How Hidden Webs of Information Are Finally Solving the Mystery of Life

The Demon in the Machine

'A gripping new drama in science ... if you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this' Professor Andrew Briggs, University of Oxford 
 
When Darwin set out to explain the origin of species, he made no attempt to answer the deeper question: what is life? 
 
For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question. Life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. And yet, huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery. So can life be explained by known physics and chemistry, or do we need something fundamentally new? 
 
In this penetrating and wide-ranging new analysis, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name, a domain where computing, chemistry, quantum physics and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity with the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and even to illuminate the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe. 
 
From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine is a breath-taking journey across the landscape of physics, biology, logic and computing. Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window on the secret of life itself.

Brilliantly vivid ... The big idea is that understanding the information flow in organisms might be the missing part of our scientific jigsaw puzzle. The informational approach [to life], in David's elegant and lucid exposition, is highly promising

Boundary-transcending ... Davies claims that life's defining characteristics are better understood in terms of information ... there is grandeur in this view of life

Paul Davies is a courageous explorer of the boundaries of what we can know about our world. This book makes his explorations available to all who enjoy pushing those boundaries. Written with a light entertaining touch, even the most abstruse science acquires the clarity of exposition for which the author is justly renowned

Denis Noble, University of Oxford, author of Dance to the Tune of Life: Biological Relativity

This is one of the most exciting books I have read in years. Paul Davies celebrates a significant anniversary with a demonically brilliant investigation of a fundamental question that only the very latest science and philosophy can deal with. Now we have a view from the master that's as thrilling as it is satisfying. Superb.

The molecular biology revolution has led to extraordinary understandings of how life emerges from physical processes. But comprehension of the nuts and bolts of these processes omits a key feature of what is going on: what separates life from non-life is information. In this characteristically clearly written and engaging book, ranging from physics to biology and evolutionary theory to neuroscience, Paul Davies strongly makes the case that at its core, life is about information flows. There is much food for thought here. Highly recommended.

George F.R. Ellis, University of Cape Town, co-author of The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time

Paul Davies always probes the deepest questions in science. Here, addressing the deepest of all -- Schrödinger's What is Life? -- he tells us what life is: matter plus information - beyond the laws of physics, but compatible with them. To elaborate this thesis, he deploys his trademark talent: getting to the heart of the most abstruse and technical aspects of science (biology as well as physics), without jargon and with down-to-earth analogies

Michael Berry, HH Wills Physics Laboratory

This creative demon shadows DNA and the promise of quantum computing, answering some basic questions. What is consciousness, why is life so good at predicting where it might go next? The bridge connecting fundamental physics, biology and the most advanced labs of computation is what Davies calls information patterns. He shows how it organizes for top-down creativity, and thereby holds off the grim reaper of entropy. With striking insight, and metaphors that illuminate the landscape of science today, Davies once again becomes a guide to the near future.

Charles Jencks, The Garden of Cosmic Speculation

The Demon in the Machine encompasses some of the most intriguing and unsolved mysteries of the universe: the existence of an arrow of time imprinted on the cosmos, and the emergence of life itself. Davies' crisp but rich narrative succeeds in untangling various highly complex ideas and processes, while fluently and intelligently setting out its own arrow of argument.

Mikhail Prokopenko, The University of Sydney

Paul Davies narrates a gripping new drama in science, in which the plot is the story of life and the leading actor is information. With his characteristic blend of erudition and clarity, he brings together some of the most rapidly advancing knowledge in physics and technology to show how information controls biology. If you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this.

Professor Andrew Briggs, University of Oxford, author of The Penultimate Curiosity and It Keeps Me Seeking.

