Andrew H. Knoll at the Harvard Geological Lecture Hall

Harvard Book Store, the Harvard University Division of Science, and the Harvard Library welcome Andrew H. Knoll—Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University, and author of A Brief History of Earth and Life on a Young Planet—for a discussion of his new book Earth and Life: A Four Billion Year Conversation. This event will take place at the Harvard Geological Museum, 100 Geological Lecture Hall located at 24 Oxford St, Cambridge.

There are two ticket options available for this event.

Free General Admission Ticket: Includes admission for one.
Book-Included Ticket: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of Earth and Life.

Note: Books bundled with tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at Harvard Book Store up to 30 days following the event. This offer expires after 30 days. Please note we cannot guarantee signed copies will be available to ticket holders who do not attend the event.

From the world-renowned geobiologist and bestselling author of A Brief History of Earth, the epic story of a planetary conversation four billion years in the making.
How did the world as we know it—from the soil beneath our feet to the air we breathe and the life that surrounds us—come to be? Geologists have proposed one set of answers while biologists have proposed another. Earth and Life is the first book to reveal why we need to listen to both voices—the physical and the biological—to understand how we and our planet became possible.
In this captivating book, Andrew Knoll traces how all life is sustained by Earth’s geological and atmospheric dynamics, and how life itself shapes the physical environment. Taking readers on a thrilling journey across four billion years of Earth history, he shows how Earth and life interact to cycle the very elements of life from rocks, water, and air, and how these and related processes control our climate, regulate our atmosphere, and support the diversification of life-forms great and small. Along the way, Knoll explains how we can draw on this history as we navigate the challenges of the Anthropocene, and how it can aid our search for life elsewhere in the universe.
Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights from a leading expert, Earth and Life explains how this ongoing interplay holds vital lessons for us today as humanity becomes an increasingly major voice in the conversation.

Andrew H. Knoll is the Fisher Research Professor of Natural History and Earth and Planetary Sciences, Emeritus, at Harvard University. His books include A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters and Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth (Princeton). Recipient of the International Prize for Biology and the Crafoord Prize in Geosciences, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.

The Harvard Science Book Talks series is a collaboration between the Harvard University Division of Science, the Harvard Library, and Harvard Book Store. The series features talks by the authors of recently published books on a variety of science-related topics and is open to both the Harvard community and to the general public.

Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.

Get App

Host or Publisher Harvard Book Store