Togetherness

A wondrous, eye-opening exploration of the way symbiotic relationships connect all living things

"Absolutely enthralling. I was hooked from the first sentence." —Bill Bryson, author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body

Everything on earth hinges on relationships: animals and bacteria, the soil and its microbes, plants and the molecules floating in the air. Though many of these partnerships are subtle, life as we know it wouldn’t exist without them.

In Togetherness, evolutionary biologist Rowan Hooper leads us into the fascinating, otherworldly spaces where these relationships, known as symbiosis, occur—the earth’s rich underbrush, murky ocean depths, the human body’s complex architecture—to uncover the poetry of life’s greatest collaborations. Moths rely on sloths for reproduction, orchids partner with fungi, and humans negotiate our own relationships with the biosphere, all illustrating William Blake’s claim that “Every thing that lives / Lives not alone.”

Dazzling, immensely clever, and suffused with wonder, Togetherness illuminates ideas about evolution, agriculture, climate change, sustainability, and humanity, explaining why symbiosis is such an important key to understanding ourselves and the world beyond.