New updated and expanded edition of the groundbreaking book that ignited a firestorm in the scientific world with its radical approach to evolution • Explains how past forms and behaviors of organisms determine those of similar organisms in the present through morphic resonance • Reveals the nonmaterial connections that allow direct communication across time and space When A New Science of Life was first published the British journal Nature called it “the best candidate for burning there has been for many years.” The book called into question the prevailing mechanistic theory of life when its author, Rupert Sheldrake, a former research fellow of the Royal Society, proposed that morphogenetic fields are responsible for the characteristic form and organization of systems in biology, chemistry, and physics--and that they have measurable physical effects. Using his theory of morphic resonance, Sheldrake was able to reinterpret the regularities of nature as being more like habits than immutable laws, offering a new understanding of life and consciousness. In the years since its first publication, Sheldrake has continued his research to demonstrate that the past forms and behavior of organisms influence present organisms through direct immaterial connections across time and space. This can explain why new chemicals become easier to crystallize all over the world the more often their crystals have already formed, and why when laboratory rats have learned how to navigate a maze in one place, rats elsewhere appear to learn it more easily. With more than two decades of new research and data, Rupert Sheldrake makes an even stronger case for the validity of the theory of formative causation that can radically transform how we see our world and our future.

**The fully revised edition of Rupert Sheldrake's controversial science classic, from the author of the bestselling Dogs That Know When Their Owners are Coming Home, celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2021!** After chemists crystallised a new chemical for the first time, it became easier and easier to crystallise in laboratories all over the world. After rats at Harvard first escaped from a new kind of water maze, successive generations learned quicker and quicker. Then rats in Melbourne, Australia learned yet faster. Rats with no trained ancestors shared in this improvement. Rupert Sheldrake sees these processes as examples of morphic resonance. Past forms and activities of organisms, he argues, influence organisms in the present through direct connections across time and space.Individual plants and animals both draw upon and contribute to the collective memory of their species. Sheldrake, now Director of the Perrott-Warwick Project supported by Trinity College, Cambridge, reinterprets the regularities of nature as being more like habits than immutable laws. Described as 'the best candidate for burning there has been for many years' by Nature on first publication, this updated edition will raise hackles and inspire curiosity in equal measure.

Explains how self-organizing systems, from crystals to human societies, share collective memories that influence their form and behavior • Includes new evidence and research in support of the theory of morphic resonance • Explores the major role that morphic resonance plays not just in animal instincts and cultural inheritance but also in the larger process of evolution • Shows that nature is not ruled by fixed laws but by habits and collective memories In this fully revised and updated edition of The Presence of the Past, Cambridge biologist Rupert Sheldrake lays out new evidence and research in support of his controversial theory of morphic resonance and explores its far-reaching implications in the fields of biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. His theory proposes that all self-organizing systems, from crystals to human society, inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behavior. This collective memory works through morphic fields, which organize the bodies of plants and animals, coordinate the activities of brains, and underlie conscious mental activity. Sheldrake shows how all human beings draw upon and contribute to a collective human memory and that even our individual recollections depend on morphic resonance rather than physical storage in the brain. He explores the major role that morphic resonance plays not just in animal instincts and cultural inheritance, such as religion and ritual, but also in the larger process of evolution, which Sheldrake shows to be more an interplay of habit and creativity than a mere “survival of the fittest.” Offering a replacement for the outdated, mechanistic worldview that has dominated biology since the nineteenth century, Sheldrake’s new understanding of life, matter, and mind shows that rather than being ruled by fixed laws, nature is essentially habitual. And because memory is inherent in nature, he explains, in order to survive successfully for generations to come, we will have to give up our old habits of thought and adopt new ones: habits that are better adapted to life in a world living in the presence of the past--as well as the presence of the future.

Questioning many concepts of life and consciousness, the visionary biologist describes his innovative theory of morphic resonance.

Rupert Sheldrake's theory of morphic resonance challenges the fundamental assumptions of modern science. An accomplished biologist, Sheldrake proposes that all natural systems, from crystals to human society, inherit a collective memory that influences their form and behavior. Rather than being ruled by fixed laws, nature is essentially habitual. The Presence of the Past lays out the evidence for Sheldrake's controversial theory, exploring its implications in the fields of biology, physics, psychology, and sociology. At the same time, Sheldrake delivers a stinging critique of conventional scientific thinking. In place of the mechanistic, neo-Darwinian worldview he offers a new understanding of life, matter, and mind.

Imagine you had a magic red button that when pressed, could make all your dreams and desires come true. You want someone to fall in love with you? Click the button, and it happens. You want more money, or a new car? Click the button, and it’s yours. You want to change job? Give up smoking? Lose weight? Click…click…click… Like the genie in the bottle, the magic button provides, every time. Of course, there’s no such thing as a magic red button. But you can make your dreams and desires come true more easily than you ever thought possible. How? By harnessing the power of morphic fields. Morphic fields are an exciting new branch of scientific research. These subatomic energy patterns connect everything on the planet together, including you, me, and anything that you might desire. And because you’re already connected to everything through morphic fields, you can use them to obtain whatever it is you want. They are the closest thing to a magic red button. It sounds almost too good to be true, but in reality people have been using morphic fields for centuries, they just didn’t know it. The law of attraction, the tarot, cosmic ordering, or just plain old NLP and positive thinking are all ways of using morphic field energy to manifest our desires. They all work, to a degree, but they’re not very efficient, because they were all created in ignorance of the science that makes them possible. Now, with the benefit of the latest research, including thousands of our own test subjects, we can share with you a simple, no-nonsense method for tapping the power of morphic fields directly. We’ll show you a step by step processes you can use for common goals, and how you can adapt these ‘recipes’ to get about anything else you could ever want. With the technique we share in this book, you’ll be able to: • Make almost anyone fall deeply and genuinely in love with you, even an ex! • Attract money and wealth into your life. • Get the job you want. • Easily beat any addiction. Smoking, drinking, gambling, and anything else you want to quit. • Lose weight and get fit without having to worry about difficult diets. • Boost your self confidence. • Make new friends easily. • Improve your memory, and learn new skills effortlessly. If you’re tired of self improvement systems that promise the earth but deliver little or nothing, then morphic fields will be a revelation to you. You don’t need any special skills or tools to use the processes you will learn, because you already have everything you need. We’ll show you how to use your very own brainwaves to manipulate and control morphic field energy. With the exercises and techniques we’ve developed over the last ten years, you’ll be raring to go in no time.

Freeing the Spirit of EnquiryThe Science Delusion is the belief that science already understands the nature of reality. The fundamental questions are answered, leaving only the details to be filled in. In this book (published in the US as Science Set Free), Dr Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, shows that science is being constricted by assumptions that have hardened into dogmas. The 'scientific worldview' has become a belief system. All reality is material or physical. The world is a machine, made up of dead matter. Nature is purposeless. Consciousness is nothing but the physical activity of the brain. Free will is an illusion. God exists only as an idea in human minds, imprisoned within our skulls. Sheldrake examines these dogmas scientifically, and shows persuasively that science would be better off without them: freer, more interesting, and more fun.In The God Delusion Richard Dawkins used science to bash God, but here Rupert Sheldrake shows that Dawkins' understanding of what science can do is old-fashioned and itself a delusion.