| Preface | ix |
| 1. Mysteries, challenges and fears | 1 |
| 2. Sparse fabric | 5 |
| 3. Life on earth | 25 |
| 4. Stardust in a pond | 48 |
| 5. A gulf unbridged | 84 |
| 6. Crystalline life | 113 |
| 7. An infected world | 126 |
| 8. From proteins to palaeobiologists | 137 |
| 9. Worlds such as this one | 170 |
| 10. The new Creator | 184 |
| Epilogue | 202 |
| Further reading | 204 |
| Index | 207 |