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Every Life Is on Fire: How Thermodynamics Explains the Origins of Living Things Hardcover – Illustrated, 15 September 2020

by Jeremy England (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars 123 ratings
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A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life.
Why are we alive? Most things in the universe aren't. And everything that is alive traces back to things that, puzzlingly, weren't.
For centuries, the scientific question of life's origins has confounded us. But in Every Life Is on Fire, physicist Jeremy England argues that the answer has been under our noses the whole time, deep within the laws of thermodynamics. England explains how, counterintuitively, the very same forces that tend to tear things apart assembled the first living systems.
But how life began isn't just a scientific question. We ask it because we want to know what it really means to be alive. So England, an ordained rabbi, uses his theory to examine how, if at all, science helps us find purpose in a vast and mysterious universe.
In the tradition of Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, Every Life Is on Fire is a profound testament to how something can come from nothing.
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  1. Print length
    272 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Basic Books
  4. Publication date
    15 September 2020
  5. Dimensions
    15.37 x 3.3 x 22.1 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    1541699017
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1541699014
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Review

"A unique project that proposes to build a metaphorical bridge between the richness of mythic language and the precision of physical theory. Somewhere below this bridge flow the waters in which biological life first evolved and upon which England is an ecumenical-physicist river guide."--David Krakauer, president and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems, Santa Fe Institute

"Illuminating insights into the physics of life."--Kirkus

"In this sparklingly original book, Jeremy England tackles perhaps the biggest scientific question of all -- what is life, and how did it emerge from inanimate matter? It's a delight to read, not only for its charming content, but, because, much like the Hebrew scriptures interwoven throughout the text, the prose flows with a poetic rhythm. I couldn't put it down."--Ard Louis, University of Oxford

Book Description

A preeminent physicist unveils a field-defining theory of the origins and purpose of life

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 15 September 2020
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ Illustrated
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 272 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1541699017
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1541699014
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 386 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.37 x 3.3 x 22.1 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 186,008 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 123 ratings

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Jeremy England

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Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
123 global ratings

Top reviews from Australia

  • Rob
    2.0 out of 5 stars If you are just interested in the science you would do better to read the published papers.
    Reviewed in Australia on 5 February 2021
    Format: KindleVerified Purchase
    This book was a great disappointment. It was not what I expected from a scientist. It was almost unreadable but I persisted in the hope I'd get to some good bits. The lengthy and continual references to the Bible were very annoying. I wanted science, not religion. After reading it through to the biter end I felt no wiser as to how thermodynamics explains anything. The title should have been "How the Bible Explains Everything about Thermodynamics and Life".

    A waste of money. I should have taken note of the negative reviews.
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Top reviews from other countries

  • EV
    5.0 out of 5 stars A book for the open-minded, common-sense scientists and readers
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 24 December 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    As scientist within the fields of mathematics and evolutionary dynamics, I find this book to be extremely refreshing and thought provoking. The book provides a fair picture of the immense knowledge gained from scientific methods and research over the more recent past (i.e. 50 years). Yet, it is well balanced and realistic about the limitations and constraints placed by our own ability to interpret the world as physical human beings (as well as technological/computational limitations).

    Intentionally or not, the book also provides a powerful interpretation of Gould's NOMA (Non-Overlapping Magisteria) where ideas from science and religion can fundamentally co-exist without direct conflict since each one represents a different domain of knowledge. Clearly, the book is not likely to go down well with the extreme sides of the spectrum of our current polarised world, in particular the 'fundamentalist', Dawkins-loving, members of the scientific community.

