The Co-Creation

“This is a landmark work of science writing. Wildly ambitious and utterly compelling, Olivia Judson has chronicled the greatest narrative of all—the full history of life, Earth, and the intimate, perpetual dance between the two.”

“This is an exceptionally clear history of the amazing dance of organics and inorganics that constitutes this living Earth in its current moment of co-evolution. What we are together is illuminated by this knowledge, and this is not only helpful as we figure out what to do as a civilization now, but delightful in and of itself. Highly recommended!”

“Olivia Judson takes on the deepest mysteries of life and emerges with a vision as surprising as it is awe-inspiring. This beautiful book tells the earth’s story as it has never been told before—a planet tumultuous and creative, continually remade by the lifeforms it spawns.”

“A highly readable, important, and new way of thinking about life and Earth. The Co-Creation is excellent.”

“A majestic grand tour of the history of our planet, The Co-Creation shows how intimately the geological and the living worlds have been producing and transforming one another throughout time. Olivia Judson provides a fresh and exhilarating view of what life itself is and how it arises and evolves.”

“Epic in scope, rigorously researched, and intellectually thrilling, The Co-Creation is an extraordinary feat of synthesis and scholarship and a masterwork of science writing. Olivia Judson illuminates the fundamental connections between energy, evolution, life, and Earth with unprecedented clarity, memorable metaphors, and profound insights. Judson has crafted nothing less than the most compelling proposal for the origin of life that I have ever encountered, an incisive explanation of what makes living things unique, and a brilliant new framework for understanding the eons-long evolution of our living planet. This book should be read closely, shared widely, and cherished by all.”

“At turn luscious, heady, and strange, The Co-Creation updates the Gaia hypothesis with modern physics and a neo-Victorian sweep of ecology that would make George Eliot proud. Judson places us just as we are: not on the Earth, but of it.”

“An epic poem worthy of Gaia herself. With vivid writing, enchanting detail and colossal scale, Olivia Judson brings to life the flows of energy that animated our world, from the first cells through global glaciations wrought by bacteria, to the planet-sculpting of animals and our own high-octane lives. Building layer upon layer, under the watchful eye of her Planetary Accountant, Judson has written a marvelous paean to our living rock.”

“A fascinating and original account of the history of life. It is full of new insights about evolution and history, and even more importantly—with new viewpoints.”

“Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson delivers an impressive study of the intermingled history of the evolution of organic life and Earth. . . . Detailed and enlightening, this is an astonishing account of how the world came to be.”

“The satisfyingly sprawling latest by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson (Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation) goes back to the time of Earth’s creation and forward to the present to argue that biology and geology are inextricably connected . . . Along the way, she takes the reader on frequent, vividly sensuous time-traveling trips to various points in pre-history . . . her central thesis is a provocative one. She provides ample evidence of the many ways in which lifeforms and the planet have evolved, and continue to evolve, together . . . her work conveys a giddy sense of wonder that sweeps the reader along in its wake. . . . A captivating synthesis of earth science, chemistry, and biology.”

“Superb…readers will accrue an even greater appreciation for the intricacies, connections, and splendors of Earth.”

“Judson’s fascinating natural history of the world—and all the life on it . . . Judson’s hypothesis offers a new way of thinking about how we got here, what came before, and why the incredible ecosystems that sustain us are so very important.”

“Judson is a companionable, erudite teacher for this new version of planetary history. . . . ‘Contemplating these happenings gives me a kind of vertigo,’ Judson writes. The effect on the reader is the same, but it is a welcome feeling, a necessary resetting, the sort of vertigo that one might experience after a roller coaster ride or a rocket launch. It is a vertigo that completely shifts your perspective on the only home we will ever have.”