Life

The Mystery: The Quest of an Ordinary Man

Jim Russ

$59.95 $54.13

Paperback

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English

Outskirts Press
10 November 2025

Evolution; Biochemistry

Have you ever wondered how life came into existence, but more importantly, have you thought where will it all end up in millions or billions of years from now?

I will address this question and many others about life on this planet and the universe as well. We may not find all the answers, but we will try. It is a quest I started several years ago. I was curious about how life started from inorganic matter billions of years ago. It just seemed improbable that life just appeared one day from a combination of non-living elements and molecules. It seems like it was magic! But, was it? I seriously doubt it, but there is a certain mystic to the appearance of life.

The journey we are about to take will span billions of years. We will start at the very beginning with the Big Bang and the creation of our universe, the creation of the basic elements, the formation of the Sun, the planets, our Earth, and our moon. We will explore how the elements combined to create the complexity of life. We will look at how life works now from its very simple beginning billions of years ago. We will look at the progression of life from the beginning of time to the present including where man has ended up. Lastly, we will look at the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe and where life on our planet will end up. It is a great journey written for ordinary people like me in language that we can understand. I hope you enjoy the quest.

Lastly, I could not do the journey alone unassisted. I am just an ordinary man with great curiosity and with little technical expertise in this area, so we are assisted along the way by experts, lecturers, and authors. I give all the credit to them and their expert guidance. I have simply taken all their knowledge in each of their specific areas of expertise and compiled it into a single concise book of information on life along with a few of my thoughts and ideas for good measure. In any case, this book would not have been possible without their help. Thank you.

By: Jim Russ
Imprint: Outskirts Press
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 336g
ISBN: 9781977284020
ISBN 10: 1977284027
Pages: 246
Publication Date: 10 November 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

At first glance, Jim Russ seems to be an unlikely person to write about life in the past, present and future. He graduated from Norwich University, a military college in Vermont, and received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics. Before going into civilian life, he received an officer's commission in the US Army, where he spent four years on active duty and a number of years subsequently in the US Army Reserve. After his military service, he worked in IT for 22 years until retirement in 2015. It was his great curiosity about this subject that drove him to explore all the mysteries of life in his retirement. It was a quest worth taking for this ordinary man.

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Life

The Mystery: The Quest of an Ordinary Man

Jim Russ

$59.95 $54.13

Paperback

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