discovery of the double helix strtucture of DNA and long before gene sequencing and splicing came along。 It's a roadmap for the directions that genetics took for the next fifty years after this was written， pointing the way and correctly predicting that the answers were there to be found。 The second half of the book - "Mind and Matter" was a bit of a disappointment after the first half。 In this section Mr。 Schrodinger is more philosophical， giving us the physicist's perspective on ethics， the philosophy of science， science and religion， and the philosophical problem of the one and the many。 As he strays further away from physics， the quality of the analysis deteriorates a bit。 I liked the brief autobiographical sketch at the end of the book， but on the whole， I would have enjoyed it more if I had stopped at the end of "What Is Life" without gong on to "Mind and Matter。" 。。。more
Marco Arcangeli
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In questo piccolo libro ma di grande portata il fisico austriaco si pone domande fondamentali sulla vita， tentando di darne una spiegazione fisica。 Si parte parlando dell'accostamento al fenomeno biologico con la fisica classica， andando poi a spiegare i meccanismi ereditari， fino alla prova del carattere quantistico delle mutazioni。 Infine si considera il concetto fisico dell'entropia e del suo significato statistico。 La sua conclusione è che "la molecola del gene deve essere un cristallo aperi In questo piccolo libro ma di grande portata il fisico austriaco si pone domande fondamentali sulla vita， tentando di darne una spiegazione fisica。 Si parte parlando dell'accostamento al fenomeno biologico con la fisica classica， andando poi a spiegare i meccanismi ereditari， fino alla prova del carattere quantistico delle mutazioni。 Infine si considera il concetto fisico dell'entropia e del suo significato statistico。 La sua conclusione è che "la molecola del gene deve essere un cristallo aperiodico， formato da una sequenza di elementi isomerici che costituiscono il codice ereditario"。 Con questa spiegazione， incredibilmente vicina alla realtà per quell'epoca， trae origine la corrente di pensiero che poi sfocerà nella biologia molecolare。 Dieci anni più tardi dalla pubblicazione di questo libro， Watson e Crick scopriranno la struttura del DNA。 。。。more
Elizabeth Filips
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