Life: an Unauthorized Biography

A magisterial exploration of the natural history of the first four thousand million years of life on and in the earth, by one of Britain’s most dazzling science writers.
What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then by woolly mammoths and finally by our own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, brilliantly dispels such lingering notions forever. At the end of the book we understand the complexity of the history of life on earth, and the complexity of how it has come to be understood, as, perhaps, from no other single volume. The result is enthralling.

Short-listed for Rhone-Poulenc Science Books Prize 1998

“'This is not a book for people who like science books. It is a book for people who love books, and life… [Fortey] has written a wonderful book.'Tim Radford, Guardian 'Read this book because it is, indeed, the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth.'John Gribbin, Sunday Times 'Fortey writes beautifully and this is a wonderful biography of rock and life… He has restored palaeontology to its rightful place in the pantheon.'Lewis Wolpert, Observer 'Richard Fortey is a scientist… but his big, rich history of four billion years of evolution is written with an artist's zest for life and language… In his last chapter Fortey quotes Goethe:Zum Erstaunen bin ich da I am here to wonder.Richard Fortey has the rare gift of making his readers share that wonder. Anyone who wants to understand how we came to be here on earth, 4,000,000,000 years after life began, should read this sparkling book.'Maggie Gere, Daily Telegraph 'The tale of life needs constant retelling. Thank some happy accident of history that we have Fortey to tell it to us anew.'Ted Nield, New Scientist”

'This is not a book for people who like science books. It is a book for people who love books, and life... [Fortey] has written a wonderful book.' Tim Radford, Guardian 'Read this book because it is, indeed, the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth.' John Gribbin, Sunday Times 'Fortey writes beautifully and this is a wonderful biography of rock and life... He has restored palaeontology to its rightful place in the pantheon.' Lewis Wolpert, Observer 'Richard Fortey is a scientist...but his big, rich history of four billion years of evolution is written with an artist's zest for life and language... In his last chapter Fortey quotes Goethe: "Zum Erstaunen bin ich da - I am here to wonder." Richard Fortey has the rare gift of making his readers share that wonder. Anyone who wants to understand how we came to be here on earth, 4,000,000,000 years after life began, should read this sparkling book.' Maggie Gere, Daily Telegraph 'The tale of life needs constant retelling. Thank some happy accident of history that we have Fortey to tell it to us anew.' Ted Nield, New Scientist

Richard Fortey retired from his position as senior palaeontologist at the Natural History Museum in 2006. His previous books include the critically acclaimed Life: An Unauthorized Biography, shortlisted for the Rhône-Poulenc Prize in 1998, Trilobite! Eyewitness to Evolution, shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2001, The Hidden Landscape, which won the Natural World Book of the Year in 1993 and Fossils - A Key to the Past which is now in its third edition. He also won the Lewis Thomas Prize for Science Writing in 2003. He was Collier Professor for the Public Understanding of Science in 2002, has been elected to be President of the Geological Society of London for its bicentennial year of 2007, and is a member of the Royal Society. His latest book is Dry Store Room no 1 – The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum.

What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then the woolly mammoths and finally are own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, brilliantly dispels any such lingering notions forever. It guides us through the barren globe swirling through space, through the very earliest signs of life on the rims of volcanoes, the appearance of cells, the creation of an atmosphere and the myriad forms of plants and animals (happily including dinosaurs) which could then evolve and be sustained, right up to the first appearance of Homo Sapiens. But it is not simply what Richard Fortey has to tell us that makes this book so distinctive. His grasp of the significant detail and his power of allusion mark him as one of the finest explicators; his book seeks to entertain his readers as much as to inform them. The result is enthralling. "Richard Fortey is a scientist... but his big, rich history of four billion years of history is written with an artist's zest for life and language... There is a Darwinian grandeur of imagination in his retelling of the history of our planet, from the first solidifying of debris circling the sun, across the long millennia... Anyone who wants to understand how we came to be here on earth, 4,000,000,000 years after life began, should read this sparkling book."MAGGIE GEE, 'Daily Telegraph' "Richard Fortey is something much rarer than an eminent palaeontologist. He can write too... The tale of life needs constant retelling. Thank some happy accident of history that we have Fortey to tell us anew."TED NIELD, 'New Scientist' "Read this book because it is indeed, the best natural history of the first four billion years of life on earth."John Gribbin, ' Sunday Times' "Fortey writes beautifully and this is a wonderful biography of rock and life... He has restored palaeontology to its rightful place in the pantheon."LEWIS WOLPERT, ' Observer'

A magisterial exploration of the natural history of the first four thousand million years of life on and in the earth, by one of Britain's most dazzling science writers. What do any of us know about the history of our planet before the arrival of man? Most of us have a dim impression of a swirling mass of dust solidifying to form a volcanic globe, briefly populated by dinosaurs, then by woolly mammoths and finally by our own hairy ancestors. This book, aimed at the curious and intelligent but perhaps mildly uninformed reader, brilliantly dispels such lingering notions forever. At the end of the book we understand the complexity of the history of life on earth, and the complexity of how it has come to be understood, as, perhaps, from no other single volume. The result is enthralling.

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