Nature's Genius: Evolution's Lessons for a Changing Planet

A NEW SCIENTIST BEST POPULAR SCIENCE BOOK FOR 2025

'A book that shows how we might evolve to solve the problems we have caused our planet. Brilliantly written, surprising, inspiring and, ultimately, hopeful' ISABELLA TREE

For nearly four billion years, life on Earth has found new ways to adapt, reproduce and thrive, taking on new forms to meet the environment of the moment. Human impact on the planet, and the potentially devastating threat of climate change, have stressed that adaptability as never before. Yet life still finds a way. Animals, plants and insects rise to the challenge and are still adapting, reproducing and thriving, even in our rapidly transforming environment. In their example we may just find ways that we too can adapt, ways to stop the destruction we're causing to the planet.

In Nature's Genius David Farrier takes us on a profound journey into this ever-changing natural world. What we discover could transform us. The ways animals adjust to the urban landscape can help us design sustainable cities. Examining other intelligences can help us remake our economies. Learning from bacterial evolution may help solve our waste problem. Synthetic biology could rescue animals from the brink of extinction. Thinking in timescales of the natural world could help us choose a better future.

Life on Earth is changing; the question is, can we change with it? Can we remake the world to be fit for all life to thrive once more?



About the Author :
David Farrier is Professor of Literature and the Environment at the University of Edinburgh. David's first book, Footprints: In Search of Future Fossils, looked at the marks we are leaving on the planet and how these might appear in the fossil record in the deep future. It was named by both The Times and Telegraph as a book of the year, earned praise from Robert Macfarlane and Margaret Atwood, and has been translated into ten other languages. He has had pieces published in the Atlantic, BBC Future, Emergence, Prospect, Daily Telegraph, Orion and Washington Post. He has spoken at numerous online events, has given an invited lecture at the Royal Geographical Society, and has appeared on radio and podcasts such as BBC Free Thinking and Little Atoms.

@David_Farrier



Review :
Nature's Genius is a superb book: subtle, sharp-eyed and fascinating. Here, everyday beings and objects - dogs, buildings, spiders, clocks - are lit anew; thrown into surprising configurations and relationships. Damage and disorder are faced with clear eyes, but hope is also found in unexpected places. A tight, shimmering web of words A fascinating, boundary-breaking, shape-shifting chimera of a book that shows how we might evolve to solve the problems we have caused our planet. Brilliantly written, surprising, inspiring and, ultimately, hopeful A book of hope and wonder. I learned something new and thought-provoking, even inspiring, on every page A wonderful exploration of nature's unrivalled ability to adapt to changing environments, and what we might belatedly learn from these interconnected ecosystems that we're also a part of as we navigate a more perilous Anthropocene. Full of fascinating details and insightful observations about the richly diverse behaviours and interactions of the world's extraordinary creatures We are negligent: the natural world is vigilant. We spawn ugliness: the wild responds with beauty. Farrier's exhilarating, splendidly written account of nature's care for itself and us will help you sleep at night A bold vision Persuasive and impassioned . . . Farrier's achievement is to make change feel not just possible but also exciting Wise, eloquent and often very moving, Nature's Genius is a hymn to the power of possibility embedded in both the natural world and ourselves. Nature's Genus is a wide-ranging work of energy, sensitivity and subtle intelligence that offers glimpses of genuine possibility and hope David Farrier argues that one day we will not only understand ecologies, but will be able to assemble them