The description of the first book reads like hype about being on the verge of a breakthrough. Mentions the author is excited with anticipation....that an understanding of how it really happens is just starting to be bridged. I guess these light years are about to be bridged by his palpable excitement....for myself I will let for the results of his epic journey before I get excited.
Both books give up-to-date data on where things stand today, which imho are light years beyond the 1952 Miller-Urey experiment.
However, these are all still hypotheses, subject to falsification & revisions, certainly interesting but by no means conclusively confirmed.