A tour-de-force of a fascinating and frontier topic: information as a distinguishing, central aspect of those physical systems known as living ones. The Demon in the Machine is simultaneously rigorous, state-of-the-art, and highly readable - very hard to put down

Michael Levin, Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University

Paul Davies takes us on a fascinating tour of what is known about what life is. Along the way he speculates interestingly about what may become known. His theme, drawn from Darwin, Schrödinger, Turing, Gödel, Shannon and von Neumann, is that what separates life from non-life is information. But how? Exploring that question illuminates biology by revealing its deep roots in physics, mathematics and computer science.

What is life? Questions don't come much bigger than that. It's asked regularly by biologists, philosophers, lawyers, law-makers, astrobiologists and, occasionally, wide-eyed children. It's not so often asked by physicists, which makes Paul Davies' new book, The Demon In The Machine, that much more fascinating.

a vivid exposition of the new mathematics of biology, in which information flows play a central part

The Telegraph, best new science books to buy for Christmas 2019

Davies - one of the most imaginative scientists working today - urges biologists studying the origins and evolution of life to pay more attention to flows of information and energy on top of traditional chemistry and physics. He is a clear guide to the emergence of information science as a key factor in biology research.

The Financial Times, Best books of 2019: Science

Paul Davies is a Regents' Professor of Physics and Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science at Arizona State University. The author of some 30 books, his many awards include the Templeton Prize and the Faraday Prize of The Royal Society. He is a Member of the Order of Australia and has an asteroid named after him.

When Darwin set out to explain the origin of species, he made no attempt to answer the deeper question: what is life? 
 
For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question. Life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. And yet, huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery. So can life be explained by known physics and chemistry, or do we need something fundamentally new? 
 
In this penetrating and wide-ranging new analysis, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name, a domain where computing, chemistry, quantum physics and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity with the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and even to illuminate the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe. 
 
From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine is a breath-taking journey across the landscape of physics, biology, logic and computing. Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window on the secret of life itself.

Are We Alone in the Universe?

The Eerie Silence

Searching for Ourselves in the Universe

Paul Davies' The Eerie Silence: Searching For Ourselves in the Universe is an engaging and lucid guide to the 'Fermi Paradox' - why isn't the universe teeming with alien life? 
 
 If aliens ever contact us, it will be the single most significant event in human history. And Paul Davies will be responsible for saying something back. 
 
 For fifty years the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been scanning the skies. Now Davies, head of SETI's Post-Detection Task Group, with 'a rare talent for making physics mind-bogglingly vivid and exciting' (Times Higher Education), explores what the mysterious silence it has encountered could mean. 
 
 Here he looks at exciting new ways to make contact with extra-terrestrial life. He considers what form advanced alien intelligence is likely to take if it exists. And more importantly, what exactly it would mean if it didn't ­- how extraordinary it would be if we were alone, to be human and here in this staggering, eerie silence... 
 
 'A magnificent cosmic tour of what might be out there in space' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Sunday Times 
 
 'Rather wonderful' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;New Scientist 
 
 'Conveys excellently the fascination of the quest' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The Times 
 
 'An authoritatively written, immensely clear, lay person's guide to the many things we don't know about the rest of the universe' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Guardian 
 
 Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, and co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. An internationally-acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, Davies is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Eerie Silence: Searching for Ourselves in the Universe, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? and The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning.

In an area more given to fabulation than fact, [Paul Davies'] level-headedness is positively refreshing. If you ever start worrying about why no one is talking to us, this is the book to calm you down

An immensely readable investigation of the SETI enterprise

A magnificent cosmic tour d'horizon of what we know, and what we might yet encounter out there, in the apparent emptiness of deep space

Paul Davies has achieved an international reputation for his ability to explain the significance of advanced scientific ideas in simple language. He is the author of some twenty books and has written and presented a number of TV and radio programmes. He has also won the prestigious Templeton Prize, the world's largest award for intellectual endeavour, and a Glaxo Science Writers' Fellowship. He is currently Professor at Arizona State University as well as the Director of BEYOND: Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science.

If aliens ever contact us, it will be perhaps the single most significant event in human history. And Paul Davies will be responsible for saying something back. 
 
