How did life emerge on Earth? Is there life on other worlds? These questions, until recently confined to the pages of speculative essays and tabloid headlines, are now the subject of legitimate scientific research. This book presents a unique perspective--a combined historical, scientific, and philosophical analysis, which does justice to the complex nature of the subject. The book's first part offers an overview of the main ideas on the origin of life as they developed from antiquity until the twentieth century. The second, more detailed part of the book examines contemporary theories and major debates within the origin-of-life scientific community. Topics include: Aristotle and the Greek atomists' conceptions of the organism Alexander Oparin and J.B.S. Haldane's 1920s breakthrough papers Possible life on Mars?

The Royal Society's Science Book of the Year "[A]n exuberant romp through evolution, like a modern-day Willy Wonka of genetic space. Gee’s grand tour enthusiastically details the narrative underlying life’s erratic and often whimsical exploration of biological form and function.” —Adrian Woolfson, The Washington Post In the tradition of Richard Dawkins, Bill Bryson, and Simon Winchester—An entertaining and uniquely informed narration of Life's life story. In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place—in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions. Amid all this tumult and disaster, life began. The earliest living things were no more than membranes stretched across microscopic gaps in rocks, where boiling hot jets of mineral-rich water gushed out from cracks in the ocean floor. Although these membranes were leaky, the environment within them became different from the raging maelstrom beyond. These havens of order slowly refined the generation of energy, using it to form membrane-bound bubbles that were mostly-faithful copies of their parents—a foamy lather of soap-bubble cells standing as tiny clenched fists, defiant against the lifeless world. Life on this planet has continued in much the same way for millennia, adapting to literally every conceivable setback that living organisms could encounter and thriving, from these humblest beginnings to the thrilling and unlikely story of ourselves. In A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee zips through the last 4.6 billion years with infectious enthusiasm and intellectual rigor. Drawing on the very latest scientific understanding and writing in a clear, accessible style, he tells an enlightening tale of survival and persistence that illuminates the delicate balance within which life has always existed.

· What’s happening in the world lately? · How can I be happy when so many are not? · Is life about following your heart or taking what’s served to you? · Who were the prophets, what areangels, and what happens when we die? · What happened to our ancient civilizations, do secret societies have any real secrets, and are aliens now visiting us? · What’s real? What matters? Who says? Who cares? · How do we know or find our purpose? Many of us ask ourselves these questions, and many more, as we go through our days and try to make sense of our lives. Mike Dooley asks them too, except . . . his questions get answered. Wisely. Compassionately. Fully. One such answer explained its source, stating that we all have a higher self within that predates this life and will live beyond it, and thus it knows a whole lot more than we do about where we’ve been, why we’re here, and what will likely happen next on planet Earth. Life on Earth takes the form of a journal in which Mike asks what’s on his mind during pivotal times in his life. As one of today’s most respected New Thought leaders and reality theorists, he offers a lofty platform for this wide-ranging dialogue that powerfully expands our perspectives on essential truths, taking on topics such as: · Why and how to see through the “illusions” of life on earth · How to make sense of natural disasters and man-made tragedies · Living deliberately, creating consciously, and finding your power · Wealth, relationships, “past lives,” and the evolution of consciousness · The ultimate reason for life on earth (it’s shockingly simple) These are questions asked from the heart with a cautious, even suspicious, mind. Mike explores the subtleties of the replies in depth and detail using his trademark wit and realism, in this intrepid explorer’s guide to the jungles of time and space.

Uniting the foundations of physics and biology, this groundbreaking multidisciplinary and integrative book explores life as a planetary process.

By one of Britain's most gifted scientists: a magnificently daring and compulsively readable account of life on Earth (from the "big bang" to the advent of man), based entirely on the most original of all sources--the evidence of fossils. With excitement and driving intelligence, Richard Fortey guides us from the barren globe spinning in space, through the very earliest signs of life in the sulphurous hot springs and volcanic vents of the young planet, the appearance of cells, the slow creation of an atmosphere and the evolution of myriad forms of plants and animals that could then be sustained, including the magnificent era of the dinosaurs, and on to the last moment before the debut of Homo sapiens. Ranging across multiple scientific disciplines, explicating in wonderfully clear and refreshing prose their findings and arguments--about the origins of life, the causes of species extinctions and the first appearance of man--Fortey weaves this history out of the most delicate traceries left in rock, stone and earth. He also explains how, on each aspect of nature and life, scientists have reached the understanding we have today, who made the key discoveries, who their opponents were and why certain ideas won. Brimful of wit, fascinating personal experience and high scholarship, this book may well be our best introduction yet to the complex history of life on Earth. A Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection With 32 pages of photographs

The Atlas of Life on Earth offers a comprehensive, chronological survey of the Earth, its landscape and its life forms, from the beginning of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago to the present.The atlas is accessibly organized in six major parts, with 18 chapters devoted to each of the major geological periods, in which the crucial geological and biological developments in the history of our planet are described in lucid and intriguing detail. A concluding section looks at the ways in which the Earth and its biosphere continue to evolve today. Each chapter begins with a timeline of the geological period in question and a vivid and arresting map presenting a ‘snapshot from space' of the world as it was then. These maps, together with detailed artworks (including lavish reconstructions of prehistoric landscapes), stunning photographs, and explanatory diagrams, take the reader on a fascinating, informative, and awe-inspiring journey through time. Specially devised feature spreads illustrating graphically and elegantly the evolution and relationships of each major group of plants and animals provide the reader with an incomparable reference source. Each section of the atlas has been written by an acknowledged expert in the relevant field, ensuring clear, informed coverage of the exciting and extraordinary story of the evolution of our planet. Part 1: In the Beginning Part 2: The Early Paleozoic Part 3: The Late Paleozoic Part 4: The Mesozoic Part 5: The Tertiary Part 6: The Quaternary