Super Natural
How Life Thrives in Impossible Places
Published on 26. September 2025
Book
Hardback
368 pages
978-1-324-07918-7 (ISBN)
Description
From scorching deserts to frozen seabeds, from the highest peaks of the Himalaya to the hadal depths of the oceans, there are habitats on this Earth that appear hostile to life-yet where, nevertheless, life flourishes. In North American forests, wood frogs awaken each spring from solid blocks of ice. Under the Saharan sun, shielded by silvery hairs, desert ants sprint through the midday heat that is lethal to any other animal. At the bottom of ice-covered lakes, painted turtles pass months without breathing oxygen. Transporting readers to far-flung environments we could never call home, in Super Natural, award-winning science writer Alex Riley paints an awe-inspiring portrait of life's remarkable resilience even under the harshest circumstances.
Riley illuminates ecosystems on every continent to tell the stories of creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivations-of water, oxygen, food, sunlight-and extremes of heat and cold, of pressure and altitude. To survive half a year without food on barren islands, snakes will shrink and regrow their digestive systems-even their hearts. At the site of the Chernobyl disaster, fungi harness radiation to thrive. Evolution, we see, can and will carve out a niche just about anywhere.
Super Natural shows us how, at nature's furthest limits, the rules of biology as we know them are rewritten-and how, in life's astonishing ingenuity and persistence even in the face of calamity and change, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth.
Riley illuminates ecosystems on every continent to tell the stories of creatures exquisitely adapted to endure unimaginable deprivations-of water, oxygen, food, sunlight-and extremes of heat and cold, of pressure and altitude. To survive half a year without food on barren islands, snakes will shrink and regrow their digestive systems-even their hearts. At the site of the Chernobyl disaster, fungi harness radiation to thrive. Evolution, we see, can and will carve out a niche just about anywhere.
Super Natural shows us how, at nature's furthest limits, the rules of biology as we know them are rewritten-and how, in life's astonishing ingenuity and persistence even in the face of calamity and change, we can find hope for the future of life on Earth.
Reviews / Votes
"[A] fascinating portrait of how life survives despite radiation, desiccation, the heat of the Sahara, freezing polar temperatures, total darkness, extended famine, lack of oxygen and the oceans' abyssal depths....Riley writes with levity and self-deprecating humor." -- Josie Glausiusz - Guardian "Alex Riley's superb Super Natural is a testament to just how beautiful and wonderful life on Earth is." -- Anne Magurran - Times Literary Supplement "[B]rilliant." -- Christopher Hart - Daily Mail "This colorful survey...explores the myriad ways animals, plants, and microorganisms survive, and even thrive, in environments previously assumed to be uninhabitable....Filled with striking stories, vivid descriptions, and meaningful science, this is a fascinating account of resilience." -- Publishers Weekly "Riley spotlights [how]...the adaptability, physiology, and resiliency of these remarkable, super-hardy creatures may provide ideas for dealing with our climate-changing world and lessons for our efforts at space exploration." -- Tony Miksanek - Booklist "A celebration of the most extreme, extraordinary, and eccentric things that life is capable of. Alex Riley writes with joy and passion, and each page brings a new revelation about the resiliency of life." -- Steve Brusatte, best-selling author of The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs "A book filled with nature's wonders...[Super Natural is] about resilience, endurance, and ingenuity...[I]t's a combination that gives hope in our troubled times." -- Andrea Wulf, best-selling author of The Invention of Nature "A mind-expanding romp...With awe and curiosity, Alex Riley plumbs the abyssal plains, the polar ice caps, and every habitat in between to reveal the tenacity, diversity, and flat-out weirdness of life on our harsh, hospitable planet." -- Ben Goldfarb, award-winning author of Eager "Deeply researched and wide-ranging...Alex Riley is an eagle-eyed, golden-hearted, and entertaining guide...attuned to both the humor and awe of the natural world, and never failing to provide his each and every subject with the loving attention it deserves." -- Ferris Jabr, author of Becoming Earth "A lively and fascinating exploration of how life not only persists, but thrives at the extremes...[W]e come to see the whole of life, ourselves included, more clearly." -- David George Haskell, Pulitzer Prize-finalist author of Sounds Wild and Broken "Super Natural will leave you awed by the extraordinary feats of seemingly humble creatures-and by the resilience, head-spinning variety, and enduring mysteries of life on Earth." -- Michelle Nijhuis, author of Beloved Beasts "Alex Riley's Super Natural is a beautiful bestiary, a compendium of Earth's most interesting extremophiles who show us how life persists and even thrives in the most difficult circumstances. Surprising and oddly reassuring." -- Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment "A thrilling and original way to explore nature?the science is fascinating." -- Tristan Gooley, best-selling author of How to Read a TreeMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
8 black-and-white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
554 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-324-07918-7 (9781324079187)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Alex Riley is an award-winning science writer and the author of Super Natural and A Cure for Darkness. A former research scientist at the Natural History Museum in London, he has coauthored peer-reviewed scientific research and published his popular science reporting in New Scientist, PBS's NOVA Next, the BBC, Aeon, and Nautilus Magazine, among others. He lives in Devon, UK, with his family.