'This book is not just about life, but about discovery itself. It is about error and hubris, but also about wonder and the reach of science. And it is bookended with the ultimate question: How do we define the thing that defines us?' - Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world - from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses - the harder they find it to locate the edges of life, where it begins and ends. What exactly does it mean to be alive? Is a virus alive? Is a foetus? Carl Zimmer investigates one of the biggest questions of all: What is life? The answer seems obvious until you try to seriously answer it. Is the apple sitting on your kitchen counter alive, or is only the apple tree it came from deserving of the word? If we can't answer that question here on earth, how will we know when and if we discover alien life on other worlds? The question hangs over some of society's most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead. Life's Edge is an utterly fascinating investigation by one of the most celebrated science writers of our time. Zimmer journeys through the strange experiments that have attempted to recreate life. Literally hundreds of definitions of what that should look like now exist, but none has yet emerged as an obvious winner. Lists of what living things have in common do not add up to a theory of life. It's never clear why some items on the list are essential and others not. Coronaviruses have altered the course of history, and yet many scientists maintain they are not alive. Chemists are creating droplets that can swarm, sense their environment, and multiply - have they made life in the lab? Whether he is handling pythons in Alabama or searching for hibernating bats in the Adirondacks, Zimmer revels in astounding examples of life at its most bizarre. He tries his own hand at evolving life in a test tube with unnerving results. Charting the obsession with Dr Frankenstein's monster and how Coleridge came to believe the whole universe was alive, Zimmer leads us all the way into the labs and minds of researchers working on engineering life from the ground up.

Everybody Out of the Pond

At the Water's Edge will change the way you think about your place in the world. The awesome journey of life's transformation from the first microbes 4 billion years ago to Homo sapiens today is an epic that we are only now beginning to grasp. Magnificent and bizarre, it is the story of how we got here, what we left behind, and what we brought with us.

We all know about evolution, but it still seems absurd that our ancestors were fish. Darwin's idea of natural selection was the key to solving generation-to-generation evolution -- microevolution -- but it could only point us toward a complete explanation, still to come, of the engines of macroevolution, the transformation of body shapes across millions of years. Now, drawing on the latest fossil discoveries and breakthrough scientific analysis, Carl Zimmer reveals how macroevolution works. Escorting us along the trail of discovery up to the current dramatic research in paleontology, ecology, genetics, and embryology, Zimmer shows how scientists today are unveiling the secrets of life that biologists struggled with two centuries ago.

In this book, you will find a dazzling, brash literary talent and a rigorous scientific sensibility gracefully brought together. Carl Zimmer provides a comprehensive, lucid, and authoritative answer to the mystery of how nature actually made itself.

In 2020, an invisible germ-a virus-wholly upended our lives. We're most familiar with the viruses that give us colds or Covid-19. But viruses also cause a vast range of other diseases, including one disorder that makes people sprout branch-like growths as if they were trees. Viruses have been a part of our lives for so long that we are actually part virus: the human genome contains more DNA from viruses than our own genes. Meanwhile, scientists are discovering viruses everywhere they look: in the soil, in the ocean, even in deep caves miles underground. Fully revised and updated, with new illustrations and a new chapter about coronaviruses and the spread of Covid-19, this third edition of Carl Zimmer's A Planet of Viruses pulls back the veil on this hidden world. It presents the latest research on how viruses hold sway over our lives and our biosphere, how viruses helped give rise to the first life-forms, how viruses are producing new diseases, how we can harness viruses for our own ends, and how viruses will continue to control our fate as long as life endures

Helping students make sense of evolution Evolutionary Biologist, Douglas Emlen and Science Writer, Carl Zimmer continue to improve their widely-praised evolution textbook. Emlen, an award-winning evolutionary biologist at the University of Montana, has infused Evolution: Making Sense of Life with the technical rigour and conceptual depth that today's biology majors require. Zimmer, an award-winning New York Times columnist, brings compelling storytelling to the book, bringing evolutionary research to life through a narrative sure to capture the attention of evolution students. The new edition of Evolution: Making Sense of Life is now supported in Achieve, Macmillan's new online learning platform. Achieve is the culmination of years of development work put toward creating the most powerful online learning tool for students. It houses all of our renowned assessments, multimedia assets, e-books, and instructor resources in a powerful new platform.

