Is Earth Exceptional?

The Quest for Cosmic Life

By: Mario Livio Ph.D. Ph.D., Jack Szostak Ph.D. Ph.D.

Narrated by: Graham Winton

A New York Times–bestselling astrophysicist and a Nobel laureate describe the quest to discover how and where the universe breathed life into matter

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.

Critic reviews

"Livio and Szostak adeptly describe how astrophysics, geology and chemistry may have collided on the primordial Earth to spark life. Provocative and thoughtful, they tackle the age-old question, ‘Is there life in the Universe beyond Earth?’ You’ll need to read the book to find the answer.”—Thomas R. Cech, Nobel Laureate and author of The Catalyst

"A mind-blowing ramble through the RNA world and beyond, that confronts the ultimate challenge for the origins of life: are we alone in the Universe?"
—Joseph Silk, author of Back to the Moon: The Next Giant Leap for Humankind

Update on current research

Great update on the latest research on the origin of life and the search for extraterrestrial life. I found it curious that they criticize the hydrothermal-vent hypothesis so much - almost ridiculing it — but then do not discuss any alternative hypotheses for the origin of metabolism at all.

Comprehensive analysis of fundamentals of Life.

This book is truly an encyclopedia of Life! The authors’ findings and conclusions provided exactly what I needed to better understand Life’s duality—simultaneously divine (a must-believe in its eternal nature) and magical (unbelievably improbable). Be prepared for advanced scientific terminology, especially in biochemistry, which underscores the seriousness of the scientific approach used by the authors.

So Informative

I'm relatively scientifically illiterate. This book is totally understandable. Yet it is not simplistic. Another aspect i appreciate: the authors consistently distinguish between what they have concluded and what other scientists have concluded. They are also fearless in telling us when they themselves have not decided one way or another regarding theories, etc. Fascinating. Well narrated too. Highly recommend.

Bare through the Chemistry sections

Very good book which explorers several fronts and theories. Early in the book are long sections that explain the chemistry theorized to have been necessary to lead up to early life on earth. You can skip ahead, then go back or bare through it as I did. It is fundamental to the story but can get a bit heavy in the audio format.

Overall I enjoyed the entire book and listened to it at 1X speed when I listen to most books between 1.2-1.3X.

Much discussion of the biochemistry underlying life.

Much discussion of the biochemistry underlying life. The author outs taking a rigorous approach to the question of whether there is life elsewhere in the universe. The number of exoplanets that are not our less earth like implies life elsewhere is likely. He reviews possible conclusive signs of life. He concludes that we have yet to identify extraterrestrial life, but he expects advances in astronomical instrumentation makes that discovery in th near future likely.
The discussion of how readily we can no detect exoplanets is fascinating.