What is life? As the famous quote goes: you know it when you see it. In fact living organisms, like us, are uncannily good in recognizing other forms of life but finding a definitive answer to that question has confounded scientists for generations. I thought this book was going to help define it. in fact it goes so far as to say that it is probably undefinable I guess the book’s subtitle gave that away. What it does do is provide a pretty complete history of the search to define life.
This is a book that gets more interesting the deeper we get into it as it travels in a roughly chronological order from quite a few false starts back in the 1800’s and 1900’s but once we get into modern science from the 1920’s onward it all starts seeming much more familiar and relevant.

It also explores the diversity of life from slime moulds being the biggest single celled organism to polyps, multi celled organisms which will if split in half regrow the missing bits.

To talk about life we have to talk about death and the chapter on how primates and other creatures deal with the death of one of their family members was fascinating.
It is a little dry at times and isn’t a book to be rushed as it is very information dense. I particularly liked the chapter about the birth of biochemistry as a subject and how life is an essential part of the fermentation process.
With the current incomplete definitions and the things that get left on the fringes, like viruses and red blood cells. It then goes on to discuss the origins of life and the field of preboitic chemistry, which I had never heard of before. It then goes on to discuss the possibility of life on other planets and how the field of exobiology was born.

What I liked:
An increasingly interesting account about humanity’s attempt to define life.

What didn’t work for me:
The historical chapters where a bit dry

This was fascinating and pitched just right for a non-scientist with an interest in the subject - I felt challenged but not out of my depth. It covers topics ranging from the history of scientists' attempts to create life, to the search for life in space to questions about the origins of life on Earth. At its heart is the tantalising question, what is life?

My one quibble is that it would have been good to have a summary of what the book contains, either in the introduction (which is more of an origin story for the book) or via the chapter headings. For people who are new to the subject it's useful to have a map to navigate what the key issues are.

Overall, a great book that's left me thinking about what I've learnt.

Copy from Netgalley.

Well worth a read and definitely a book to stretch your thinking whether you agree with it or not.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan macmillan for ARC,

Is a coronavirus alive? What does it mean to be alive exactly? Amazingly, this is something scientists find hard to agree on an according to author Carl Zimmer, where “the beams of their scientific flashlights are bright but only because they are narrow.”

In ‘Life’s Edge: The Search For What It Means To Be Alive’ this is exactly what Carl Zimmer explores. Made up up fascinating experiments going on in science, opening with the mind blowing work being done with ‘organoids’ taken from brain tissue, that when grown can create a matching signal of its own in response to an incoming signal. What is it to be alive indeed? An exploration into life’s edge and “the foggy borderland between living and the not-living.”

(Twitter)
Is a coronavirus alive? What does to be ‘alive’ mean? In ‘Life’s Edge’, @carlzimmer explores fascinating experiments in “the foggy borderland between living and the not-living.”
Out 19th Sept. @panmacmillan

3.0 stars
Thank you Netgalley for this e-book!
This book explores what it means to be alive and shows how many ways life can be defined in today’s society.
At first I really enjoyed this book, it was informative, scientific and philosophical. In other words it could have been an amazing book. The first few chapters were very strong and interesting however the chapter ‘layouts’ got quite monotonous and predictable. The anecdotes and stories in this book made it engaging but it would have been better if there were some scientific diagrams to help further illustrate points.
I would recommend this book to anyone studying biology or philosophy at university or anyone studying biology or philosophy at a level or ib.

What is life? A question I think most are fascinated by, as it seems like such a simple, straightforward question but when it comes to answering it, the response comes out a bit garbled. Even from the most eminent and experienced scientists, the definition for ‘what is life’ is a difficult one.

This book was beyond absolutely fantastic at arming the reader with all sorts of research, history, examples, encounters with scientists and researchers and details of all things life-y. It makes you realise what an intricate and complex question it is, but provides you with the material to apply it to the original question at hand - or helping you to realise why it might not be such a great idea after all.

It’s written spectacularly (a similar trait across all of the authors books I’ve found) and is perfect for the scientist and non scientist alike. I actually learnt so much from this book (even having touched upon this topic before and tackled a definition during my studies) and there was so much more to learn. From the false starts to trying to define how life originates to current and ongoing research which was so interesting to read.

This is a book I’d happily have on my shelf and want to revisit again in the future. It was a really enjoyable and informative read, entertaining from the authors writing style and one that the pages whittled down into nothing in no time.

This book definitely got me thinking, in terms of at what point does life begin? The potentials of how, it’s origins and our journeys of scientific and philosophical discovery about life. The field of astrobiology is also an incredibly interesting one, and I also really enjoyed hearing from the different scientists in different fields attempting to tackle the age old question about life.

This book really got my brain firing and I really really enjoyed reading it!