The “demon” introduced by Davies is from a classic 1850’s thought experiment, known as Maxwell’s demon. For brevity, the thought experiment allows violation of the second law of thermodynamics, and although this can only come about by making unrealistic assumptions, Davies somehow links this to information theory and molecular biology. He also speculates on topics like the quantum mechanical effects on biology, survival of the fittest, and the dead era of vitalism.

All in all the book is a solid ★★★★☆ ⅘.