Infinite Life: An Epic New Story of Life On Earth

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If you think of an egg, what do you see in your minds eye A chicken egg, hardboiled
A slimy mass of frogspawn Perhaps you see a human egg cell, prepared on a microscope slide in a laboratory

Every egg there has ever been, is an emblem of survival. Yet the evolution of the animal egg is the dramatic subplot missing in many accounts of how life on Earth came to be. Quite simply, without this universal biological phenomenon, animals as we know them, including us, could not have evolved and flourished.

In Infinite Life, zoology correspondent Jules Howard takes the reader on a mind-bending journey from the churning coastlines of the Cambrian Period and Carboniferous coal forests, where insects were stirring, to the end of the age of dinosaurs when live-birthing mammals began their modern rise to power. Eggs would evolve from out of the sea; be set by animals into soils, sands, canyons and mudflats; be dropped in nests wrapped in silk; hung in stick nests in trees, covered in crystallised shells or secured by placentas.

Whether belonging to birds, insects, mammals or millipedes, animal eggs are objects that have been shaped by their ecology, forged by mass extinctions and honed by natural selection to near-perfection. Finally, the epic story of their role in the story of life can be told.

Reviews

Jules Howards eggs-eye view of evolution is dripping with fascinating insights Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors

A startlingly beautiful exploration of evolutions crucibles of creation Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred

Mind-bending in the best possible ways a joy to read Helen Scales, author of The Brilliant Abyss

Finally, the egg gets the recognition it deserves in this wonderfully evocative telling of its journey through time and place Gaia Vince, author of Nomad Century and Transcendence

One of my favourite science writersLucy Cooke, author of Bitch: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal

This is as fun and engaging as science writing gets, and by the end of the book, its astounding how much youve learned about the history of life. Steve Brusatte, author of The Rise and Reign of the Mammals

So much passion and poetic prose' BBC Radio 4, Inside Science

Focusing on the oology in zoology,Infinite Liferetells the history of life, this time from the perspective of the almighty egg. The Inquisitive Biologist

In a book that brilliantly evokes past eras, Howard provides a new perspective on the history of life on Earth. The Mail on Sunday

Infinite Life is thoroughly researched and packed with astonishing facts Howard brings the minutiae of his subject to life with detailed, almost tactile descriptions Times Literary Supplement

Animal evolution is a snap compared to the minutia of animal physiology, but Howard has done his homework and delivers a painless but lucideducation on a central feature of life. High-quality natural history. Kirkus Reviews

The egg is a beautiful thing, far from simple and far from static. If youve never given it much thought before, this book will change that. Geographical

Carving out a niche in the increasingly crowded milieu of popular-science writing can be difficult, butInfinite Lifestands out. Its a satisfyingly nerdy examination of eggs, rooted in an unashamed affection for this unlikely spectacle of nature Rebecca Wragg Sykes, Nature

'Infinite Life has the potential to change your perspective on the history of our planet. It offers a journey that will intrigue and open your mind to the wonders of all life on Earth.' Science - Fall Reads '24

'Even the most hard-boiled reader, accustomed to overlooking eggs in favor of the free-living creatures that emerge from them, will likely be softened. And delighted.' Wall Street Journal

Much has been written about sex and genetics, but not nearly enough about eggs. Jules HowardsInfinite Liferedresses that balance. The Daily Telegraph

Author Bio

Jules Howard is a zoologicalcorrespondent, science writer and broadcaster, whose recent book, Wonderdog, won the 2022 Barker Book Prize for non-fiction.He writes on a host of topics relating to zoology, ecology and wildlife conservation and appears regularly in BBC Science Focus magazine and on radio and TV, includingBBC Breakfast and Radio 4'sNature Tableand The Ultimate Choice. He lives in Northamptonshire with his wife and two children.