The Vital Question is a book by the English biochemist Nick Lane about the way the evolution and origin of life on Earth was constrained by the provision of energy.
The book was well received by critics; The New York Times, for example, found it "seductive and often convincing" though the reviewer considered much of it speculative beyond the evidence provided. The Guardian wrote that the book presented hard evidence and tightly interlocking theory on a question once thought inaccessible to science, the origin of life. New Scientist found the books arguments powerful and persuasive with many testable ideas; that it was not easy to read was compensated by the "incredible, epic story" that it told. The Telegraph wrote that the book succeeded brilliantly as science writing, expanding the readers horizons with a gripping narrative.