The Co-Creation

‘Captivating…The satisfyingly sprawling latest by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson (Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation) takes the reader on vividly sensuous time-traveling trips to various points in pre-history … conveying a giddy sense of wonder that sweeps the reader along in its wake.’ * KIRKUS (starred review) *
‘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.’ * LITHUB *
‘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.’ * ED YONG, author of I Contain Multitudes *
‘A triumphant return for Dr. Tatiana…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 made of it.’ * CAT BOHANNON, author of Eve *
‘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.’ * FERRIS JABR, author of Becoming Earth *
‘An epic poem worthy of Gaia herself. Withvivid writing, enchanting detailand 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 amarvellouspaean to our living rock.’ * NICK LANE, author of The Vital Question and Transformer *
‘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, andthis is not only helpful as we figure out what to do as a civilization now, but delightful in and of itself. Highly recommended!’ * KIM STANLEY ROBINSON, author of The Ministry for the Future *
‘Olivia Judson takes on the deepest mysteries of life and emerges witha vision as surprising as it is awe-inspiring. Thisbeautifulbook tells the earth’s story as it has never been told before-a planet tumultuous and creative, continually remade by the lifeforms it spawns.’ * JAMES GLEICK, author of Faster *
‘A highly readable, important, and new way of thinking about life and Earth. The Co-Creation is excellent.’ * TIM FLANNERY, author of The Weather Makers *
“A majestic grand tour of the history of our planet, The Co-Creation provides a fresh and exhilarating view of what life itself is and how it arises and evolves.” * PHILLIP BALL, author of How Life Works *

Olivia Judson’s debut, Dr Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation, taught us how to have a virgin birth, when to seduce your sisters or eat your lover. In giving her solutions, she explained the evolutionary biology of sex from Darwin’s theory of sexual selection to why sexual reproduction exists at all. It was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize, was an international bestseller, translated into more than 18 languages, and made into a TV show.

Olivia has spent the last twenty-two years working on her second and even more ambitious book. Educated at Oxford University, she has written for The Economist, National Geographic, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and The New York Times.

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