About this title: In works such as "The Selfish Gene" and "Unweaving the Rainbow," the renowned evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has introduced the wonders of modern biology. Now this gifted science popularizer offers a masterwork: a wholly original tour backward through evolution.
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Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780739453735ISBN:0739453734
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. ******PLEASE NOTE****** Orders placed after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery before Christmas unless you select EXPEDITED shipping! Thank you & Happy Holidays! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780739453735ISBN:0739453734
Description: Good. Used item may show library stamps, stickers and marks. Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780739453735ISBN:0739453734
Description: Good. Corners rubbed. Rubbing to covers and corners due to general use and shelving. Buy with confidence-Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Description: Fine. 061861916X NEVER USED! . There are no highlights, No pen marks, No missing pages. The binding is sturdy. This book may have slight shelf wear. Upgraded shipping on orders over $49.99. Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed! read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2005-09-02
ISBN-13:9780618619160ISBN:061861916X
Description: Good. Minimal damage to the cover, dust jacket not necessarily included minimal wear to binding, majority of pages undamaged, minimal to no highlighting/underlining of text, no missing p. read more
Description: Very Good. 061861916X Paperback, Condition: Very Good; this book is in very good condition with light curve to the spine / light reading creases to the covers. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780739453735ISBN:0739453734
Description: Fine. Near Fine to Fine condition, new looking copy, appears unread, no creases in spine, no slant, tight clean and unmarked, 673 pages. read more
Description: Fair. 0753819961 Significant Tears to spine, warping or Severely crused &mangled. If you just need a refreence this is it Not pretty but its cheap In-Stock NOW FAST Secure Packaging & Delivery. read more
Edition: Edition or Printing Not Stated
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, MA
Date Published: 2004
ISBN-13:9780739453735ISBN:0739453734
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 9 X 6. Pages are tight, bright and clean. Binding firm and straight. Covers, spine, edges and corners very good. No apparent wear. 673 pages, suggestions for further reading, notes to phylogenies, bibliography & indexed. If needed for reference, research, analysis, dissertation, lucubrations or just enjoyment this is the one. B/W tables figues illustrate. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Mariner Books
Date Published: 2005-09-02
ISBN-13:9780618619160ISBN:061861916X
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780618619160. read more
"In classic 90's UK comedy programme Bottom there is a great moment when perspiring, lank haired comedy genius Rik Mayall, in the character of perspiring, lank haired pervy virgin Richie postulates:
"I could have been a chess champion you know. If I'd spent my whole life learning how to play chess better than anyone else in the world I could have been a chess champion. And I look a bit slavic, don't you think?"
Slavic countenances aside, this touches on how a reading of Dawkins' monumental work The Ancestor's Tale made me feel. Yes, it is a tracing from all of the flora and fauna of the present day back into the origin of life on this planet, and so is at least a little daunting to those that don't make their living in the biological sciences. However Dawkins presents it to us in such a way as to ensure it is understood by the lay reader, and does so in such a way that you really feel as if you get it. Another reviewer on this site wonders if reading this book when they were at school would have turned them on to a career in biology, and I know exactly what they mean. You are a staggered by the awesome diversity of life throughout time but also by the awesomely succinct and economical nature of it all. I could have been an evolutionary biologist, you know.
This is my first experience with the man's work, and as a sort of "wannabe snob", not to mention an athiest who is given to rolling his eyes in what he thinks is a droll manner every time the media seize on topics of "hot debate", I was fairly sick of hearing about The God Delusion, which I will probably read in about two decades if I ever do at all. Blithering dunderhead that I am, I actually didn't realise that he had written so many books about the science of life, but I'll lazily use the media as a scapegoat to explain how I'd pigeonholed him as a waffling antagonist endlessly stating what I consider to be the obvious (that creationism is nonsense). A brief conversation with my flat-mate about evolution and extremely intelligent men doing their reputations no favours, and a brief flick through of this book was enough to make me interested-I was sold on the idea alone.
