Skip to content
Home/ Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life
Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life

Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life

by Livio, Mario
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9781541602960 Basic Books

A New York Times-bestselling astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate take us on "a mesmerizing exploration" (Jennifer Doudna) to discover how and where the universe breathed itself into life

For a long time, scientists have wondered how life has emerged from inanimate chemistry, and whether Earth is the only place where it exists. Charles Darwin speculated about life on Earth beginning in a warm little pond. Some of his contemporaries believed that life existed on Mars. It once seemed inevitable that the truth would be known by now.

It is not. For more than a century, the origins and extent of life have remained shrouded in mystery. But, as Mario Livio and Jack Szostak reveal in Is Earth Exceptional?, the veil is finally lifting. The authors describe how life's building blocks--from RNA to amino acids and cells--could have emerged from the chaos of Earth's early existence. They then apply the knowledge gathered from cutting-edge research across the sciences to the search for life in the cosmos: both life as we know it and life as we don't.

Why and where life exists are two of the biggest unsolved problems in science. Is Earth Exceptional? is the ultimate exploration of the question of whether life is a freak accident or a chemical imperative.

About the author

Product details

BrandBasic Books
Pub dateSep 10, 2024
ISBN-10154160296X
ISBN-139781541602960
LanguageEnglish
Dimensions9.6 × 1.12 × 6.45 in
Weight2 lb
Last updated 2026-03-16 06:47
$22.48 $32.00 29% off
You save $9.52 · list price $32.00
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Life Sciences - Biochemistry
See all
Biochemistry Demystified
Walker, Sharon
$26.18
Deja Review: Biochemistry
Manzoul, Saad M
$36.51
Alkaloids: Chemical and Biological Perspectives: Volume 12
Acronycine, a potent antitumor agent, was discovered in the bark of the small Australian Rutaceous tree, <i>Acronychia baueri </i>Schott. This new work presents a comprehensive survey of the isolation, structure determination, methods of synthesis, and the biological properties of acronycine, as well as an account of natural and synthetic analogues of acronycine, and their biological properties. <p/>Solanum alkaloids were reviewed in 1990 and this book surveys the new developments (isolation procedures, structural elucidation methods) and critically updates earlier reviews. <br>In addition it presents the interesting chemistry and synthesis of cyclopeptide alkaloids. These cyclopeptide alkaloids have been isolated from ascidians, sea hares, and cyanobacteria. <br>Also included are reviews of the use of the functionalized lactam, pyroglutamic acid, as a chiral template for the synthesis of alkaloids. <br>The second review examines the on-line coupling of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and mass spectrometry (MS) for the analysis of alkaloid mixtures. <br>Finally a review of oxygenated analogs of the alkaloid Marcfortine for their potent antiparasitic activity is included at the end of this work. <p/>Each chapter in this volume has been reviewed by at least one expert in the field. Indexes for both subjects and organisms are provided.
$267.11
Advances in Biochirality
Zucchi, C
$265.95
RNA
Söll, D
$427.37
Biodiversity and Natural Product Diversity: Volume 21
Pietra, F
$83.70