This exciting exploration into the nature of life brilliantly weaves together the excitement of intellectual discovery and a fertile mix of insights to give the general reader a fascinating look at the new science of complexity--and at the forces for order that lie at the edge of chaos. "An important new argument".--Carl Sagan, The Washington Post. 59 illustrations.

"An intriguing new scientific theory that explains what life is and how it emerges. What is life? This is among the most difficult open problems in science, right up there with the nature of consciousness and the existence of matter. All the definitions we have fall short. None help us understand how life originates or the full range of possibilities for what life on other planets might look like. In Life as No One Knows It, physicist and astrobiologist...