This stunningly illustrated book provides a rare window into the amazing, varied, and often beautiful world of viruses. Contrary to popular belief, not all viruses are bad for you. In fact, several are beneficial to their hosts, and many are crucial to the health of our planet. Virus offers an unprecedented look at 101 incredible microbes that infect all branches of life on Earth--from humans and other animals to insects, plants, fungi, and bacteria. Featuring hundreds of breathtaking color images throughout, this guide begins with a lively and informative introduction to virology. Here readers can learn about the history of this unique science, how viruses are named, how their genes work, how they copy and package themselves, how they interact with their hosts, how immune systems counteract viruses, and how viruses travel from host to host. The concise entries that follow highlight important or interesting facts about each virus. Learn about the geographic origins of dengue and why old tires and unused pots help the virus to spread. Read about Ebola, Zika, West Nile, Frog virus 3, the Tulip breaking virus, and many others--how they were discovered, what their hosts are, how they are transmitted, whether or not there is a vaccine, and much more. Each entry is easy to read and includes a graphic of the virus, and nearly every entry features a colorized image of the virus as seen through the microscope. Written by a leading authority, this handsomely illustrated guide reveals the unseen wonders of the microbial world. It will give you an entirely new appreciation for viruses.

Award-winning writer, columnist, and journalists Carl Zimmer selects twenty science and nature essays that represent the best examples of the form published in 2022. A collection of the best science and nature articles written in 2022, selected by guest editor Carl Zimmer and series editor Jaime Green. 

We all assume we know what life is, but the more scientists learn about the living world - from protocells to brains, from zygotes to pandemic viruses - the harder they find it to define exactly what it is and what it isn't. What is life? In this riveting and thought-provoking book, Carl Zimmer explores the question by journeying to the edges of life in every direction, from viruses to computer intelligence, from its origins on earth to the search for extra-terrestrial life and the strange experiments that have attempted to recreate life from scratch in the lab. The question is not only a scientific issue; it hangs over some of society's most charged conflicts - whether a fertilized egg is a living person, for example, and when we ought to declare a person legally dead. Whether he is handling pythons or searching for hibernating bats, Zimmer investigates life in its most unfamiliar forms. He tries his own hand at evolving life in a test tube with unnerving results, explores our cultural obsession with Dr. Frankestein's monster and how Coleridge came to believe the whole universe was alive. The result is an entirely gripping exploration of one of the most crucial questions of all: the meaning of life.

Sixty-five million years ago, a comet or asteroid larger than Mount Everest slammed into the Earth, inducing an explosion equivalent to the detonation of a hundred million hydrogen bombs. Vaporized detritus blasted through the atmosphere upon impact, falling back to Earth around the globe. Disastrous environmental consequences ensued: a giant tsunami, continent-scale wildfires, darkness, and cold, followed by sweltering greenhouse heat. When conditions returned to normal, half the plant and animal genera on Earth had perished. This horrific chain of events is now widely accepted as the solution to a great scientific mystery: what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs? Walter Alvarez, one of the Berkeley scientists who discovered evidence of the impact, tells the story behind the development of the initially controversial theory. It is a saga of high adventure in remote locations, of arduous data collection and intellectual struggle, of long periods of frustration ended by sudden breakthroughs, of friendships made and lost, and of the exhilaration of discovery that forever altered our understanding of Earth's geological history.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2018 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION

She Has Her Mother’s Laugh presents a profoundly original perspective on what we pass along from generation to generation. Charles Darwin played a crucial part in turning heredity into a scientific question, and yet he failed spectacularly to answer it. The birth of genetics in the early 1900s seemed to do precisely that. Gradually, people translated their old notions about heredity into a language of genes. As the technology for studying genes became cheaper, millions of people ordered genetic tests to link themselves to missing parents, to distant ancestors, to ethnic identities . . .

