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99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up
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$ 21.58
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$ 26.00 |
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$ 4.42 (17%) |
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| Item Number |
2443748 |
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Item Description...
In his lifetime, Charles Darwin was roundly mocked for suggesting that humans were descended from apes, and even in our own day, the teaching of evolution remains controversial. But in the century and a half since the publication of On the Origin of Species, our increasingly sophisticated understanding of genetics has borne out Darwin's theory: humans share 99% of their genes with chimps (and many even with grapes!). 99% Ape offers an accessible, straightforward introduction to evolution, beginning with Darwin's discoveries and continuing through the latest genetic discoveries. Edited by Jonathan Silvertown, the volume brings together experts in a variety of fields pertinent to evolution, from paleobiology to planetary science, comparative anatomy to zoology, and even—for a discussion of legal battles surrounding the teaching of evolution—law. Interwoven with these varied accounts of evolution and its impact are vignettes from Darwin's life that illustrate the continuity of thought that links Darwin's work to today's cutting-edge research. Beautifully illustrated, 99% Ape is a perfect companion to the upcoming celebration of Darwin's bicentennial and a bracing reminder of the important role evolution still has to play in our understanding of our origins—and our possible futures. |
Item Specifications...
Pages 224
Dimensions: Length: 0.75" Width: 7.5" Height: 10"
Weight: 1.68 lbs.
Binding Softcover
Release Date Apr 15, 2009
ISBN 0226757781
EAN 9780226757780
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Availability 1 units.
Availability accurate as of May 30, 2012 04:38.
Usually ships within one to two business days from Momence, IL.
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Reviews - What do our customers think?
 | Darwin should have birthdays more often. Apr 2, 2009 |
2009 is Charles Darwin's 200th birthday, and science-lovers are getting all kinds of presents because of it, including this stunningly well-written and illustrated book.
I first ran into the book's editor, Jonathan Silvertown, reading "Demons in Eden," a wonderful book on plant evolution and ecology. Among the crop of new science popularizer superstars, his style ranks near the top, alongside Neil Shubin, Carl Zimmer, and Sean Carroll.
Silvertown's talent for lucid prose and well-chosen examples serves "Ape" very well. Any interested layperson can follow the text, and the lavish illustrations (including astonishing photographs, useful diagrams and charts, and historical graphics such as the one included on the book's cover) make the experience rich and riveting. Jargon is avoided, and when necessitated, explained clearly and by way of an easier-to-grasp example (comparing a genome to a book, say).
As terrific as this book is, it probably occupies third place on my evolutionary biology recommendation list, after Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution is True" and Neil Shubin's "Your Inner Fish." But as a supplement to those books, or as a gift to a young person with a highly visual learning style, I would recommend "Ape" very highly. Also, I've read several great books on evolution within the past few years, but I can't imagine that I'll return to any of the others as often as I will to this one, due to its breadth and use of striking images to communicate.
If I have a quibble, it's with the title. Maybe all the best titles have already been taken ("Your Inner Fish" is a masterstroke as far as titles go, and Coyne's book has the virtue of being a straightforward label of the contents), but a book called "99% Ape" would seem to be mostly, if not exclusively, about the human genome or human evolution, when the book actually covers much more ground than that. Even the subtitle doesn't really go far enough in signposting the contents. I don't have a suggestion for a perfect title for the book, but perhaps publishers of a subsequent edition will find a way of better marketing the exceptional contents of the book with better packaging. | | | Write your own review about 99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up
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