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Life Story
- Author
- Jonathan Loh
- Narrator
- Jonathan Loh
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 27 August 2026
- Run Time
- 18 hours 57 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
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What to expect
What if life on Earth evolved not once – but twice?
And what if we're now facing a third phase of evolution?
Life on Earth has evolved not once, but twice. First as organic life – from single cells to the astonishing diversity of the natural world. Then as human culture – from hunter-gatherers to cities, empires and global civilisations.
In this sweeping and original work, Jonathan Loh reveals a radical idea: culture as a form of life. Unfolding across deep time – from the earliest organisms to the rise of Homo sapiens, from foragers to farmers, from the Bronze Age to the Industrial Revolution – it uncovers the hidden patterns linking genetics and language, organisms and states, ecosystems and economies, mass extinctions and civilisational collapse.
One species has come to dominate the Earth. Yet as machine intelligence gathers pace, Loh asks whether that supremacy is only a phase in life’s longer story.
What can we learn from our past? And what does this mean for our future?
© Jonathan Loh 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
Critics Review
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A chronology of being human and what that means, with some surprising, chilling but nevertheless credible thoughts on our AI future and beyond. Beautifully written and accessible, it's a guide to what we were, what we are and what we might come to be
Lorna Gibb, author of RARE TONGUES
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Life on Earth is entering a new dawn. But how did we get here, and where do we go next? Jonathan Loh paints the big picture. Profound and timely
Tony Juniper
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Jonathan Loh
- Narrator
- Jonathan Loh
- Duration
- 18 hours 57 minutes
- Release Date
- 27 August 2026
- ISBN
- 9781529904536
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Evolutionary anthropology / Human evolution, Popular science, Social and cultural history, Cultural studies, Social forecasting, future studies
Synopsis
What if life on Earth evolved not once – but twice?And what if we're now facing a third phase of evolution?Life on Earth has evolved not once, but twice. First as organic life – from single cells to the astonishing diversity of the natural world. Then as human culture – from hunter-gatherers to cities, empires and global civilisations.In this sweeping and original work, Jonathan Loh reveals a radical idea: culture as a form of life. Unfolding across deep time – from the earliest organisms to the rise of Homo sapiens, from foragers to farmers, from the Bronze Age to the Industrial Revolution – it uncovers the hidden patterns linking genetics and language, organisms and states, ecosystems and economies, mass extinctions and civilisational collapse.One species has come to dominate the Earth. Yet as machine intelligence gathers pace, Loh asks whether that supremacy is only a phase in life’s longer story.What can we learn from our past? And what does this mean for our future?© Jonathan Loh 2026 (P) Penguin Audio 2026
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