But, award-winning science writer Carl Zimmer argues, heredity isn’t just about genes that pass from parent to child. Heredity continues within our own bodies, as a single cell gives rise to trillions of cells that make up our bodies. We say we inherit genes from our ancestors but we inherit other things that matter as much or more to our lives, from microbes to technologies we use to make life more comfortable. We need a new definition of what heredity is and, through Carl Zimmer’s lucid exposition and storytelling, this resounding tour de force delivers it.

Weaving together historical and current scientific research, his own experience with his two daughters, and the kind of original reporting expected of one of the world’s best science journalists, Zimmer ultimately unpacks urgent bioethical quandaries arising from new biomedical technologies, but also long-standing presumptions about who we really are and what we can pass on to future generations.

This remarkable book presents a rich and up-to-date view of evolution that explores the far-reaching implications of Darwin's theory and emphasizes the power, significance, and relevance of evolution to our lives today. After all, we ourselves are the product of evolution, and we can tackle many of our gravest challenges -- from lethal resurgence of antiobiotic-resistant diseases to the wave of extinctions that looms before us -- with a sound understanding of the science.

Used widely in non-majors biology classes, The Tangled Bank is the first textbook about evolution intended for the general reader. Zimmer, an award-winning science writer, takes readers on a fascinating journey into the latest discoveries about evolution. In the Canadian Arctic, paleontologists unearth fossils documenting the move of our ancestors from sea to land. In the outback of Australia, a zoologist tracks some of the world's deadliest snakes to decipher the 100-million-year evolution of venom molecules. In Africa, geneticists are gathering DNA to probe the origin of our species. In clear, non-technical language, Zimmer explains the central concepts essential for understanding new advances in evolution, including natural selection, genetic drift, and sexual selection. He demonstrates how vital evolution is to all branches of modern biology - from the fight against deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the analysis of the human genome. The second edition of The Tangled Bank has been dramatically revised. It includes an entirely new chapter focused on human evolution, for example, as well as discussions of additional concepts in evolution, new illustrations, and descriptions of new research. Richly illustrated with 285 drawings and photographs, The Tangled Bank is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the history of life on Earth.

Eine Bilanz ist nichts, was ist, sondern etwas, was gemacht wird. Es gibt keine Theorie, die dem kundigen Bilanzbetrachter aile Schleusen des Verstiindnisses fUr Zustand und Entwicklung eines Unternehmens Off net. Wenn man zwar zugeben muB, daB man sicherlich nicht alles aus der Bilanz erkennen kanne, wonach man immer forscht: Liquiditiit, Rentabilitiit, Kreditsicherheit, Unternehmenswert und dgl., so darf man auch nicht in den entgegengesetzten Fehler verfallen, nun anzunehmen, daB die gegenwiirtigen Bilanzierungsgepflogenheiten in der Bundesrepu blik nicht verbessert werden soUten. Noch immer ist die Bilanz, sei es in verOffentlichter Kurzform, sei es in erliiuterter Form, ein auBerordent lich wichtiges Hilfsmittel rur die Einschiitzung wirtschaftlicher Zustiin de, sei es des Vermagens, sei es des Gewinns, sei es der Verpflichtungen, sei es der Personalaufwandsquote usw. Daran wird sich auch in Zukunft nichts iindern, weder bei uns noch auBerhalb unseres Rechtskreises. Da her soUte man dariiber nachdenken, wie man bestehende Miingel besei tigt, Betrachtungsfehler vermeidet und welche Fragen man steUen soU te, urn richtige Ergebnisse zu erhaIten. Das vorliegende Buch ist das Werk eines Praktikers. Es ist nicht ge schrieben worden, urn den bisherigen Bilanztheorien eine weitere hinzu zufiigen. Es ist somit weder auf VoUstiindigkeit angelegt noch auf Syste matik. Der Verfasser triigt lediglich einige Ansatzpunkte zusammen, die ihm im Verlauf seiner Tiitigkeit aufgefaUen sind. Es geht ihm nicht dar urn, etwa den Fiskus reicher oder iirmer zu machen, sondern lediglich darum, die Erkenntnisfahigkeit des Bilanzierenden wie des Bilanzbe trachters zu steigern."

