3.5
Life's Edge
ByPublisher Description
FINALIST FOR THE PEN/E.O. WILSON LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING AWARD***A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF 2021***A SCIENCE NEWS FAVORITE BOOK OF 2021***A SMITHSONIAN TOP TEN SCIENCE BOOK OF 2021
“Stories that both dazzle and edify… This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times Book Review
We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world—from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses—the harder they find it is to locate life’s edge.
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts—whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
Life's Edge is an utterly fascinating investigation that no one but one of the most celebrated science writers of our generation could craft. Zimmer journeys through the strange experiments that have attempted to re-create life. Literally hundreds of definitions of what that should look like now exist, but none has yet emerged as an obvious winner. Lists of what living things have in common do not add up to a theory of life. It's never clear why some items on the list are essential and others not. Coronaviruses have altered the course of history, and yet many scientists maintain they are not alive. Chemists are creating droplets that can swarm, sense their environment, and multiply. Have they made life in the lab?
Whether he is handling pythons in Alabama or searching for hibernating bats in the Adirondacks, Zimmer revels in astounding examples of life at its most bizarre. He tries his own hand at evolving life in a test tube with unnerving results. Charting the obsession with Dr. Frankenstein's monster and how the world briefly believed radium was the source of all life, Zimmer leads us all the way into the labs and minds of researchers engineering life from scratch.
“Stories that both dazzle and edify… This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself.” —Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times Book Review
We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world—from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses—the harder they find it is to locate life’s edge.
Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can’t answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society’s most charged conflicts—whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead.
Life's Edge is an utterly fascinating investigation that no one but one of the most celebrated science writers of our generation could craft. Zimmer journeys through the strange experiments that have attempted to re-create life. Literally hundreds of definitions of what that should look like now exist, but none has yet emerged as an obvious winner. Lists of what living things have in common do not add up to a theory of life. It's never clear why some items on the list are essential and others not. Coronaviruses have altered the course of history, and yet many scientists maintain they are not alive. Chemists are creating droplets that can swarm, sense their environment, and multiply. Have they made life in the lab?
Whether he is handling pythons in Alabama or searching for hibernating bats in the Adirondacks, Zimmer revels in astounding examples of life at its most bizarre. He tries his own hand at evolving life in a test tube with unnerving results. Charting the obsession with Dr. Frankenstein's monster and how the world briefly believed radium was the source of all life, Zimmer leads us all the way into the labs and minds of researchers engineering life from scratch.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesLife's Edge Reviews
3.5
eri's pages
Created 8 months agoShare
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“A profound deep dive into questions of life from the perspectives of biologists, chemists, biochemists, physicists, geneticists and philosophers
mostly written in layman's terms so easy to understand, but I found it could get a little tangent-y and I found myself loosing the train of thought at times”
Rachel Stagner
Created 9 months agoShare
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Ethan Jarrell
Created 9 months agoShare
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“Carl Zimmer’s Life’s Edge is a fascinating exploration of one of biology’s most fundamental and elusive questions: What is life? The book takes readers on a journey through scientific discoveries, historical debates, and philosophical dilemmas, illustrating just how difficult it is to define life itself.<br/><br/>One of the book’s strengths lies in its compelling storytelling. Certain anecdotes—like the discovery of seemingly "living" mud or the evolution of DNA sequencing technology—stand out as especially memorable and engaging. Zimmer excels at bringing scientific breakthroughs to life, making complex ideas accessible and thought-provoking.<br/><br/>However, the book occasionally loses momentum when Zimmer shifts focus to his personal travels and meetings with scientists. While these details help create a narrative feel, they don’t always feel essential to the science or the broader argument. Additionally, the book sometimes struggles to maintain a smooth balance between its scientific depth, historical context, and storytelling. At times, it leans heavily into dense, textbook-like explanations, only to swing back to a more narrative-driven style, creating a slightly uneven reading experience. That said, when Zimmer does strike the right balance, he does so masterfully.<br/><br/>Despite these minor issues, Life’s Edge succeeds in its primary goal—not to provide a definitive answer to what life is, but to illuminate the ongoing debate, introduce key scientific figures, and encourage readers to grapple with its philosophical implications. Zimmer makes it clear that this is a question still far from settled, and that makes the journey all the more intriguing.<br/><br/>Overall, this is a thought-provoking and well-researched book that offers a fascinating look at the blurred boundaries of life. For anyone interested in biology, philosophy, or the history of scientific thought, Life’s Edge is well worth reading. Highly recommended.”
About Carl Zimmer
Carl Zimmer writes the Matter column for The New York Times and has frequently contributed to The Atlantic, National Geographic, Time, and Scientific American. He has won the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Science Journalism Award three times, among a host of other awards and fellowships. He teaches science writing at Yale, has been a guest on NPR's RadioLab, Science Friday, and Fresh Air, and maintains an international speaking schedule. He is the author of thirteen books about science, including She Has Her Mother's Laugh.
Other books by Carl Zimmer
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