A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth

4.6 Billion Years in 12 Pithy Chapters

By: Henry Gee

Narrated by: Henry Gee

Length: 7 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

The Royal Society's Science Book of the Year

"...Henry Gee presents a pithy, fascinating account of the stages of biological evolution. He's a deliberate, engaged narrator whose slow pacing will require adaptation. This and creative background music and sound effects (dinosaur sounds?) create a meditative and friendly listening experience. From spineless water creatures and egg-laying reptiles to mammals and the great apes, the concise details associated with each evolutionary advance give this audiobook a generous texture."- AudioFile

"[A]n exuberant romp through evolution, like a modern-day Willy Wonka of genetic space. Gee’s grand tour enthusiastically details the narrative underlying life’s erratic and often whimsical exploration of biological form and function.” —Adrian Woolfson, The Washington Post

In the tradition of Richard Dawkins, Bill Bryson, and Simon Winchester—An entertaining and uniquely informed narration of Life's life story.

In the beginning, Earth was an inhospitably alien place—in constant chemical flux, covered with churning seas, crafting its landscape through incessant volcanic eruptions. Amid all this tumult and disaster, life began. The earliest living things were no more than membranes stretched across microscopic gaps in rocks, where boiling hot jets of mineral-rich water gushed out from cracks in the ocean floor.

Although these membranes were leaky, the environment within them became different from the raging maelstrom beyond. These havens of order slowly refined the generation of energy, using it to form membrane-bound bubbles that were mostly-faithful copies of their parents—a foamy lather of soap-bubble cells standing as tiny clenched fists, defiant against the lifeless world. Life on this planet has continued in much the same way for millennia, adapting to literally every conceivable setback that living organisms could encounter and thriving, from these humblest beginnings to the thrilling and unlikely story of ourselves.

In A (Very) Short History of Life on Earth, Henry Gee zips through the last 4.6 billion years with infectious enthusiasm and intellectual rigor. Drawing on the very latest scientific understanding and writing in a clear, accessible style, he tells an enlightening tale of survival and persistence that illuminates the delicate balance within which life has always existed.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press

©2021 Henry Gee (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"...Henry Gee presents a pithy, fascinating account of the stages of biological evolution. He's a deliberate, engaged narrator whose slow pacing will require adaptation. This and creative background music and sound effects (dinosaur sounds?) create a meditative and friendly listening experience. From spineless water creatures and egg-laying reptiles to mammals and the great apes, the concise details associated with each evolutionary advance give this audiobook a generous texture."- AudioFile

"A scintillating, fast-paced waltz through four billion years of evolution, from one of our leading science writers. As a senior editor at Nature, Henry Gee has had a front-row seat to the most important fossil discoveries of the last quarter century. His poetic prose animates the history of life, from the first bacteria to trilobites to dinosaurs to us."- Steve Brusatte, University of Edinburgh paleontologist and New York Times/Sunday Times bestselling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs

Wonderfully evocative

I’ve been taught dry facts concerning the evolution of life on Earth my whole life. Henry Gee has now opened my eyes to its vigorous, colorful and fascinating history, which I had never grasped or envisioned before. It’s a dramatic and compelling tale; a real page-turner. You can’t wait to find out what happens next! I listened to an interview with the author on the Inquiring Minds podcast, and knew I had to listen to the book. The author’s voice, both narratively and audibly, is entertaining, poetic, and human as he sympathetically describes and vividly paints pictures and action clips of the millennium of development of what we currently experience as life on this world. As a fellow Tolkien fan, I recognize and enjoy the voice of a knowledgeable narrator who is fond of his “characters” and portrays them in an affectionate and understandable fashion. The brief musical interludes and sound effects were not annoying at all but enhancing to the story. It’s a perspective on the history of earth that, for me, was unprecedented and profound, and also, so entertaining!

Required Reading

This book should be required reading for any person (high school and up) interested in our place in the natural world and how we got here. It does an excellent job of bringing together evidence-based findings from earth sciences, natural history, and genetics to create a credible account of the fits and starts of life on this planet over the billions of years since its formation. A common theme is how life has continued to evolve and reestablish itself after catastrophic depopulations and extinctions. It ends with a probing exploration of our species' possible futures in light of the unrelenting forces of climate change, geologic upheavals and overpopulation.

This is a true audio production rather than a text read by a narrator.

I didn't find the music and other sound effects distracting or cheap. For me, they support and magnify the text. At least you have to give them credit for attempting something original.
The text itself is memorable with a lot of striking and amusing imagery that paints a vivid picture of a time or a creature.

Interesting listen. Weird soundscape

Background noises are distracting. it took me a couple of chapters to realize that they were part of the recording, not house noise. some of the sounds seemed slightly tangential - I wonder if it was an AI that added them rather than a human?

Simply fascinating

Very interesting science-based story about how life began, evolved, and persevered. Easy to listen to and understand. Recommended.

Deep history curriculum for all humans.

Describes the different eras of the earth, including the probable future ones, in a clear prose which challenges the listener to imagine weird flora and fauna, continental shifts, ice ages and our diverse ancestors.

Fascinating

Great read. Really enjoyed the connection between the environment and life. How connected we all are to the rock we live on.

Fascinatingly unique emphasis on life's existence

Great story that, I felt, focused on aspects not central to other books of this nature. Found the scientific explanations for the extinctions captivating and the interplay between plate tectonics, atmospheric composition, oceanic minerals and how life was influenced by what was available when evolving.

Focused on animal species that don't usually get the limelight, loved the Permian and Triassic chapters for this. If you're not familiar with these animals, google them while you listen because the description can only do so much.. they were funky.

4 stars on performance, not for narrator (they were great), but, as others have mentioned, the damn synthesizers, sound effects, and outright music scores that are arbitrarily and sporadically used. Wish they left those out. BUT STILL WORTH THE LISTEN REGARDLESS

Very well told account

This book is broad in scope with scientific insights and just enough whimsy to make it delightful.

Not a light read, but worth multiple reviews

I heard Henry Gee on another podcast, which led me to this book. Thanks, Mr. Gee (who reads his own work) for this trip through 4.6B years in 12 pithy chapters!