Synopses & Reviews
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.
Synopsis
With unparalleled wit, clarity, and intelligence, Richard Dawkins, one of the world's most renowned evolutionary biologists, has introduced countless readers to the wonders of science in works such as The Selfish Gene. Now, in The Ancestor's Tale, Dawkins offers a masterwork: an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life four billion years ago. Throughout the journey Dawkins spins entertaining, insightful stories and sheds light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection, and extinction. The Ancestor's Tale is at once an essential education in evolutionary theory and a riveting read.
About the Author
Richard Dawkins taught zoology at the University of California at Berkeley and at Oxford University and is now the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford, a position he has held since 1995. Among his previous books are The Ancestor's Tale, The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, Unweaving the Rainbow, and A Devil's Chaplain. Dawkins lives in Oxford with his wife, the actress and artist Lalla Ward.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
The Conceit of Hindsight 1
The General Prologue 12
The Pilgrimage Begins 26
The Farmers Tale 27
The Cro-Magnons Tale 35
Rendezvous 0 All Humankind 37
The Tasmanians Tale 41
Eves Tale 48
archaic homo sapiens62
The Neanderthals Tale 64
ergasts 66
The Ergasts Tale 71
habilines 75
The Handymans Tale 77
ape-men 86
Little Foots Tale 90
Epilogue to Little Foots Tale 95
Rendezvous 1 Chimpanzees 100
The Bonobos Tale 104
Rendezvous 2 Gorillas 106
The Gorillas Tale 108
Rendezvous 3 Orang Utans 112
The Orang Utans Tale 115
Rendezvous 4 Gibbons 119
The Gibbons Tale 123
Rendezvous 5 Old World Monkeys 137
Rendezvous 6 New World Monkeys 141
The Howler Monkeys Tale 145
Rendezvous 7 Tarsiers 156
Rendezvous 8 Lemurs, Bushbabies and Their Kin 160
The Aye-Ayes Tale 163
THE GREAT CRETACEOUS CATASTROPHE 169
Rendezvous 9 Colugos and Tree Shrews 174
The Colugos Tale 177
Rendezvous 10 Rodents and Rabbitkind 179
The Mouses Tale 183
The Beavers Tale 186
Rendezvous 11 Laurasiatheres 192
The Hippos Tale 196
Epilogue to the Hippos Tale 202
The Seals Tale 203
Rendezvous 12 Xenarthrans 212
The Armadillos Tale 212
Rendezvous 13 Afrotheres 217
Rendezvous 14 Marsupials 223
The Marsupial Moles Tale 227
Rendezvous 15 Monotremes 231
The Duckbills 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 Finchs Tale 257
The Galapagos Finchs Tale 260
The Peacocks Tale 263
The Dodos Tale 273
The Elephant Birds Tale 278
Epilogue to the Elephant Birds Tale 287
Rendezvous 17 Amphibians 293
The Salamanders Tale 299
The Narrowmouths Tale 311
The Axolotls Tale 313
Rendezvous 18 Lungfish 320
The Lungfishs Tale 322
Rendezvous 19 Coelacanths 325
Rendezvous 20 Ray-Finned Fish 328
The Leafy Sea Dragons Tale 330
The Pikes Tale 332
The Mudskippers Tale 334
The Cichlids Tale 336
The Blind Cave Fishs Tale 344
The Flounders Tale 347
Rendezvous 21 Sharks and their kin 349
Rendezvous 22 Lampreys and Hagfish 354
The Lampreys Tale 359
Rendezvous 23 Lancelets 362
The Lancelets Tale 364
Rendezvous 24 Sea Squirts 367
Rendezvous 25 Ambulacrarians 372
Rendezvous 26 Protostomes 377
The Ragworms Tale 386
The Brine Shrimps Tale 390
The Leaf Cutters Tale 395
The Grasshoppers Tale 397
The Fruit Flys Tale 414
The Rotifers Tale 424
The Barnacles Tale 433
The Velvet Worms Tale 436
Epilogue to the Velvet Worms Tale 449
Rendezvous 27 Acoelomorph Flatworms 458
Rendezvous 28 Cnidarians 463
The Jellyfishs Tale 467
The Polypifers Tale 469
Rendezvous 29 Ctenophores 477
Rendezvous 30 Placozoans 480
Rendezvous 31 Sponges 483
The Sponges Tale 486
Rendezvous 32 Choanoflagellates 488
The Choanoflagellates Tale 490
Rendezvous 33 DRIPs 493
Rendezvous 34 Fungi 497
Rendezvous 35 Amoebozoans 502
Rendezvous 36 Plants 506
The Cauliflowers Tale 510
The Redwoods Tale 514
Rendezvous 37 Uncertain 524
The Mixotrichs Tale 529
The Great Historic Rendezvous 536
Rendezvous 38 Archaea 540
Rendezvous 39 Eubacteria 543
The Rhizobiums Tale 543
Taqs Tale 553
Canterbury 559
The Hosts Return 582
Further Reading 617
Notes to the Phylogenies 619
Bibliography 624
Illustration Credits 643
Index 646