Steve Grand OBE is not a man bereft of ambition. His goal in this smart, wide-ranging and intellectually effervescent book is to describe, from the perspective of the computer boffin and Artificial Life expert, what constitutes the conscious essence of existence, what is intelligence, even "how we can make a soul". As Grand himself is responsible for one of the closest available approximations to Artificial Life, the cyberspatial entities called Norns who star in Creatures (the wildly popular computer game he programmed), it is hard to imagine someone better equipped to lead the layman through this challenging philosophical landscape.The subjects covered are sometimes bewilderingly diverse. From cloud formation to neurochemistry to Heisenberg"s Uncertainty Principle, Grand devours, digests and regurgitates facts and concepts that help build towards his central premise, that Artificial Intelligence is not just a computer geek"s wet-dream-it is with us already, and about to change the way we live. If the material seems occasionally a bit thrown together, and the ideas and notions almost too profuse, the author"s animated, chatty, button-holing style ensures the reader never entirely loses the plot. Creation is arguably one of the most important science books of the year; it is certainly one of the most stimulating. --Sean Thomas