Life's Engines: How Microbes Made Earth Habitable (Science Essentials): 24

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Several drivers were approached to drive for the team, including Gabriele Tarquini, Pierluigi Martini, Marco Apicella, Roberto Moreno and Gianni Morbidelli. Interestingly the microbes oxidizing hydrogen sulfide still require free oxygen as part of the process. I liked that somewhat bleak out take on our importance in the grand scheme of things, but that might be self-evident to anyone who knows me. The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree.

It is brilliant and fascinating, but perhaps it should come with a warning: the book is divided into university-lecture-sized sections, and they do need concentration and absorption. If that supplemental information was available to me, it is very likely that this would have achieved another star from me.Now as all my complaints have been got out of the way, I can concentrate on telling you what I liked about the book. Every chapter is packed so tightly with an abundance of information about microbes: how they are connected to one another, to groups of microbes, to plants and animals (including humans), and to the earth at large. He explains how features of single celled life were used in the transition to multicellular organisms. Now Caine delves into the real stories behind the gangs we think we know so well, revealing the hidden realities behind the myths.

In chains of cyanobacteria some cells give up their photosynthetic function, even though they retain the genes to do so. Almost all of this was covered in more detail in Genetics, and I still wasn’t particularly interested the second time around.The W12 turned out to be the least powerful engine of the year: its output was 480 hp while others produced 600 to 700 hp. Random House presents the audiobook edition of Ikigai by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles, read by Noako Mori.