Origin of life theories

So I finally got around to reading Frankenstein, and I'm a ways into it, and it's gotten me interested in the origin of life. Apparently no one has any firm idea how life 'happened', as it were.

I'm reading the abiogenesis article on Wikipedia (in before "Wikipedia can be changed by anyone, it's totally false!", it's reliable enough for me.), and the only guy that had any clue what was going on was Alexander Oparin.

Now, I'm no scientist, but it seems completely mind-boggling to me that simple molecules could spontaneously become autonomous due to the chemical properties of their constituent atoms.

Any intelligent anons care to spread the intelligence, or can recommend any reading other than Wikipedia to try to comprehend this concept?

>>3
I knew that high temperatures and impacts with basic elements formed amino acids, but it's still confusing as to why these amino acids just gained a certain autonomy.

Why is it that Oparin thought a reducing atmosphere would hinder the formation of amino acids and spontaneous generation of life? Does a reduction reaction happen more readily than the process to bring about amino acids and blocks their formation, or is it something more basic (or complex)?