The Edges of Life
Recommended Reading List

Life's Defining Edge: The Origins of Life

Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins
by Robert Hazen (Joseph Henry Press, 2005)

Life's Extreme Edge: The Limits of Organic Life on Earth and Other Planets

Planets and Life: The Emerging Science of Astrobiology
by Woodruff T. Sullivan and John Baross (Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Astrobiology: A Multidisciplinary Approach
by Jonathan Lunine (Addison Wesley/Benjamin Cummings, 2004)
What Does a Martian Look Like: The Science of Extraterrestrial Life
by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart (Wiley, 2002)

Life's Final Edge? The Origin and Extinction of Species in a Human-Dominated Earth

The Endangered Species Act at Thirty: Renewing the Conservation Promise
by Dale D. Goble, Michael J. Scott and Frank W. Davis, eds. (Island Press, 2005)
Win-Win Ecology, How the Earth's Species Can Survive in the Midst of Human Enterprise
by Michael L. Rosenzweig (Oxford University Press, 2003)
Ecoagriculture: Strategies to Feed the World and Save Wild Biodiversity
by J. A. McNeely, J. A. and S.J. Scherr (Island Press, 2002)
The New Economy of Nature: The Quest to Make Conservation Profitable
by G. C. Daily and K. Ellison (Island Press, 2002)
The Return of the Unicorns: A Success Story in the Conservation of Asian Rhinoceros
by Eric Dinerstein (Columbia University Press, 2002)

Life's Cognitive Edge: The Role of the Mind and What it Means to be Human

The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal
by Jared M. Diamond (Harper Perennial, 2006)
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
by Steven Pinker (Penguin, 2003)
Animal Cognition: The Mental Lives of Animals
by Clive D. L. Wynne (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002)
Animal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness
by Donald R. Griffin (University of Chicago Press, 2001)
Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think
by Marc D. Hauser (Owl Books, 2001)
How the Mind Works
by Steven Pinker (Penguin Books, 1999)
Cognition, Evolution, and Behavior
by Sara J. Shettleworth (Oxford University Press, 1998)
Kinds of Minds: Toward an Understanding of Consciousness
by Daniel C. Dennett (Basic Books, 1997)
Consciousness Explained
by Daniel C. Dennett (Penguin, 1993)

Life's Human Edge: Changing Perspectives on the End of Life

The Definition of Death: Contemporary Controversies
by Stuart J. Youngner, Robert M. Arnold, and Renie Schapiro (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002)
Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies
by Kenneth V. Iserson (Galen Press, 2001)
Twice Dead: Organ Transplants and the Reinvention of Death
by Margaret Lock (University of California Press, 2001)
How We Die: Reflections on Life's Final Chapter
by Sherwin B. Nuland (Vintage, 1995)

Life's Technological Edge: The Singularity is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology

The Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology
by Ray Kurzweil (Penguin, 2006)
Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever
by Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman (Plume, 2005)
Are We Spiritual Machines? Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I.
by George F. Gilder, Ray Kurzweil, and Jay W. Richards (Discovery Institute, 2001)
The Age of Spiritual Machines: When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence
by Ray Kurzweil (Penguin, 2000)
The Age of Intelligent Machines
by Ray Kurzweil (The MIT Press, 1992)
The Edges of Life

A corresponding K-12 educator program is available.

View Educator Forum

The lectures are being videotaped and made available as podcasts by the UA Learning Technologies Center (LTC), through its Podcasting webpage.

Learning Technologies Center