Insignificant but Special

Book excerpt: Life is a rarity. We know of no other planet where life exists other than on Earth. Life started out in a most simple form, then proceeded along a labyrinth of evolutionary pathways that resulted in extraordinary and unfathomable designs. This is a journey, from the beginning of time to this very day, guided by circumstances, contingencies, and chaos that has governed Earth's living assemblage. But life's presence was not destined to just happen. If it wasn't for our moon, which gave Earth orbital and rotational stability, life would not be as we know it today. If it wasn't for volcanic eruptions, Earth would be an ice-clad, frozen globe. If it wasn't for one of the tiniest of living organisms that produced a toxic gas, complex life would not have arisen. If it wasn't for one particular extinction event, Homo sapiens would not be walking this planet, and you would not be reading this now. If it wasn't for a million other things, life would be much different, or not at all. Earth made life, from the meek to the monstrous, from the banal to the bizarre, from the humblest to the haughtiest. Strap yourself in alongside a window seat and witness the passing of time, to view the episodes of change, and how the making of life became the greatest story on Earth.