“A New History of Life” by Earth and Space Sciences’ Peter Ward and Joseph L. Kirschvink from the California Institute of Technology draws on their years of experience in paleontology, biology, chemistry, and astrobiology to illuminate recent scientific developments about the evolution of life on Earth. More than 150 years after Darwin published his evolutionary theories, Ward and Kirschvink argue that chaos and catastrophe shaped the evolution of life on Earth; that it was not an elegant, gradual process. In a recent Wall Street Journal review of the book, University of Washington psychology professor and evolutionary biologist David Barash says, “A New History of Life” deserves kudos for infectious élan, impressive scholarship and a plausible accounting of life’s herky-jerky, hurry-up-and-wait tribulations.”