Life’s Edge

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.

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.

COVER RAVE REVIEW FOR HARDCOVER IN NYTBR: "Stories that both dazzle and edify… This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself. It is about error and hubris, but also about wonder and the reach of science."-Siddhartha Mukherjee, New York Times Book ReviewAMAZING ORIGIN OF LIFE AND ARTIFICIAL LIFE RESEARCH: Can you build a cell from scratch? (maybe) Can you grow a brain in low earth orbit? (maybe) Can you get life from electrocuting beef broth? (nope) The science is booming-Zimmer is the first to write a book on it.POPULAR LITERARY SCIENCE WRITING SELLS AND SELLS: Successful, popular, award-winning science journalism editorially akin to Life's Edge includes Jim Holt's Why Does the World Exist?, Ed Yong's I Contain Multitudes, Jennifer Ackerman's The Genius of Birds-relentless frontlist and backlist, paperback, ebook, and audio.GROWING PUBLIC PROFILE: The audience for Zimmer's New York Times column and reporting grew dramatically during the pandemic-and is super engaged on Twitter. His public appearances regularly attract audiences of over 1000 people in venues from North Carolina to Australia, Boston to Copenhagen. His course at Yale and academic adoptions are thriving. CRITICAL SUCCESS OF SHE HAS HER MOTHER'S LAUGH: Best science book of the year-The Guardian; PEN science writing award finalist; a best book of the year-The New York Times, PW, Kirkus, and Science Friday.