The Wonder of Life on Earth The Story of Our Planet, Evolution and You

About this book

Discover the story of life on our planet as you have never seen it before, from the winner of the Royal Society Science Book Prize, Henry Gee. The perfect gift for the curious of any age.

In 30 bite-size chapters, Nature editor and author of the award-winning A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee, charts the incredible, unlikely story of life on our planet, with vibrant colour illustrations from artist Raxenne Maniquiz.

Life began billions of years ago, as tiny bubbles sheltering from toxic seawater began to spring up on the ocean floor. What follows is the ultimate survival story: faced with supervolcanoes, toxic air and asteroids – life adapted. The Wonder of Life on Earth condenses billions of years of evolution into one exquisite 80-page book, giving a broad overview that focuses on some of the most pivotal moments in the story of life: including mass extinctions, the egg, the seed, the spine and the ear. These are near misses for the existence of life, and evolutionary crossroads that paved the way for the world we know today.

Artwork from talented botanical illustrator and designer Raxenne Maniquiz brings to life a cavalcade of strange and marvellous creatures: travel back in time to look inside bacteria and the first cells, to the planet's first trees and plants, to the odd, soft-bodied rangeomorphs, and on to armoured fishes, dinosaurs, nimble mammals and endlessly adaptable apes and primates. Henry's gripping writing makes it easy to understand complex processes like the carbon cycle, natural selection, fossilisation and the galactic fluctuations that have shaped our planet and its inhabitants.

This astonishing and readable natural history is perfect for younger readers and anyone looking for an accessible introduction to the biggest topic around: life. Complete with a glossary, a timeline and a view into the future.

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Biography

Dr Henry Gee was born in 1962. He was educated at the universities of Leeds and Cambridge. For more than three decades, he has been a writer and editor at the international science journal Nature. His previous books include The Accidental Species: Misunderstandings of Human Evolution; Across The Bridge: Understanding the Origin of the Vertebrates; Deep Time: Cladistics, the Revolution in Evolution; Jacob's Ladder: The History of the Human Genome; The Science of Middle-Earth, The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire and (with Luis V. Rey) A Field Guide to Dinosaurs. In 2022, he won the Royal Society Science Book Prize for A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth. He lives in Cromer, Norfolk, with his family and numerous pets.

Raxenne Maniquiz is a graphic designer and illustrator from the Philippines. Her work depicts images of native botanicals and endemic species from her country, appearing in brand campaigns, product packaging, apparel design, stationery, and published materials for companies such as Adobe and Bloomberg. In 2021, she won the prestigious Young Gun award – an international, portfolio-based competition that identifies and celebrates today's vanguard of young creatives.