Discover the Incredible Wonders of Life: An Exploration of the Most Fascinating Phenomena in the Universe

Marion E. Deaton: A great read. Seeks to answer the question, “Why are there living creatures on Earth from a scientific view point?”. Includes great explanations as to how living organisms function and the commonalities that all organisms on earth share. Provides in-depth discussion of evolution.

United States on Jan 30, 2023

JB: Moving and educational in the tradition of Carl Sagan and Richard Dawkins. Covers a vast territory of scientific knowledge in separate, but clearly connected, fields of study: physics, chemistry, biology, and does so in a way that’s thoroughly understandable, enjoyable, and often poetic.

United States on Mar 11, 2022

Jens Stokholm: Books like this one, should be a must-read in schools all over the World!
To inspire, to bring understanding, to instill humility....
The teachings of Diversity in this book (and film) shows that across species, races, genders, EVERYTHING is connected!
That should serve as inspiration to unify instead of diversifying....

United States on Sep 18, 2021

Amazon Customer: General information with some technical information, but a good read.

United States on Aug 22, 2020

L: This book is not a school type science reference book, it isn't some boring encyclopedia, it's a well written guide to some of the most amazing things in our universe. It is exciting and enticing and the layout makes it joyful to read and explore, the vivid beautiful photos and excellent diagrams make you want to pick it up and learn.

I originally bought this book for myself, I read it, then gifted to a friends son who was interested in it, then I bought it again for another friend as a gift. The friends son who picked it up and started reading it is seven years old, a few big words were too difficult for him, *but* I'd say he is very advanced in his reading and vocabulary. He was really engaged with it and learned new words as we helped him pronounce the ones he struggled with, explaining to him what those words meant. It was a very pleasant experience and he loved reading it aloud to us so I had to give it him to take home!

My partner is a science teacher and he thinks it was a really good book as well, and he knows how uninspiring science lessons are as they are just teaching them to pass exams, unfortunately teachers don't have time or energy to actual gets kids...

United Kingdom on Oct 12, 2017

Book Shark: Wonders of Life: Exploring the Most Extraordinary Phenomenon in the Universe by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen

"Wonders of Life" is a fantastic book that complements the Discovery Science Channel series. Professor Brian Cox is at it again but this time he takes us on a global journey of the most unexpected locations to explain the origin of life to our lives. This enlightening, full-color 288-page book is composed of the following five chapters: 1. Home, 2. What Is Life?, 3. Size Matters, 4. Expanding Universe, and 5. Endless Forms Most Beautiful.

Positives:
1. Elegant and passionate prose. Innate ability to make science fun and educational for the masses.
2. The fascinating topic of the life sciences in the hands of a master educator.
3. Great use of charts and illustrations to assist the reader. This book is full of awe-inspiring photos. High production value, I can't stress that enough.
4. In science it's not always about the right answer but asking the right questions. Cox focuses his journey on Schrodinger's 'How' question.
5. In reverence to one of the greatest theories ever, the grand theory of evolution.
6. Thought-provoking questions that guide...

United States on Jun 13, 2013

JAF: La divulgación científica es cada vez más difícil, dado el gran incremento de los campos de investigación concretos de que se trate. En ocasiones es difícil explicar en un lenguaje comprensible para el gran público tantos descubrimientos. A veces se peca de superficialidad. Otras el estilo es farragoso y complicado. Queda por último considerar la dificultad de elaboración de diagramas y figuras que sean comprensibles y complementarias del texto científico.
En este libro de Brian Cox se consigue una profundidad, claridad de enfoque y soporte gráfico pocas veces alcanzada. Soy médico, y por tanto dispongo de cierta formación contrastada en este campo. Pero me ha sido muy útil y sobre todo he disfrutado enormemente de la lectura del libro, redactado en un inglés ameno y directo.
Lo recomiendo a cualquier persona que quiera acercarse al conocimiento de ese misterio que es la vida. Las hipótesis planteadas y mecanismos de evolución presentados son ciertamente novedosos y muy interesantes. Tanto me ha gustado que lo he adquirido en versión papel y kindle, por cierto ambos muy bien editados.

Spain on May 22, 2013

Keith Scotus: This is a thought-provoking text that succeeds in what it sets out to do, namely to define and explore how life on this planet has evolved in accord with natural laws. Physics, chemistry, biology and astronomy and other sciences weave a coherent tapestry throughout. Important events in the history of science are included but the content is bang up-to-date with new discoveries described in simple terms.

For the most part, the text is easy to read, concise and accurate and readers new to science may feel impelled to delve more deeply into some of the delicacies served up. A spark of curiosity may be ignited to inspire the scientists of tomorrow.

However, there are sections of text where the language used is far from the straight- forward narration experienced in the TV series but this is not really a criticism, merely an observation. The words still flow majestically though at times highfalutin.

Illustrations ooze clarity and colour; photographs are in sharp focus and supplement the text. That said, I am surprised to find some glaring errors in the chemistry appearing in a book of this quality.

The diagrams on p26 showing two water molecules do not show...

United Kingdom on Mar 12, 2013

Catherine Owen: The premise of this book - and the accompanying TV series - is that, when trying to understand the mechanisms involved in living processes, it is necessary to begin with chemistry and physics rather than biology. The universal scientific laws existed first; life simply made use of them. This is a fascinating and compelling perspective; I'm not a scientist so for me it has been an entirely new way of viewing the world. For example, I was completely unaware of the way in which the apparatus in the ear that allows humans to hear evolved from the gill arches of ancient jawless fish in order to detect sound waves through the medium of air rather than water. What an astonishing fact!

The book is, like the previous 'Wonders' volumes, beautifully illustrated. Without breaking the text up with pictures and diagrams in this manner, the content could have been rather difficult to follow for non-scientists. The use of quotations from the text as captions also helps to consolidate the main points. Cox and Cohen also underline the point that their mission is not to pick a fight with religion; in an engaging introduction, Cox writes 'I see no necessary contradiction between religion and...

United Kingdom on Feb 03, 2013

J. C. Neale: Received the book today, and as soon as I had unpacked it I couldn't resist the urge to start reading, even though the series hasn't even started yet.
Though I will save reading the book in its entirety until I have seen the whole TV series, I wanted to show my enthusiasm after reading the first couple of chapters here.

Much like the other books in the "Wonders Of..' series, this is a beautifully made piece, with fantastic photography and well designed diagrams together with an actually rather vast amount of information contained within.
The diagrams and examples given flow naturally on the pages and only enhance the clarity of what is being explained.

There is a significant amount of subjects even in the first chapter (Called 'Home'). It deals with evolutionary history, Biodiversity and sunlight, right through to fine detailing about water, light spectra and bacteria. After reading the first chapter, I was quite amazed that these subjects are approached and dealt with in such detail and in such a small amount of pages. I wish that my science textbooks back in school were this informative, clear, well detailed and inspiring.
The book continues on in a...

United Kingdom on Jan 25, 2013