I was a big fan of Peter Godfrey-Smith's book Other Minds, but found this one much less interesting. Other minds explored the evolution of intellegence, particularly that of octopi. In contrast, Living on Earth focuses on how life forms effected the planet. For example, the role of photophysensis in creating abundant oxygen create newer living possibilities. And of course, how humans have affected the planet, which includes climate change but also more broadly the type of animals and ecosystems we cultivate and so on. Godfrey-Smith continues to bring his interesting philosophical perpsective to all of these topics, but ultimately the book does not have the same wow factor that Other Minds did and while there is much to learn from it and could feel quite meandering at times.

4/10