Togetherness

Stunning … My review copy of Togetherness is now peppered with marginal annotations of ‘Wow!’ * Guardian *
[An] eye-opening book * Observer *
Hooper proves an eloquent advocate for his ideas. Symbiosis, he argues, ‘is fundamental to how life began, how it evolved, and how it operates’ * Mail on Sunday *
Absolutely enthralling. I was hooked from the first sentence – Bill Bryson
This beautifully written and meticulously researched book makes a vivid and powerful case for symbiotic co-operation in evolution – Richard Dawkins
Pure magic – Caitlin Moran
Tremendous – a panorama, or cyclorama, or cosmorama of life – Philip Pullman
This book reshapes our ideas about science, nature and ourselves. The revelations in this book made me rethink the world’ – Chris Packham
Hooper challenges the idea that life is driven chiefly by competition, showing instead how deeply nature depends on co-operation. From figs and wasps to coral and gut microbes, this is an eye-opening account of symbiosis and survival * i Paper *
A clarion call for cooperation at a time when competition, chaos and cruelty seem to rule the day … This is a joyful book, of hope and wonder, which celebrates community as the true key to success in nature – Steve Brusatte
Togetherness is the most important book I’ve read for years. Richly layered, thrilling, intellectually wide-ranging and so fascinating with evocative imagery and warm prose which brings the science and the world to vivid life and offers a crucial and urgent intervention on our mistaken and inadequate understanding of life and its entangled, enmeshed, webby, netty, symbiotic togetherness … Utterly stunning and awe-inspiring. Everyone needs to read this book, now! – Lucy Jones
I think this may be one of those rare books that’s a classic upon its publication. It calmly and comprehensively helps you see the world in a very new and hopeful way, and I think the insights apply to our social and political life. We were, all of us, built for contact – Bill McKibben
This book has both scientific chops and beautiful storytelling – Rebecca Solnit
An awe-inspiring journey … An exposé of our unbreakable connections with all life on Earth – Alex Antonelli
The threads of all life on Earth are tightly woven together, and this book is a beautiful guide to that astonishing tapestry. Full of fascinating detail, it makes a compelling argument that there’s more to life than a winner-takes-all survival of the fittest. You will never see yourself, or the world around you, in the same way again – Helen Czerski
Who would have thought that so much of life depends on mutual interaction between species? This fascinating story of togetherness takes us through multiple forms of symbiosis in the natural world. From gut bacteria to fungi, algal bloom, deep-sea hydrothermal vents and ourselves, Hooper brings co-operation and teamwork to the fore in an upbeat and friendly narrative, rich in history and biological knowledge. A super book – Janet Browne
The best books are those that give you a new perspective, but Togetherness … has given me something more than that – not just a new view, but a new way of seeing … Togetherness manages to be both hugely ambitious in scope and also very enjoyable * New Scientist *
A celebration of the ubiquitous and wondrous partnerships of life found in the tiniest and grandest of collaborations * Booklist *

Rowan Hooper is podcast editor at New Scientist and host of the New Scientist Weekly podcast. He has been at New Scientist for over 15 years, covering all aspects of science. He has a PhD in evolutionary biology and worked in a conservation biology lab in Japan for five years, before joining the Japan Times in Tokyo and later taking up a fellowship in a physics lab at Trinity College Dublin. His work has also appeared in the Economist, the Guardian, Wired, the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post.

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