I just finished reading "The Vital Question: Energy, Evolution, and the Origins of Complex Life" by Nick Lane.
https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Question-Why-life-way/dp/1781250375Although it came out in 2001, I didn't get to it until recently. Excellent book, quite technical, but very readable.
Basically he covers research on the origins of life (evolution of prokaryotes in something similar to today's alkaline hydrothermal vents), and the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes (simple to complex life). Lots of discussion regarding ion flow and membranes. Life is chemiosmotic, I learned in this book!
Here's a quote from the epilogue: "If life is nothing but an electron looking for a place to rest, death is nothing but that electron come to rest".
How poetic!