Eine Bilanz ist nichts, was ist, sondern etwas, was gemacht wird. Es gibt keine Theorie, die dem kundigen Bilanzbetrachter aIle Schleusen des Verstandnisses fur Zustand und Entwicklung eines Unternehmens aff- net. Wenn man zwar zugeben mu, da man sicherlich nicht alles aus der Bilanz erkennen kanne, wonach man immer forscht: Liquiditat, Rentabilitat, Kreditsicherheit, Unternehmenswert und dgl., so darf man auch nicht in den entgegengesetzten Fehler verfallen, nun anzunehmen, da die gegenwartigen Bilanzierungsgepflogenheiten in der Bundesrepu- blik nicht verbessert werden sol1ten. Noch immer ist die Bilanz, sei es in veraffentlichter Kurzform, sei es in erlauterter Form, ein au erordent- lich wichtiges Hilfsmittel fur die Einschatzung wirtschaftlicher Zustan- de, sei es des Vermagens, sei es des Gewinns, sei es der Verpflichtungen, sei es der Personalaufwandsquote usw. Daran wird sich auch in Zukunft nichts andern, weder bei uns noch au erhalb unseres Rechtskreises. Da- her sol1te man dariiber nachdenken, wie man bestehende Mangel besei- tigt, Betrachtungsfehler vermeidet und welche Fragen man stellen so- te, urn richtige Ergebnisse zu erhalten. Das vorliegende Buch ist das Werk eines Praktikers. Es ist nicht ge- schrieben worden, urn den bisherigen Bilanztheorien eine weitere hinzu- zufugen. Es ist somit weder auf Vollstandigkeit angelegt noch auf Syste- matik. Der Verfasser tragt lediglich einige Ansatzpunkte zusammen, die ihm im Verlauf seiner Tatigkeit aufgefallen sind. Es geht ihm nicht dar- urn, etwa den Fiskus reicher oder armer zu machen, sondern lediglich darum, die Erkenntnisfahigkeit des Bilanzierenden wie des Bilanzbe- trachters zu steigern.

Im wende mim mit diesem Buch nicht an die sogenannten Fachleute, die samtliche Vorschriften des Steuerrechts aus dem Kopfe hersagen konnen. Ihnen, den Positivisten des Bilanzwesens, etwas zu sagen, was grundsatz licher Natur ist, durfte vergeblich sein. Es geht mir auch gar nicht um eine verspatete Ehrenrettung meines verehrten Lehrers Professor Dr. Or. h. c. Fritz Schmidt, der mir die ersten Erklarungen uber Bilanzen im allgemeinen gab, ehe ich mich dann notgedrungen mit den Vorschriften der Gesetzgeber befassen musste. Fritz Schmidt hat die Ehrenrettung nicht notig. Es ist nidit seine Schuld, dass die juristische Wirklichkeit uber seine Theorien hinweggeschritten ist. Man kann auch keinem Toten, wie das Friedrich Nietzsche gegenuber Jesus Christus getan hat, vor werfen: Warum hat er nicht lauter gesprochen? Es kommt mir in dieser Schrift nur darauf an, in all denjenigen Wirtschaftspraktikern wieder eine Neigung zur Bilanztheorie zu erwecken, die nom ein Gefuhl fur wahr und unwahr haben, und zwar wahr im Sinne von moralisch, ethisch wahr - nicht im Sinne von gesetzlich wahr und richtig. Denn unsere Bilanzvorschriften haben sich auf erschreckende Weise von der Bilanzwahrheit entfernt, und es ist nimt gut, verstummelte, verfalschte und verbogene Unterlagen zur Grundlage von betriebswirtschaftliehen Entscheidungen zu machen. Ich hoffe, vor allem meinen Bankfreunden und dem Nachwuchs an Be triebswirten mit dieser Schrift eine Freude zu machen, sie zur Diskussion anzuregen und damit vielleicht eine Bewegung auszulosen, die zu einer Ruckbesinnung fuhrt. Fur die kritisme Durchsimt des Manuskripts danke ich Herrn Pro fessor Dr. Schonle."

