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Professor of evolutionary palaeobiology at Cambridge, Simon Conway Morris has an impressive academic pedigree, as well as an enviable way with words. In Life’s Solution (Cambridge University Press, £11.99/$19.99) he brings an awkward problem into the light with a masterly argument for the inevitable existence of humans: if evolution on Earth were to run again, there would, he says, be “sentient species with a sense of purpose”. It’s his next step that is difficult to contemplate calmly. If you accept that a sentient species would evolve, then “it is reasonable to take the claims of theology seriously. The choice is yours,” he says. I found myself forced to resort to the old “define your terms” tactic to escape the grip of his logic. Read twice.