The Ancestor's Tale
A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life
Published on 9. February 2017
Book
Paperback/Softback
800 pages
978-1-4746-0645-5 (ISBN)
Description
A fully updated edition of one of the most original accounts of evolution ever written, featuring new fractal diagrams, six new 'tales' and the latest scientific developments.
THE ANCESTOR'S TALE is a dazzling, four-billion-year pilgrimage to the origins of life: Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong take us on an exhilarating reverse journey through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life. It is a journey happily interrupted by meetings of fellow modern animals (as well as plants, fungi and bacteria) similarly tracing their evolutionary path back through history. As each evolutionary pilgrim tells their tale, Dawkins and Wong shed light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection and extinction.
Written with unparalleled wit, clarity and intelligence; taking in new scientific discoveries of the past decade; and including new 'tales', illustrations and fractal diagrams, THE ANCESTOR'S TALE shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world.
THE ANCESTOR'S TALE is a dazzling, four-billion-year pilgrimage to the origins of life: Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong take us on an exhilarating reverse journey through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life. It is a journey happily interrupted by meetings of fellow modern animals (as well as plants, fungi and bacteria) similarly tracing their evolutionary path back through history. As each evolutionary pilgrim tells their tale, Dawkins and Wong shed light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection and extinction.
Written with unparalleled wit, clarity and intelligence; taking in new scientific discoveries of the past decade; and including new 'tales', illustrations and fractal diagrams, THE ANCESTOR'S TALE shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world.
Reviews / Votes
In this extraordinary book, Dawkins turns chronicler. He does so with a clever twist that avoids the perennial problem of evolutionary history-telling ... As a contribution to the history of ideas this book is well worthy of Britain's top public intellectual. The arguments are as sharply honed as we have come to expect from Dawkins -- Matt Ridley * Guardian * THE ANCESTOR'S TALE achieves the almost impossible: it makes biology interesting again -- Steve Jones One of the richest accounts of evolution ever written * Financial Times * Should be given to all young persons starting out on their exploration of the world. It will excite their curiosity and awe and prove to them that the world is inexhaustible in its fascination * Sunday Telegraph * No other book I have read has given me such a dizzyingly immediate sense of the vastness and strangeness of the changes brought about by evolution over the eons, or how intimately all life is bound together ... THE ANCESTOR'S TALE makes you feel you have seen the world in a fresh, exhilarating way -- Robert Hanks * Daily Telegraph *More details
Edition
fully updated edition
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Orion Publishing Co
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
integrated B&W diagrams and images; 4x8pp colour plates
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 50 mm
Weight
635 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4746-0645-5 (9781474606455)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
04/2016
1st Edition
Weidenfeld and Nicholson
€3.99
Available for download
Persons
Richard Dawkins is an evolutionary biologist renowned throughout the world. He was educated at Oxford and taught zoology before becoming the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University, in 1995. His bestselling books rank among the most influential intellectual works of our time. They include THE SELFISH GENE (1976), RIVER OUT OF EDEN (1995), and UNWEAVING THE RAINBOW (1999).
richarddawkins.net / @RichardDawkins
Yan Wong is an evolutionary biologist who studies the theoretical underpinnings of life. He is also a radio and television presenter, perhaps best known from the BBC One television show BANG GOES THE THEORY.
yanwong.me / @DrYanWong
richarddawkins.net / @RichardDawkins
Yan Wong is an evolutionary biologist who studies the theoretical underpinnings of life. He is also a radio and television presenter, perhaps best known from the BBC One television show BANG GOES THE THEORY.
yanwong.me / @DrYanWong