The Co-Creation
On sale
5th November 2026
Price: £25
Where did we come from? What does it mean to be ‘alive’? And what is our place in the cosmos?
In her twenty-year journey to answer these questions, Olivia Judson has travelled to all seven continents and dived in several seas; she has made mental journeys to other worlds – the Moon, Venus, Mars; she has travelled back in time, haunted the rock collections of natural history museums, read scores of books and thousands of papers. The Co-Creation proposes a radical new way of understanding life on Earth: not as a story written in genes and DNA, but as one driven by energy.
Judson divides the history of our planet into five great epochas – rock, light, oxygen, flesh and fire – each marked by the unlocking of a new source of energy. Through these transformations, she argues, Earth evolved from a barren, asteroid-pummelled wasteland to the unique planet we inhabit today.
However, just as Earth made life, life itself became a powerful geological force that reshaped Earth – shifting the positions of continents, upheaving mountain ranges, changing the colour of the sky and causing vast oceans to open and close.
The Co-Creation reveals we are not merely occupiers of this planet, but integral to its very existence.
In her twenty-year journey to answer these questions, Olivia Judson has travelled to all seven continents and dived in several seas; she has made mental journeys to other worlds – the Moon, Venus, Mars; she has travelled back in time, haunted the rock collections of natural history museums, read scores of books and thousands of papers. The Co-Creation proposes a radical new way of understanding life on Earth: not as a story written in genes and DNA, but as one driven by energy.
Judson divides the history of our planet into five great epochas – rock, light, oxygen, flesh and fire – each marked by the unlocking of a new source of energy. Through these transformations, she argues, Earth evolved from a barren, asteroid-pummelled wasteland to the unique planet we inhabit today.
However, just as Earth made life, life itself became a powerful geological force that reshaped Earth – shifting the positions of continents, upheaving mountain ranges, changing the colour of the sky and causing vast oceans to open and close.
The Co-Creation reveals we are not merely occupiers of this planet, but integral to its very existence.
Reviews
'Captivating...The satisfyingly sprawling latest by evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson (Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation) takes the reader on vividly sensuous time-traveling trips to various points in pre-history . . . conveying a giddy sense of wonder that sweeps the reader along in its wake.'
'Judson's fascinating natural history of the world-and all the life on it . . . Judson's hypothesis offers a new way of thinking about how we got here, what came before, and why the incredible ecosystems that sustain us are so very important.'
'A landmark work of science writing.Wildly ambitious and utterly compelling, Olivia Judson has chronicled the greatest narrative of all-the full history of life, Earth, and the intimate, perpetual dance between the two.'
'A triumphant return for Dr. Tatiana...At turn luscious, heady, and strange, The Co-Creation updates the Gaia hypothesis with modern physics and a neo-Victorian sweep of ecology that would make George Eliot proud. Judson places us just as we are: not on the Earth, but made of it.'
'Epic in scope, rigorously researched, and intellectually thrilling,The Co-Creation is an extraordinary feat of synthesis and scholarship and a masterwork of science writing. Olivia Judson illuminates the fundamental connections between energy, evolution, life, and Earth with unprecedented clarity, memorable metaphors, and profound insights. Judson has crafted nothing less than the most compelling proposal for the origin of life that I have ever encountered, an incisive explanation of what makes living things unique, and a brilliant new framework for understanding the eons-long evolution of our living planet. This book should be read closely, shared widely, and cherished by all.'
'An epic poem worthy of Gaia herself. Withvivid writing, enchanting detailand colossal scale, Olivia Judson brings to life the flows of energy that animated our world, from the first cells through global glaciations wrought by bacteria, to the planet-sculpting of animals and our own high-octane lives. Building layer upon layer, under the watchful eye of her Planetary Accountant, Judson has written amarvellouspaean to our living rock.'
'An exceptionally clear history of the amazing dance of organics and inorganics that constitutes this living Earth in its current moment of co-evolution. What we are together is illuminated by this knowledge, andthis is not only helpful as we figure out what to do as a civilization now, but delightful in and of itself. Highly recommended!'
'Olivia Judson takes on the deepest mysteries of life and emerges witha vision as surprising as it is awe-inspiring. Thisbeautifulbook tells the earth's story as it has never been told before-a planet tumultuous and creative, continually remade by the lifeforms it spawns.'
'A highly readable, important, and new way of thinking about life and Earth. The Co-Creation is excellent.'
"A majestic grand tour of the history of our planet, The Co-Creation provides a fresh and exhilarating view of what life itself is and how it arises and evolves."