One of the World's Top 10 Thinkers of 2020

Quite simply the best book about science and life that I have ever read

How an entire human can emerge from a single cell is one of the great mysteries of life. This book is a wonderful exposition of that amazingly complicated process, and combines Zernicka-Goetz’s research and expert perspective with the clear and engaging narrative that is a hallmark of Highfield’s science writing

A touching, detailed portrait of a life in science. Beautifully written, it’s a reminder that scientists are human and their humanity affects every part of their work

How does a single fertilised egg know how to develop into the trillions of different cells that making up a human? This book provides you with much more than the answer – it is story-telling at its very best. Together with Highfield, Zernicka-Goetz leads us through her life scientific, intertwining the exciting field of 21st biology with a joyous personal journey of discovery at the cutting edge of research

Part memoir, part mission to touch creation itself, The Dance of Life is a candid & gripping odyssey into one of the greatest microscopic scientific mysteries of all - the cellular divisions that spawn human life

A vivid first-hand account of epic technological changes and revelations [and] also a personal tale of an ongoing scientific odyssey, replete with failure, exhaustion and tenacity as much as thrilling new vistas... this honest and passionate depiction of the complexity of science as a vocation will have wide appeal

Few books succeed as well as this in taking a complex area of rapidly advancing science, and turning it into a compelling human story. Rarely will you read such an intimate and personal account of scientific discovery

The question of how a gorgeous baby develops from an inanimate, post-coital speck has fascinated humans from the year dot. Highfield and Zernicka-Goetz illuminate this apparent miracle in an entertaining narrative full of scientific insights, human interest and thoughtful reflection

An in-depth journey through the world of the research embryologist…The story has a memoir-like atmosphere, especially when Zernicka-Goetz turns to episodes of her life. But she is never far from the science…Meaty and entertaining

Illuminating… Zernicka-Goetz and Highfield’s informative professional memoir has much to engage readers

Of all the biological sciences, developmental biology may be the most complicated, but Magdalena Zernicka-Goetz makes it easier in The Dance of Life. An accomplished researcher whose discoveries in this field truly rewrote textbooks, she offers a rich, detailed look at how humans arise from the union of two cells. In tracing her path as a woman in the male-dominated areas of embryology and developmental biology, Zernicka-Goetz takes the reader with ease through the incredibly complex dance of life that cells undertake in building a human embryo

Magda has written a memoir from the heart. It is a lovely evocation of the triumphs and crushing disappointments on the rollercoaster ride in the pursuit of scientific truth. It is an engaging personal story full of the challenges of negotiating the interface between personal and scientific aspirations from a gifted and successful woman scientist who has managed it well

Powerful...Vibrant...Unique... If worry is the staple emotion that most climate fiction evokes in its readers, The Last Migration - the novelistic equivalent of an energizing cold plunge - flutters off into more expansive territory

How far do we have to go to escape our pasts and find ourselves? Charlotte McConaghy’s luminous, brilliant novel, set in a future when wildlife is rapidly becoming extinct, is indeed about loss—but what makes it miraculous is that it is also about both the glimpses of hope and the shattering persistence of love, if we are only brave enough to acknowledge them. Written in prose as gorgeous as the crystalline beauty of the Arctic, The Last Migration is deeply moving, haunting, and, yes, important

A gutting portrait of a woman worn down by a world she never quite fit into

A lovely, haunting novel about a troubled woman’s quest to follow the last surviving Arctic terns on their southerly migration. As she tries to make peace with the ghosts of her painful past, she must choose whether she herself wants – or deserves – to survive, in spite of everything she, and all humans, have destroyed and lost

Beautifully haunting... Spanning oceans and decades, Franny's physical and emotional journeys are at times devastating and, at others, surprisingly, undeniably hopeful... Brimming with stunning imagery and raw emotion, The Last Migration is the incredible story of personal redemption, self-forgiveness and hope for the future in the face of a world on the brink of collapse

Transfixing, gorgeously precise...[The] evocation of a world bereft of wildlife is piercing; Franny's otherworldliness is captivating; and her misadventures and anguished secrets are gripping

A torrent of pure, unmediated fervour . . . an extraordinarily accomplished work for any writer, let alone one who is still a teenager . . . This is writing at its wild and unruly best

An extraordinary diary . . . it's a powerful pitch for why the school curriculum needs to be wilded and a reminder of the value of neurodiversity in literature

Rovelli opens windows onto the imagination for all of us

I always find with Carlo Rovelli's books that there are moments when you get a real hit of understanding -- a jigsaw in your mind that just falls into place

Helgoland is a wonderful guide to the most extraordinary story in physics. It will reset your view of the universe

Hooked me so hard I read the entire book in one sitting. And then twice more

The old, solid world, if you believed in it at all, breaks into a glorious shimmer of limitless potential

Rovelli has an uncanny knack for instilling wonder and explaining complex theories in plain, entertaining ways

I'm keen for everyone to read Helgoland: a wonderfully lucid and poetic account of the foundations of quantum physics. It combines a compelling history with Rovelli's own intriguing - and for me very appealing - views about the basis of all things