For fifty years the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence has been scanning the skies. Now Davies, head of SETI's Post Detection Task Group, with 'a rare talent for making physics mind-bogglingly vivid and exciting' (Times Higher Education), explores what the mysterious silence it has so far encountered could mean. 
 
Here he looks at exciting new ways to make contact with extra-terrestrial life. He considers what form advanced alien intelligence is likely to take if it exists. And perhaps more importantly, what exactly it would mean if it didn't - how extraordinary it would be if we were alone, to be human and here in this staggering, eerie silence . . .

Why is the Universe Just Right for Life?

The Goldilocks Enigma

From the bestselling author of The Mind of God

Paul Davies' The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? gets to the heart of what makes the universe tick ­- and what makes our place in it so special. 
 
 It's not too hot, it's not too cold, and its forces act together in a way that's just right: why does the universe seem so perfectly tailor-made for life to exist? 
 
 Paul Davies, one of the world's most acclaimed science writers, shows how everything from the humble carbon atom to the speed of light and the laws of physics themselves interact. He asks: is there a theory of everything within our grasp? If there was a big bang, what happened before it? Is there on universe or many? Could we exist within an endless time loop? 
 
 'This is popular science as home to the really big questions' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Independent Books of the Year 
 
 'Beautifully judged' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Guardian 
 
 'Britain's most eminent cosmologist ... Davies is effortlessly at home in the scale of the impossibly large, hundreds of billions of miles' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Observer 
 
 'He leads the reader gently by the hand through the basics of what we are sure we understand about space, time and the universe' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;John Gribbin 
 
 'Paul Davies is undoubtedly one of the most important modern scientific authors ... his most significant contribution to date' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Patrick Moore 
 
 Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, and co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. An internationally-acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, Davies is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Eerie Silence: Searching for Ourselves in the Universe, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? and The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning.

Paul Davies has achieved an international reputation for his ability to explain the significance of advanced scientific ideas in simple language. He is the author of some twenty books, including Superforce, God and the New Physics, The Mind of God, The Last Three Minutes, Are We Alone? and How to Build a Time Machine. Paul Davies has also written and presented a number of TV and radio programmes and has won the prestigious Templeton Prize, the world's largest award for intellectual endeavour, and a Glaxo Science Writers' Fellowship.

The Goldilocks Enigma is Paul Davies spectacular and eagerly awaited return to cosmology. Here he tackles all the 'big questions' and introduces the latest discoveries that have allowed scientists to piece together the story of the universe in unprecedented detail. And he explains why, despite all this, cosmologists are more divided than ever. Why is everything just right for life on earth? And how have we tried to explain this? How has belief shaped the scientific debate? What do we really know about our place in the universe? Paul Davies decodes the real science and gets to the very heart of our understanding of the universe.

God and the New Physics

In God and the New Physics, Paul Davies explains how science has come of age, and can now offer a surer path to divinity than religion. 
 
Science is now on the verge of answering our most profound questions about the nature of existence. Here Paul Davies explains how the far-reaching discoveries of recent physics are revolutionizing our world and, in particular, throwing light on many of the questions formerly posed by religion, such as: 
 
Why is there a universe? 
Where did we come from? 
What is life? 
How is the world organized? 
 
Examining subjects from the creation to the soul, free will to time, black holes to miracles, he travels through science and religion to show us that there is more to the world than meets the eye. 
 
'Excellent ... explains with fluent simplicity some of the profoundest questions of cosmology' - Daily Telegraph 
 
'One of the finest science writers of this generation' - Independent 
 
'Paul Davies is our best guide to this strange new world' - Observer 
 
'A list of topics to which he refers would constitute an outline for a dictionary of contemporary scientific excitement. His style is clear, interesting, chatty' - The Times Higher Education Supplement

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, now based in South Australia. He is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including About Time and The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life.

