Life Story

The revelatory account of the great defining forces of human life - the nature that made us, the culture that shaped us and the future we now face.

There is nothing quite like us on Earth. We are a species of animal, yet unlike any other; we innovate, explore, talk, plan, build vast societies, cooperate, wage war, construct and destruct our environment. Our story is not a simple biological thread, but an intertwined web of nature and culture that has shaped our past, defines our present and can help us navigate our future.

Life Story is Jonathan Loh's groundbreaking dual narrative of the development of life on Earth through both biological and cultural evolution. Far from being a byproduct of nature, he reveals how human culture is a distinct form of life, its evolution through cooperation, language, and technology echoing the diversification of organic life from simple cells to multicellular, social animals - and how it gives us unique advantages and responsibilities.

But evolution is not finite. In a future in which our machine-based creations could evolve into a life form of their own, Loh outlines an extraordinary scenario for the next evolutionary leap, based on a new understanding of our cultural and natural heritage and the power they give us to change the world.