Melanie Challenger's book *Alive: The Hidden Intelligence of the Living World* argues that we have misunderstood nature and ourselves by fixating on souls, genes or minds rather than paying attention to bodies. The reviewer frames this as an important corrective, noting that bodies have been marginalised in scientific and philosophical thought, perhaps because they remind us of vulnerability and mortality, and that this neglect leads humans to disrespect other life forms and damage habitats without regard for the creatures living there.

Challenger, a poet as well as thinker, illustrates her argument with vivid descriptions of organisms ranging from slime moulds to Humboldt squid, and draws heavily on Aristotle, whom she credits as the first to intuit bodily intelligence despite lacking the science to prove it. The reviewer, framing the piece with an anecdote about their own dangerous open-water swim and resulting hypothermia, praises the book's ambition and critique of scientific reductionism but admits to feeling frequently disoriented by its dense thicket of ideas, questioning whether such a pioneering work successfully brings lay readers along with it.