An explanation of how recent discoveries of the new physics are revolutionizing our view of the world and, in particular, throwing light on many of the questions formerly posed by religion

Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning

The Mind of God

Paul Davies' The Mind of God: Science and the Search for Ultimate Meaning explores how modern science is beginning to shed light on the mysteries of our existence. 
 
 Is the universe - and our place in it - the result of random chance, or is there an ultimate meaning to existence? Where did the laws of nature come from? Were they created by a higher force, or can they be explained in some other way? How, for example, could a mechanism as complex as an eye have evolved without a creator? 
 
 Paul Davies argues that the achievement of science and mathematics in unlocking the secrets of nature mean that there must be a deep and significant link between the human mind and the organization of the physical world. In this quest for an ultimate explanation of the universe, he examines the origin of the cosmos, the possibility of other universes and the claim that we inhabit a kind of gigantic computer. The universe is, he concludes, no mere quirk of fate but a meaningful place for thinking beings. Through science, we can truly glimpse the mind of God. 
 
 'Makes us re-examine the great questions of existence' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;The New York Times 
 
 'The greatest achievement of the book is to provide an insight into the nature of science itself and the uncertainties that lie in the physical realm' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;John Gribbin, Sunday Times 
 
'For those brought up on a diet of Adam and Eve, The Mind of God will make surprising reading' &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Independent 
 
 Paul Davies is Director of the BEYOND Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, and co-Director of the Cosmology Initiative, both at Arizona State University. An internationally-acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, Davies is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Eerie Silence: Searching for Ourselves in the Universe, The Goldilocks Enigma: Why is the Universe Just Right for Life? and About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution.

Makes us re-examine the great questions of existence

The greatest achievement of the book is to provide an insight into the nature of science itself and the uncertainties that lie in the physical realm

For those brought up on a diet of Adam and Eve, The Mind of God will make surprising reading

A book exploring the questions of modern physics such as why does maths, an abstract system of logic invented by man prove to be so useful in understanding the laws of nature?

Einstein's Unfinished Revolution

About Time

In About Time: Einstein's Unfinished Revolution Paul Davies confronts the puzzles and paradoxes of time that have bemused the world's greatest thinkers throughout the ages. 
 
When Albert Einstein formulated his theory of relativity it brought about a revolution in our understanding of time, yet also presented a new set of mysteries. Einstein's time can be warped, leading to bizarre possibilities such as black holes and time travel, while making a nonsense of our perception of a 'now' or a division of time into past, present and future. 
 
In About Time Paul Davies tackles the tough questions about time, including the strange relationship between physical time and our psychological perception of it. He gives straightforward descriptions of topics such as the theory of relativity, the relation between time dilation and the speed of light and Hawking's 'imaginary time'. He concludes that, despite decades of progress in unravelling the mysteries of time, the revolution is still underway... 
 
'Confirms his place as one of the most lucid and readable science writers today' - Sunday Times 
 
'Intriguing and important ... a fascinating discussion of why Einstein's can't be the last word on the subject' - Independent on Sunday 
 
'Sublime stuff for armchair physicists' - Guardian 
 
'A tour of some of the most exciting - and outlandish - work in modern physics ... Writing with passion and wit, he lets his scientific message shine through' - New Statesman

Paul Davies is an internationally acclaimed physicist, writer and broadcaster, now based in South Australia. He is the author of some twenty award-winning books, including The Mind of God and The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin of Life.

This is a book about the meaning of time, what it is, when it has started, how it flows and where to. It examines the consequences of Einstein's theory of relativity and offers startling suggestions about what recent research may reveal.

Paul Davies

Brilliant. You won't find a clearer, more engaging guide to what we know (or would like to know) about the universe and how it is put together.

author of The Body: A Guide for Occupants

Paul Davies gives us a thought-provoking, fascinating, and delightful journey through some of the big questions that have perplexed and tantalized scientists throughout history. These are the questions and paradoxes that have stumped and teased history's greatest minds. What happened before the beginning? What is the meaning of the universe? Are there other universes?

