In the middle of the last century there was a broad consensus that the sciences formed a hierarchy in which each level was to be explained in terms of the one below it. Psychology was to be explained by physi­ology, physiology by chemistry and chemistry by physics. This scientific strategy was called “reductionism”, since all sciences were ultimately to be reduced to physics. The idea was pithily expressed by Jim Watson, one of the discoverers of DNA (illustrated right): “There are only molecules – everything else is sociology.”

Reductionist science chalked up victory after victory, as more and more lower-level mechanisms were discovered to explain higher-level processes. One such discovery was made in 1984 by the young Denis Noble. He explained the pacemaker rhythm of the heart in terms of the flow of ions of potassium and calcium through protein channels. This achievement established his credentials as a reductionist biologist.

However, Noble did not long continue to be a card-carrying member of the fraternity. He soon realised that in the heartbeat there was not only upward causation from the molecular level to the cellular level but also downward causation from the cell influencing the molecules. There followed 30 years of reflection, whose results are presented in this instructive and absorbing volume. Dance to the Tune of Life makes demands upon the reader, but the effort required is richly rewarded by a vision of a universe filled with glorious wonder.