The planetary scope of biogenesis -- Life on Earth today -- The geochemical context for the biosphere --The architecture of metabolism -- Higher-level structures -- Emergence of the biosphere -- The phase transition paradigm for emergence -- The nature of the living state.

"Uniting the conceptual foundations of the physical sciences and biology, this ground-breaking multi-disciplinary book explores the origin of life as a planetary process. Combining geology, geochemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, evolution and statistical physics to create an inclusive picture of the living state, the authors develop the argument that the emergence of life was a necessary cascade of non-equilibrium phase transitions that opened new channels for chemical energy flow on Earth"--