    However, I believe that most open-minded, common-sense, scientists as well as readers who like to learn and explore different scientific points of view will enjoy to think and reflect about some of the ideas within the book and the author's perspective.
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  • CLVD
    1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
    Reviewed in Spain on 18 February 2021
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Took him ages to get to the point, which in the end was the bible.
    Report
  • Billy McBride
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars from a Mystic
    Reviewed in the United States on 30 November 2020
    Verified Purchase
    I wish to say something different about Every Life is on Fire than what one may learn from it scientifically. I have just a little interest in the science in general because I am just getting started. But there is that indeed, and lots of it in England’s book. It is well-explained, and yet the Biblical references make the scientific interpretations interesting. I came to this book hoping to learn why personal Merkabah experience is lost about a week or so after it happens. Merkabah rides to heaven and back are for Kabbalists like myself a sublime religious and rare experience. Think of your best days on Earth, and multiply the strangeness and richness by infinity, those are Merkabah experiences. At any rate, since I have them every now and again, and being Jewish myself, a sort of mystical Jewish person who talks to his Angels he loves within him, and who also writes about them in books as well, I think of the Merkabah time as a gift from God, something that is not earned in any way, but given for a while, to experience heaven, and I was curious how science could explain some of it, whether there were techniques which go beyond the idea that Merkabah times can be triggered in the eyes of scientists. So by learning from England’s book, I get the feeling that there are forces that may play a role psychologically in the mystic which can be triggers to higher experience, and yet I feel it may help to learn more of what England is describing when he speaks about the landscape of a ball in motion. I am enthusiastic that one can learn to become ever more sensitive to God’s gifts, even if they cannot be earned or triggered. That increased sensitivity is what I take from this book to be a surprise which yet one may be encouraged to nurture. I also thought the book was well-organized, and very eloquent being from a scientist working with modern biology and physics. As a Kabbalist, as far as the religious aspect of England’s book, I myself see the God of the Hebrew Bible as transforming into his own Astral Self after the Bible ended. That means that God passed from a jealous and temperamental God to the perfect being, as in the diagram of the Ein Sopf, the best Being possible, one which makes the God in the Hebrew Bible look almost unfallen, except for the fact that they are the same God, but that God too transformed into his Astral Self, the Ein Soph, which symbolizes the Tree of Life. So I read the God of the Hebrew Bible as not yet in his completed state in those pages, but only that the pages imply that God got better afterward. We all of us have done bad things in our lives, and God too within those pages in our eyes. If the creation was bungled from the get-go, and evil existed then and now at times, then I think it better that God saw a change in his state, just like we will, I trust, when we leave the Earth to become our Astral Angel Selves. This connects to England’s orthodox interpretations of Moses and God for England has much to say about both as well, which he does eloquently. My perspective on England’s book comes as a mystic, but one who has interest in science, in scientific vocabulary and experiments as well as its social aspect. However, I learned both from Richard Rorty and also trends in Jewish Mysticism not to seek knowledge, but hope in its place. You can find that hope too in England’s book, as I have in a way of explaining better the spiritual phenomenon of Merkabah experience and perhaps a better way of being sensitive to God’s gifts overall.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very satisfyingexperience
    Reviewed in Canada on 5 July 2023
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Book was delivered much before the delivery date..
    The book was described as "like new", the book received was like brand new.
    Customer image
    Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    A very satisfyingexperience

    Reviewed in Canada on 5 July 2023
    Book was delivered much before the delivery date..
    The book was described as "like new", the book received was like brand new.
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    Customer imageCustomer image
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  • R. Müller
    1.0 out of 5 stars Philosophical thoughts, intertwined with religious notions
    Reviewed in Germany on 19 September 2020
    Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase
    Ever since the famous dispute between Galileo and the Pope, it should be clear to every scientist that it's a bad idea to try and force religious ideas into science.

    Sadly, Mr. England did not seem to be aware of this principle when he wrote his book.

    While the constant mentioning of biblical texts in a supposedly scientific book might appeal to creationists (i.e. proponents of "intelligent design"), it is a real turn-off for both philosophers and scientists.

    It gets ridiculous when England tries to match biblical stories about Moses to a scientific understanding of life. He does for the bible what some fundamentalist islamic preachers do for the Quran: According to both, it was always there in the holy scripture, and modern science only shows that these ancient texts where right all along. The (often desperate) apologetics should have been left out of the book, as they greatly diminish its seriousness.
    And of course, with no word does England mention that it is scientific consensus that Moses probably never lived.

    I had expected a scientific book, but what I got was a lengthy, rather low-standard philosophical treatise, intertwined with much religious apologetics. I found this book to not be enlightening, but rather annoying, much like a Jehovah's Witness ringing my door bell on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
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