Mit dem neuen Gesetz uber das Kreditwesen vom 10. Juli 1961, das am 1. Januar 1962 in Kraft tritt, ist der unbefriedigende und zum Teil unklare Rechtszustand, der seit Kriegsende auf dem Gebiete des Kreditwesens herrschte, beseitigt worden. Die interessierten Kreise halten das neue Kredit wesengesetz fur eine abgewogene Grundsatzgesetzgebung, die die im offent lichen Interesse erforderliche Einflussnahme des Staates auf die Tatigkeit der Kreditinstitute ohne storende Eingriffe in deren Geschaftspolitik gewahr leistet. Das Gesetz vermeidet in gleicher Weise die Lucken eines Rahmen gesetzes wie die Gefahren eines perfektionistischen Gesetzes. Es wird auf un absehbare Zeit die massgebliche Rechtsgrundlage fur die Beurteilung offent lich-rechtlicher und privatrechtlicher Fragen der Kreditwirtschaft sein. Zur Erlauterung der Zielsetzung und der Anforderungen des neuen Gesetzes haben es zwei Autoren, die beide den Ruf erster Fachleute fur sich in An spruch nehmen durfen, unternommen, eine systematische Einfuhrung und einen Kommentar zu verfassen. Dr. earl Zimmerer, fruher Direktor einer Grossbank, seit einigen Jahren geschaftsfuhrender Gesellschafter einer Finan zierungsgesellschaft, schrieb die systematische Einfuhrung und legte dabei vor allem Wert auf die Anderungen, die das Gesetz im Vergleich zum bisher geltenden Recht mit sich brachte. Dr. Herbert Schonle, ao. Professor fur deutsches Zivil-, Handels-und Wirtschaftsrecht an der Universitat Genf, kom mentierte die Normen des Gesetzes im einzelnen."

A Best Book of the Year
"Seed Magazine "- "Granta Magazine "- "The Plain-Dealer"
In this fascinating and utterly engaging book, Carl Zimmer traces "E. coli"'s pivotal role in the history of biology, from the discovery of DNA to the latest advances in biotechnology. He reveals the many surprising and alarming parallels between "E. coli"'s life and our own. And he describes how "E. coli "changes in real time, revealing billions of years of history encoded within its genome. "E. coli" is also the most engineered species on Earth, and as scientists retool this microbe to produce life-saving drugs and clean fuel, they are discovering just how far the definition of life can be stretched.

In this unprecedented history of a scientific revolution, award-winning author and journalist Carl Zimmer tells the definitive story of the dawn of the age of the brain and modern consciousness. Told here for the first time, the dramatic tale of how the secrets of the brain were discovered in seventeenth-century England unfolds against a turbulent backdrop of civil war, the Great Fire of London, and plague. At the beginning of that chaotic century, no one knew how the brain worked or even what it looked like intact. But by the century's close, even the most common conceptions and dominant philosophies had been completely overturned, supplanted by a radical new vision of man, God, and the universe.
Presiding over the rise of this new scientific paradigm was the founder of modern neurology, Thomas Willis, a fascinating, sympathetic, even heroic figure at the center of an extraordinary group of scientists and philosophers known as the Oxford circle. Chronicled here in vivid detail are their groundbreaking revelations and the often gory experiments that first enshrined the brain as the physical seat of intelligence -- and the seat of the human soul. "Soul Made Flesh" conveys a contagious appreciation for the brain, its structure, and its many marvelous functions, and the implications for human identity, mind, and morality.

The most accessible edition ever published of Darwin's incendiary classic, edited by ?as fine a science essayist as we have? ("New York Times")
"The Descent of Man," Darwin's second landmark work on evolutionary theory (following "The Origin of the Species"), marked a turning point in the history of science with its modern vision of human nature as the product of evolution. Darwin argued that the noblest features of humans, such as language and morality, were the result of the same natural processes that produced iris petals and scorpion tails.
To convey the revolutionary importance of this groundbreaking book, renowned evolutionary science writer Carl Zimmer edited this special abridged edition?made up of nine excerpts, each one representing one of Darwin's major themes?and wrote illuminating introductions to each section, as well as an overall introduction. Zimmer brilliantly places Darwin's basic ideas in the context of the current understanding of human nature and twenty-first-century DNA research. By accessibly presenting Darwin's thinking to a modern readership, Zimmer eloquently demonstrates Darwin's ever-increasing relevance and amazing scientific insight.