Time to pop this one back to the top.
Just ran across this interesting interview:
How Did Life Begin?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evoluti...ife-begin.html
and the book from the interviewee:
Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth by Andrew H. Knoll
http://www.amazon.com/Life-Young-Pla.../dp/0691009783
unfortunately doesn't appear to be available as an ebook.