"[Godfrey-Smith] is possessed of a prodigious curiosity . . . His delight in the natural world is infectious, and Living on Earth brims with intriguing and endearing novelties . . . It is best read, I think, as an ethical exemplar: a model of the sort of attitude that we ought to adopt in our dealings with nonhuman life . . . [Godfrey-Smith's] luscious and amazed language befits the treasures that we have been vouchsafed and that we have so badly betrayed." --Becca Rothfeld, The Washington Post
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Living on Earth is consistently rewarding, packed with insights and invitations to reflect, and blessed with some exquisite writing . . . Godfrey-Smith insists on identifying with nature instead of standing outside as steward: and on 'gratitude and a sense of kinship' with the process that delivered our species into the world."
--Philip Ball, The Guardian "A thoughtful meditation on how the actions of organisms, even the most primitive (ticks, snails), have generated the world humans have inherited . . . [Full of] enlightening insights into the natural world and our often perilous relationship to it."
--Kirkus Reviews "Godfrey-Smith finds a purpose for philosophy and ethics in the discussion of biology . . . Attention-grabbing . . . Particularly poignant are his musings on human relationships with animals."
--Booklist "Godfrey-Smith charts the evolution of plants and animals, showing how each break from the 'tree of life' reflects the changing environment and eventually also shapes it . . . In this clever, compassionate and often deeply moving book, he encourages us to consider not just how we got here, but where we choose to go next."
--Elle Hunt, New Scientist "
Living on Earth is a hugely important book. The final installment in Peter Godfrey-Smith's essential trilogy, it give us a sweeping, careful, and courageous exploration of a natural world suffused with life, with minds, and perhaps with consciousness too. Godfrey-Smith writes with grace, humility, and wisdom about a dizzying array of topics, from the distant past to the far future, from the deep ocean to the frontiers of technology. The picture he paints reaffirms our continuity with the natural world, and impresses on us the urgency of the choices we now face."
--Anil Seth, director of the Centre for Consciousness Science at the University of Sussex and author of Being You: A New Science of Consciousness "Only Peter Godfrey-Smith could write this book. It offers a vast, kaleidoscopic, and immensely thought-provoking overview of the development of life on Earth, with special attention to humanity's place in the bigger picture. We are often told that human beings are part of the natural world, but rarely is the mutual influence between people and the rest of our shared ecosystem spelled out with such care."
--Sean Carroll, professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of Quanta and Fields "In
Living on Earth, Peter Godfrey-Smith once again combines vivid and compelling descriptions of the natural world, unexpectedly fascinating scientific results, and philosophical arguments that are exceptionally clear and accessible as well as deep and profound. This book offers lucid and thoughtful discussions of the urgent ethical questions about our relationships to other animals."
--Alison Gopnik, professor at the University of California, Berkeley and author of The Gardener and the Carpenter "Strap in as Peter Godfrey-Smith takes us on a dazzling exploration of the planet's diverse tenants, all of whom sculpted the environment we'd later inherit and transform. An essential read for understanding the legacy of the spot we're standing in right now, and its future."
--David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford University and author of Incognito and Livewired "Peter Godfrey-Smith not only reviews science, he probes it. In his hands this always yields rich new insights on the nature of life."
--Michael S. Gazzaniga, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara and author of The Consciousness Instinct
