Australian biologist Michael Denton has written a marvelous book titled The Miracle of Man in which he discusses how physics and chemistry display a prior fitness for life that is quite simply breathtaking.
Virtually, every aspect of the earth, from the properties of water and the hydrological cycle to the transparency and chemical composition of the atmosphere to the properties of the periodic table and so much more have to be almost exactly what they are or else advanced forms of life such as ourselves could never have arisen on the earth.
Moreover, if the metallic elements had not had the precise properties they do there would've been no metallurgy and thus no advanced civilization.
But to have metallurgy there must also be fire and to have fire there has to be a fuel such as wood which means there had to be photosynthesis which means there had to be a transparent atmosphere and water of a certain viscosity.
Surprisingly, perhaps, human beings also have to be about the size they are in order to manage fire.
Denton explains why all this is so and very much more in some 210 fascinating pages.
Here's a trailer that introduces just a few of the themes of the book:
If you're a science student or interested in medicine or just curious about the world in which you live, The Miracle of Man really is a book you must read.