Paul Davies brings his customary lucidity to a survey of some of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of our universe, simultaneously educating us about its vertiginous wonders and giving us a real sense of science's questions as it confronts and explores them and wrestles with their mystery. It is an absorbing and stimulating read, one of the best of its kind.

Compelling ... Davies excels in succinctly addressing the cosmological conundrums that haven't received as much attention as dark matter, dark energy, what triggered the big bang and the fate of the universe

A whistle-stop tour of the biggest mysteries that cosmologists are investigating today ... a fun way of making sure you're all caught up on where cosmology is at today

What's Eating the Universe? is a veritable feast for curious minds. Davies, a polymath and lyrical writer, masterfully tackles all the big questions ranging from why this Universe to the meaning of life and the significance of the present moment-a whirlwind journey through ideas that have shaped our understanding of the cosmos and its constituents.

author of Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos

A great introduction for readers new to physics ...Lessons in cosmology and astrophysics abound in this enthusiastic primer

Understanding theoretical physics is a daunting task, but What's Eating the Universe?is here to guide readers through the field. Each chapter is short-less than 10 pages-but jargon-free and full of information ... Regardless of the reader's prior physics knowledge, the book provides an accessible introduction to cosmology

What's Eating the Universe? is Paul Davies at his very best. He brings a lifetime of experience in explaining mysteries of space and time to offer thought-provoking essays on deep questions in bite-sized, easily digestible chunks. There is no better overview of the advances made by cosmologists in recent decades.

author of Six Impossible Things: The ‘Quanta of Solace’ and the Mysteries of the Subatomic World

A delightful account of the cutting edge of modern cosmology. He is truly exceptional at explaining all of this in his inimitable style--let's say 'astropoetry'

A whistle-stop tour of the major questions in contemporary cosmology

Philip Ball, author of Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different

And Other Cosmic Questions

In the constellation of Eridanus there lurks a cosmic mystery. It's as if something has taken a huge bite out of the universe, leaving a super-void. What could be the culprit? A super massive black hole? Another, bigger universe? Or an expanding vacuum bubble, destined to envelop and annihilate everything in existence? 
 
Scientists now understand the history of our universe better than the history of our own planet, but they continue to uncover startling new riddles-the hole in the universe being just one. In this electrifying book, award-winning physicist Paul Davies walks us through the puzzles and paradoxes that have preoccupied cosmologists from ancient Greece to the present day. Laying bare the audacious research that has led us to mind-bending solutions, Davies reveals how we might begin to approach the greatest outstanding enigmas of all.

Paul Davies

Praise for What's Eating the Universe?

Brilliant. You won't find a clearer, more engaging guide to what we know (or would like to know) about the universe and how it is put together.

Paul Davies gives us a thought-provoking, fascinating, and delightful journey through some of the big questions that have perplexed and tantalized scientists throughout history. These are the questions and parado ...

Paul Davies brings his customary lucidity to a survey of some of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of our universe, simultaneously educating us about its vertiginous wonders and giving us a real sense of ...

Brilliant. You won't find a clearer, more engaging guide to what we know (or would like to know) about the universe and how it is put together.

Paul Davies gives us a thought-provoking, fascinating, and delightful journey through some of the big questions that have perplexed and tantalized scientists throughout history. These are the questions and parado ...

Paul Davies brings his customary lucidity to a survey of some of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of our universe, simultaneously educating us about its vertiginous wonders and giving us a real sense of ...

Brilliant. You won't find a clearer, more engaging guide to what we know (or would like to know) about the universe and how it is put together.

Paul Davies gives us a thought-provoking, fascinating, and delightful journey through some of the big questions that have perplexed and tantalized scientists throughout history. These are the questions and parado ...

Paul Davies brings his customary lucidity to a survey of some of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of our universe, simultaneously educating us about its vertiginous wonders and giving us a real sense of ...

Books by Paul Davies

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