Over the past 500 million years, life beneath our feet has quietly engineered the living skin of the Earth. This book tells the remarkable evolutionary story of soil, revealing how bacteria, protists, viruses and other microscopic organisms collaborate with fungi, plant roots and soil animals to create the diverse soil structures we depend upon today. Far from emerging in a single moment, soil processes evolved gradually, shaping – and reshaping – each other over deep time. Uniquely, On the Origin of Soils brings soil animals centre stage, showing how they harbour microbes, transport fungal spores and physically bind soil particles into stable, fertile systems. By weaving evolution, ecology and practical insight, it opens an unseen world that challenges conventional views of soil as inert matter. Accessible and original, On the Origin of Soils is written for scientists, regenerative farmers and advisers, gardeners, policy makers and curious readers eager to understand soil as a dynamic, living community essential to life on Earth.
