'. . . popular science writing at its very best - clear yet challenging, speculative yet rigorous. The book is a tour de force which orchestrates a seamless story out of both venerable ideas and very recent discoveries in several disparate fields.' -- Bernard Dixon`. . . a breathtaking, broad vision of the role of a single gas in our life, from the origin of organisms, through the emergence of creatures, and to their deaths . . . packed full of interesting life-and-death stories...A wonderful read.' -- Peter Atkins`. . . one of the most thought-provoking books I have ever read.' -- John Emsley`Nick Lane's chapters are dispatches from the frontiers of research into Earth and life history, but they contain nothing that will lose the patient reader and much that will reward.' -- The Guardian Review`a brisk revelatory study' -- Christopher Hirst, The Independent`. . . Nick Lane marshals an impressive array of evidence - [an] ambitious narrative . . . This is science writing at its best.' -- Jerome Burne, The Financial Times