Ball is a terrific writer . . . An essential primer in our never-ending quest to understand life -- Adam Rutherford, The Guardian Ball is a ferociously gifted science writer . . . There is so much [here] that is amazing . . . urgent . . . astonishing. ― The Sunday Times Ball is a ferociously gifted science writer . . . There is so much [in How Life Works] that is amazing . . . urgent . . . astonishing. ― The Sunday Times A mind-stretching book . . . Ball is a clarifier supreme. It is hard to imagine a more concise, coherent, if also challenging, single volume written on the discoveries made in the life sciences over the past 70 years. ― The Spectator Full of fascinating information . . . The dedicated reader will come away with many novel insights and a new perspective on what makes life special. ― The Times Literary Supplement Ball’s marvelous book is both wide-ranging and deep . . . How Life Works has exciting implications for the future of the science of biology itself. I could not put it down. -- Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of All Maladies, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction Ball takes glee in tearing down scientific shibboleths . . . and his penetrating analysis underscores the stakes of outdated assumptions. . . . Provocative and profound, this has the power to change how readers understand life’s most basic mechanisms. ― Publishers Weekly Ball has the rare ability to explain scientific concepts across very diverse disciplines. . . . He explains the turn away from a purely mechanical view of life to one that embraces the inherently dynamic, complex, multilayered, interactive, and cognitive nature of the processes by which life sustains and regenerates itself. -- James Shapiro, author of Evolution Offers a much-needed examination of exciting, cutting-edge findings in contemporary biology that is likely to dramatically transform our understanding of living systems -- Daniel J. Nicholson, coeditor of Everything Flows In showing that complex life is more 'emergent' than 'programmed,' Ball takes on many conventional notions about biology . . . Offers plenty of food for thought for scientists in disciplines from medicine to engineering. ― Kirkus Reviews, starred review