Physics World Book of the Year
A Financial Times, Sunday Times, and Telegraph Best Science Book
of the Year
What is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense
of this fundamental question, for life really does look like magic: even
a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human
engineer can match it. Huge advances in molecular biology over the past
few decades have served only to deepen the mystery.
In this penetrating and wide-ranging book, world-renowned physicist and
science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new
and fast-moving that it lacks a name; it is a domain where biology,
computing, logic, chemistry, quantum physics, and nanotechnology
intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the
concept of information: a quantity which has the power to unify biology
with physics, transform technology and medicine, and force us to
fundamentally reconsider what it means to be alive--even illuminating
the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe.
From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells
of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine journeys across an astounding
landscape of cutting-edge science. Weaving together cancer and
consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how
biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out
of chaos, opening a window onto the secret of life itself.
