"Closely reasoned and rich in scientific and philosophical background."
Scientific American "For more than two decades Harold Morowitz has been honored as a creative and persuasive leader in origin-of-life research. Now, with The Emergence of Everything, he expands his horizon in a stunningly original and provocative book. With encyclopedic knowledge, gentle humor, lucid style and sweeping vision, Morowitz tackles the grandest ... Read morequestions at the interface of science and religion, and he makes a compelling case for the inexorable rise in universal complexity, from the Big Bang to galaxies to life, and perhaps beyond."
Dr. Robert Hazen, Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington "Harold Morowitz has the rare ability to provide a general audience with both the excitement and the insights of science, without stinting either facts or theory. In The Emergence of Everything, Morowitz manages a tour de force, building a ladder of 28 rungs climbing from the beginnings of the universe to the advent of consciousness. At each level, he shows how the phenomena of that level emerge from building blocks provided by the previous level. This emergence, the mysterious phenomenon wherein the whole is more than the sum of its parts, is a central concept in studies of complex systems, which Stephen Hawking calls 'the science of the 21st century.' Morowitz's ladder is a worthy climb
there is no better book for developing a detailed understanding of emergence."
John Holland, author of Emergence: From Chaos to Order "This is a brilliant book. Morowitz has provided the first state-of-the-art overview of the theory of emergence across the scientific disciplines. Neither too detailed nor too abstract, his 28 stages of emergence trace the history of the universe from the Big Bang through the appearance of culture, philosophy and spirituality. No other work has laid out the core case for emergence
and hence against the ultimacy of reductionism
across the whole spectrum of science. This introduction to emergence theory should guide philosophers of science and anthropologists, theologians and metaphysicians, as they reflect on the nature of Homo sapiens and our place in the cosmos."
Philip Clayton, Visiting Professor, Harvard University Show Less