Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World

Alive hits like a shock to the body: bracing and brilliant. Melanie Challenger is an alert and fascinating guide through tricky terrain, leading us from ancient philosophical academies to cutting-edge biology labs to make a startling argument about what it is to live and what it means to be alive -- JONATHAN BLAKE, author of CHILDREN OF A MODEST STAR The difference between not-alive and alive is perhaps the universe's biggest mystery. If you're like me, you've wondered what aliveness is, how it happens, why it works and how it takes charge of itself. In Alive, Melanie Challenger has worked her magic to enlighten us in this extraordinary expedition into life itself -- CARL SAFINA, PhD; author of ALFIE AND ME For centuries western thought has been corralled by a particular notion of what life is, one that takes its model from machines . . . Enter renowned naturalist and bioethicist Melanie Challenger, whose new book, Alive, turns this way of thinking on its head. Written with equal parts wit, eloquence and erudition, Alive introduces us to a world teeming with agents, each one inseparable from its embodied form, and all united by the quality shared by all life: to define its own purpose and find ways to fulfil it -- WILLIAM EGGINTON, author of THE RIGOR OF ANGELS Alive is a profound, provocative and moving meditation on the question of what makes living organisms so special and remarkable. By insisting that life is not an abstract but rather an embodied property, Melanie Challenger offers a vision of the living world that can restore to it the wonder and reverence it deserves -- PHILIP BALL, author of HOW LIFE WORKS In this beautifully written and awe-inspiring book, Melanie Challenger celebrates the brilliance of Aristotle's view of life as embodied, bringing it to the forefront of current scientific knowledge and beyond. Yet she goes further, inspiring us to face dying as an inescapable gift of having lived, and, in so doing, teaching us the value of living purposeful lives -- MARCELO GLEISER, author of THE DAWN OF A MINDFUL UNIVERSE Praise for How to be Animal: 'Clearly and beautifully written, compellingly argued and packed with powerful and moving stories . . . It reveals how much joy in life we can gain if we recognise and accept the truth about ourselves. Read and digest this book, and you will not only be wiser but also happier' -- JOHN GRAY A remarkable combination of biology, genetics, zoology, evolutionary psychology and philosophy -- RICHARD POWERS This is a brilliant book that, like many brilliant books, explores what it means to be human. The difference here is that the author answers this by highlighting one central human dilemma: we are an animal in denial that we are actually an animal -- MATT HAIG A huge, complex and triumphant thing: challenging, but also celebratory, courageous, mournful and apprehensive. Her language is lovely: exact and lyrical and sparklingly full of suggestion and implication. It is a hymn to generosity. I know it will be something I will return to again and again -- ADAM NICOLSON Challenger is an exquisite writer -- OLIVIA LAING