"In a prose style loaded with literary references and humor, this Nature magazine writer and editor describes for the lay reader the origin of the water molecule itself, immediately after the Big Bang; NASA's search for water in the farthest reaches of the solar system; many amusing anecdotes from the annals of scientific history; and no small amount of hard-core chemistry, physics and biology. . . .You will never again take for granted a warm bath, a misty morning or, most importantly, our finite supply of fresh water."—Frank Reiss, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Philip Ball is a brilliant science writer. . . . He has handled this incredibly complex scientific brief more skilfully and entertainingly than anybody else could have done."—Anna Paterson, Sunday Herald (Glasgow)

"For the hard science of water, as well as a sustained, bravura performance by a gifted explicator, Life's Matrix is well worth dipping into."—Dennis Drabelle, Washington Post Book World

"Ball is passionately interested in the physical and chemical nature of things. From Life's Matrix readers will gain an understanding of water from its most basic component on up."—Elizabeth Grossman, Chicago Tribune

"In a tour de force of scientific exposition, Philip Ball ranges from the cosmos to the inside of cells. . . . A reader can learn more interesting chemistry, physics, biology, geology, and environmental science from this volume than from a collection of reference books."—Harvey Shepard, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Marvellous. . . . This is one of the best science books of the year."—Graham Farmelo, New Scientist

"[A] fact-packed and pleasurably long flume ride of a book."—Publishers Weekly

"Ball's prose is lively, and he renders the most arcane-sounding phenomena, like planetesimals and Milankovitch cycles, understandable."—New York Times Book Review

"Ball's in-depth 'biography' is an engaging look at the chemical composition of H20, its ecology, our perception of water historically, and the mythology surrounding the substance."—Science News