Henry Gee

Of Cells & Chutzpah

The Vital Question: Why Is Life the Way It Is?

By

Profile Books 360pp £25 order from our bookshop

Why is the universe here? The answer, well known to philosophers, is, where else would it be? A more pertinent question is, why is the universe the way it is? For that, physicists can supply many and detailed answers about stars, galaxies and forces, from the quantum to the cosmic. There is enough, then, to distract us from an unanswered question much closer to home: why is life the way it is? This is the ‘black hole at the heart of biology’, says Nick Lane in his combative book The Vital Question.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'The 19th-century German sage is not my idea of a pleasant travel companion' goes hiking with Friedr… ,
    • If you want ideas about what to read next, sign up to our free email newsletter, and get book reviews, archive mate… ,
    • 'The heroic male nude could not, I think, be used today to signify civic pride and glory', as Michelangelo’s 'David… ,
    • 'Munch’s later works show us a man liberated from the torments that gave rise to some of the best-known early works… ,
    • 'We read from left to right and from start to finish. Or do we?' Stuart Hannabus considers the merits of reading i… ,
    • Domestic scandal, sexual abuse and serial killers are on the menu in April's crime round-up. revie… ,
    • What did Samuel Johnson, Joshua Reynolds, James Boswell and Edmund Burke all have in common? Clare Bucknell reveal… ,
    Follow Us