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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolutionby Richard Dawkins
Staff Pick
"Despite my qualms with the 'Canterbury' chapter and Dawkins's general emphasis on heredity over organismal biology, The Ancestor's Tale is still an engaging history of life on our backwater planet....The pilgrimage metaphor describes the book well. Like a pilgrimage, the book is not an exhaustive exploration through every corner of evolutionary history; it is a journey along one particular trajectory. As a result of that chosen course, some groups of organisms get short shrift. However, also like a pilgrimage, the journey provides enlightenment on ourselves and our place in the world." Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Renowned biologist and thinker Richard Dawkins presents his most expansive work yet: a comprehensive look at evolution, ranging from the latest developments in the field to his own provocative views. Loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Dawkins's Tale takes us modern humans back through four billion years of life on earth. As our pilgrimage progresses, we join with other organisms at the "rendezvous points" where we find a common ancestor. The band of pilgrims swells into a vast crowd as we join first with other primates, then with other mammals, and so on back to the very first primordial organism. Dawkins's brilliant, inventive approach allows us to view the connections between ourselves and all other life in a bracingly novel way. It also lets him shed bright new light on the most compelling aspects of evolutionary history and theory: sexual selection, speciation, convergent evolution, extinction, genetics, plate tectonics, geographical dispersal, and more. The Ancestor's Tale is at once a far-reaching survey of the latest, best thinking on biology and a fascinating history of all living things. Review:"One of Dawkins's best: a big, almost encyclopedic compendium bursting with information and ideas." Kirkus Reviews Review:"Dawkins...is an excellent guide, both a profoundly original scientific thinker and a marvelously adept explainer." Carl Zimmer, The New York Times Book Review Review:"[T]he book's scope and provocativeness are truly worthy of epic treatment, and Dawkins is skilled in simultaneously conveying cutting-edge science to the public and also contributing to its advancement." Library Journal Synopsis:Renowned biologist and thinker Dawkins presents his most expansive work yet: a comprehensive look at evolution, ranging from the latest developments to his own provocative views, and loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
About the AuthorRichard Dawkins, born in Nairobi in 1941, is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. He is one of the most influential scientist of out time. He lives in Oxford, England. Table of ContentsCONTENTS The Conceit of Hindsight 1 The General Prologue 12 The Pilgrimage Begins 26 The Farmer’s Tale 27 The Cro-Magnon’s Tale 35 Rendezvous 0 All Humankind 37 The Tasmanian’s Tale 41 Eve’s Tale 48 archaic homo sapiens62 The Neanderthal’s Tale 64 ergasts 66 The Ergast’s Tale 71 habilines 75 The Handyman’s Tale 77 ape-men 86 Little Foot’s Tale 90 Epilogue to Little Foot’s Tale 95 Rendezvous 1 Chimpanzees 100 The Bonobo’s Tale 104 Rendezvous 2 Gorillas 106 The Gorilla’s Tale 108 Rendezvous 3 Orang Utans 112 The Orang Utan’s Tale 115 Rendezvous 4 Gibbons 119 The Gibbon’s Tale 123 Rendezvous 5 Old World Monkeys 137 Rendezvous 6 New World Monkeys 141 The Howler Monkey’s Tale 145 Rendezvous 7 Tarsiers 156 Rendezvous 8 Lemurs, Bushbabies and Their Kin 160 The Aye-Aye’s Tale 163 THE GREAT CRETACEOUS CATASTROPHE 169 Rendezvous 9 Colugos and Tree Shrews 174 The Colugo’s Tale 177 Rendezvous 10 Rodents and Rabbitkind 179 The Mouse’s Tale 183 The Beaver’s Tale 186 Rendezvous 11 Laurasiatheres 192 The Hippo’s Tale 196 Epilogue to the Hippo’s Tale 202 The Seal’s Tale 203 Rendezvous 12 Xenarthrans 212 The Armadillo’s Tale 212 Rendezvous 13 Afrotheres 217 Rendezvous 14 Marsupials 223 The Marsupial Mole’s Tale 227 Rendezvous 15 Monotremes 231 The Duckbill’s Tale 235 What the Star-Nosed Mole Said to the Duckbilled Platypus 243 MAMMAL-LIKE REPTILES 247 Rendezvous 16 Sauropsids 254 Prologue to the Galapagos Finch’s Tale 257 The Galapagos Finch’s Tale 260 The Peacock’s Tale 263 The Dodo’s Tale 273 The Elephant Bird’s Tale 278 Epilogue to the Elephant Bird’s Tale 287 Rendezvous 17 Amphibians 293 The Salamander’s Tale 299 The Narrowmouth’s Tale 311 The Axolotl’s Tale 313 Rendezvous 18 Lungfish 320 The Lungfish’s Tale 322 Rendezvous 19 Coelacanths 325 Rendezvous 20 Ray-Finned Fish 328 The Leafy Sea Dragon’s Tale 330 The Pike’s Tale 332 The Mudskipper’s Tale 334 The Cichlid’s Tale 336 The Blind Cave Fish’s Tale 344 The Flounder’s Tale 347 Rendezvous 21 Sharks and their kin 349 Rendezvous 22 Lampreys and Hagfish 354 The Lamprey’s Tale 359 Rendezvous 23 Lancelets 362 The Lancelet’s Tale 364 Rendezvous 24 Sea Squirts 367 Rendezvous 25 Ambulacrarians 372 Rendezvous 26 Protostomes 377 The Ragworm’s Tale 386 The Brine Shrimp’s Tale 390 The Leaf Cutter’s Tale 395 The Grasshopper’s Tale 397 The Fruit Fly’s Tale 414 The Rotifer’s Tale 424 The Barnacle’s Tale 433 The Velvet Worm’s Tale 436 Epilogue to the Velvet Worm’s Tale 449 Rendezvous 27 Acoelomorph Flatworms 458 Rendezvous 28 Cnidarians 463 The Jellyfish’s Tale 467 The Polypifer’s Tale 469 Rendezvous 29 Ctenophores 477 Rendezvous 30 Placozoans 480 Rendezvous 31 Sponges 483 The Sponge’s Tale 486 Rendezvous 32 Choanoflagellates 488 The Choanoflagellate’s Tale 490 Rendezvous 33 DRIPs 493 Rendezvous 34 Fungi 497 Rendezvous 35 Amoebozoans 502 Rendezvous 36 Plants 506 The Cauliflower’s Tale 510 The Redwood’s Tale 514 Rendezvous 37 Uncertain 524 The Mixotrich’s Tale 529 The Great Historic Rendezvous 536 Rendezvous 38 Archaea 540 Rendezvous 39 Eubacteria 543 The Rhizobium’s Tale 543 Taq’s Tale 553 Canterbury 559 The Host’s Return 582 Further Reading 617 Notes to the Phylogenies 619 Bibliography 624 Illustration Credits 643 Index 646 What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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