Eric Smith is External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, Research Professor at George Mason University and Principle Investigator at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is a physicist specializing in the origin of life, non-equilibrium systems, economics and the evolution of human languages. Harold J. Morowitz is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy at George Mason University. He was founding director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, and is Chairman Emeritus of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute.

'… the most significant book on the origin of life hitherto written.' Walter Fontana, Harvard University, Massachusetts

• Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. The planetary scope of biogenesis; 2. Life on Earth today; 3. The geochemical context for the biosphere; 4. The architecture of metabolism; 5. Higher-level structures; 6. Emergence of the biosphere; 7. The phase transition paradigm for emergence; 8. The nature of the living state; Epilogue. References; Index.

Eric Smith is External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, Research Professor at George Mason University and Principle Investigator at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is a physicist specializing in the origin of life, non-equilibrium systems, economics and the evolution of human languages. Harold J. Morowitz is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy at George Mason University. He was founding director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, and is Chairman Emeritus of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute.

'… the most significant book on the origin of life hitherto written.' Walter Fontana, Harvard University, Massachusetts

• Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. The planetary scope of biogenesis; 2. Life on Earth today; 3. The geochemical context for the biosphere; 4. The architecture of metabolism; 5. Higher-level structures; 6. Emergence of the biosphere; 7. The phase transition paradigm for emergence; 8. The nature of the living state; Epilogue. References; Index.

Eric Smith is External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, Research Professor at George Mason University and Principle Investigator at the Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is a physicist specializing in the origin of life, non-equilibrium systems, economics and the evolution of human languages. Harold J. Morowitz is Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Biology and Natural Philosophy at George Mason University. He was founding director of the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason University, and is Chairman Emeritus of the Science Board at the Santa Fe Institute.

'… the most significant book on the origin of life hitherto written.' Walter Fontana, Harvard University, Massachusetts

• Acknowledgements; Preface; 1. The planetary scope of biogenesis; 2. Life on Earth today; 3. The geochemical context for the biosphere; 4. The architecture of metabolism; 5. Higher-level structures; 6. Emergence of the biosphere; 7. The phase transition paradigm for emergence; 8. The nature of the living state; Epilogue. References; Index.