Christophe Galfard, acclaimed author of the international bestseller The Universe in Your Hand, takes readers on an extraordinary journey across time and space—from the origins of Earth’s life to the search for extraterrestrials. 

What is life? In this majestic book, celebrated author and Stephen Hawking’s former graduate student Christophe Galfard takes us on a wonder-filled voyage to answer this question. He guides us from the planet’s birth and the mysterious bacteria that lived billions of years ago, through the extreme evolutionary turns that saw dog-sized sea scorpions and trees covered in scales, to the visionary discoveries of the past two centuries that have allowed us to understand human bodies and imagine alien ones. 

With Galfard as a brilliant guide, readers go back in time to the origin of our planet, swim inside our bloodstream, and sail in space beyond the safety of our terrestrial haven. We experience the birth of the Earth, the demise of the dinosaurs, and the possible creation of life in outer space. This Is Life offers a glimpse of other worlds detected only in recent years, beyond the Solar System—where life could be thriving. The end of the book’s journey signals new beginnings, and we are left with the overwhelming sense that, as members of a long line of living creatures, we belong to a reality far greater and more complex than we ever imagined.

Through brilliant storytelling and delightful humor, Galfard connects the latest scientific discoveries and makes the secrets of the living world accessible to all. This Is Life will transform the way you see the world, and your place in it.