The Purpose of Life

What is the purpose of life? Some say it's to reproduce, others to glorify God, but behind these and other proposed purposes lies a scientific purpose. In The Purpose of Life, science writer Dorion Sagan and biophysicist Eric D. Schneider lay out the fascinating evidence for life’s natural purpose —its function in an energy-driven cosmos. New evidence shows that the evolution of life on Earth over the past three-and-a-half billion years has not been random but has a clear direction, and its direction is related to life's function as a natural system. Indeed, life shares its function —its purpose —with that of certain other complex natural systems. Although the answer is simple and not exclusive —life may have other purposes —its profound implications may change the way we see ourselves, our relationships to other living beings, and our future on this shared, energy-driven planet.

Sagan and Schneider provide a striking alternative to both scientific and religious views of this age-old question. Engaging recent bestsellers such as Rick Warren’s The Purpose-Driven Life and Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth: Finding Your Life's Purpose, The Purpose of Life goes beyond popular science, weaving literature, philosophy, and spirituality into a highly readable narrative.

About the Authors

Eric Schneider

Eric D. Schneider lives in the mountains of southwest Montana. He is best described as a biophysicist, synthesizing biology and physics at a fundamental level. He has been chief scientist of the National Oceanic Administration and director of the National Marine Quality Laboratory of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. ...

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Dorion Sagan

Dorion Sagan is author of numerous articles and twenty-three books translated into eleven languages, including Notes from the Holocene: A Brief History of the Future and Into the Cool, coauthored with Eric D. Schneider. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the New York Times Book Review, Wired, the Skeptical Inquirer, Pabular, Smithsonian, the Ecologist, Co-Evolution Quarterly, the Times Higher Education, Omni, Natural History, The Sciences, Cabinet, and Tricycle.

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