The question of why an individual would actively kill itself has long been an evolutionary mystery. Pierre M. Durand's ambitious book answers this question through close inspection of life and death in the earliest cellular life. As Durand shows us, cell death is a fascinating lens through which to examine the interconnectedness, in evolutionary terms, of life and death. It is a truism to note that one does not exist without the other, but just how does this play out in evolutionary history? These two processes have been studied from philosophical, theoretical, experimental, and genomic angles, but no one has yet integrated the information from these various disciplines. In this work, Durand synthesizes cellular studies of life and death looking at the origin of life and the evolutionary significance of programmed cellular death. The exciting and unexpected outcome of Durand's analysis is the realization that life and death exhibit features of coevolution. The evolution of more complex cellular life depended on the coadaptation between traits that promote life and those that promote death. In an ironic twist, it becomes clear that, in many circumstances, programmed cell death is essential for sustaining life.

"That life is connected to death, and to evolution, is incontrovertible. But what might be the connection between death and evolution? That is, might death be an adaptation? That’s the startling conclusion reached by Durand in this brief volume, which combines philosophy, biological theory, and empirical science in often thrilling ways... Durand thinks big thoughts but is careful, in his prose, to involve readers whose interest in theoretical biology exceeds their grasp. A very important book. Highly recommended." - Choice Connect

"[The Evolutionary Origins of Life and Death] constitutes an impressive effort to integrate into a unified and coherent framework different and dispersed pieces of empirical work about how life and death emerged on Earth, and about how these two phenomena coevolved to become deeply entangled." - History and Philosophy of Life Sciences

"Given the amount of ground it covers, The Evolutionary Origins of Life and Death is a surprisingly slim volume (177 pages for its narrative and notes). Durand has an admirably compact and economical style of writing, his sixteen chapters frequently brief and to the point, yet accessibly and clearly presented, with additional subheadings helping to keep you on track. A well-stocked bibliography (a personal sticking point for him) will help the reader locate relevant older literature. The material here is thought-provoking, to some perhaps even controversial given its invocation of group selection, but Durand is never less than informative, convincing, and humble enough to highlight the limits of his arguments." - Inquisitive Biologist