As other reviews on the site will no doubt make clear, the idea is at least in theory a reverse pilgrimage in the style of The Canterbury Tales, with different life forms used for "tales" demonstrating evolutionary theory in all of its glory. Many have remarked that this theme is somewhat clumsily applied, and that the "tales" diverge into areas not concerning the titular animal at all-I would remind these readers that it is at base book about EVOLUTION rather than anything else, so in depth discussions of the way that particular creatures live is only used to bolster certain points. Chapter headings aside, the Canterbury Tales metaphor is really used as nothing more than a framework throughout, with even the author poking fun at the potentially slightly twee nature of the "pilgrimage".
There is nothing here I couldn't understand on a couple of re-readings, even with the atrophied knowledge furnished by a distant D grade in A-level biology (I blame sex in various guises for this, meeting a a girlfriend in my class on the one hand, and my Biology teacher getting my English Language teacher pregnant on the other) The writing is extremely informative, infectiously enthusiastic and at all times, careful not to patronise. A brief run through on the extreme basics of the structure of atoms and atomic decay in order to explain carbon dating is just one example; I know I needed reminding. The great level of detail presented does, admittedly, mean that it may not all stick at once, and you may find yourself turning back to refresh yourself on some points, but on the whole it is as much of a "page-turner" as a scientific work will ever be.
It did take me a good six weeks to read, and a large part of this was I was anxious not to skim anything. I'll admit that this is a bad habit of mine if I am not fully engaged with a subject-mainly due to the inherent laziness of my mind, but here it wasn't even an issue, nothing felt slow or a drag. It is an incredibly rich piece of popular science writing (which I suppose you could say is sort of inevitable given the subject matter of "every living thing on the face of the planet and where they sprung from") , and is not afraid to present concepts that will make you stretch slightly to understand them, as well as the odd quirky aside ( eg: Anteaters utilise the fomic acid present in the ants they eat rather than bother to produce their own stomach acids ) that manage to be relevant as well as fully primed for use in awkward moments at parties.
My one criticism here is that some of the demonstrations of how various methods of research are undertaken are left until right near the end of the book. We are given a brief summing up of ways in which prehistoric flora and fauna can be categorised and dated before the "pilgrimage" begins, but I was itching to know just how carbon dating and the dating of tree rings worked, and in particular how the "molecular clock" is calibrated and used. Findings using these methods are presented in every chapter of the book, but you don't have a really precise idea of HOW they work until you have read The Gibbon's Tale, The Redwood's Tale, and the Epilogue to the Velvet Worm's Tale. This was probably done to avoid overwhelming the reader, as these three chapters are definitely the heaviest in the book, but I did find it mildly frustrating to have to wait that long. Some readers may want to read these chapters first.
In all though, it's an incredible read, and truly mind expanding for anyone that has questions about just how it all (or at least a hell of a lot of it) fits together. This is the work of a man who loves life and living forms with every eukaryotic organelle in his body, who is feverishly anxious to impart some of this passion to an interested lay audience. Sublime."
"I love this book. It's not the kind of thing I usually read, because I prefer fiction to non-fiction by far, at least when I have a choice about it. And I really, really loathe Dawkins' The God Delusion, largely because of the tone he takes toward people who are religious believers. But The Ancestor's Tale is mostly just science, and it's written in an accessible, almost conversational way. It actually has literary ancestors (ha), in the form of The Canterbury Tales, which Dawkins chose as his format to tell the tale of a pilgrimage through history to find our ancestors. He does slip in some references to his own beliefs, but here they aren't too offensive or intrusive.
When I say 'accessible', I don't mean 'dumbed down'. The science and maths and the theory and the sheer detail is here. I read a couple of reviews that people found it boring once it got to a certain point because there's 'too much detail' about things like bacteria. Which I think is more of a 'your mileage may vary' attitude than anything -- I think Dawkins gave the space to the bacteria that they deserve, all things considered.
There's a lot of speculation in here, too -- but so much of science is speculation. Dawkins is fairly clear about when he can and can't 'prove' things, and explains the methods by which they can be proved if they can. You don't have to have a huge knowledge of science or maths to understand -- some, and an interest in it, I suppose, but not so very very much."
"I loved this book! I learned so much from it -- my knowledge of evolutionary biology pretty much stopped at a general high school biology course taken 14 years ago, so Dawkins really took me on a whirlwind tour. I had no idea that mice are more closely related to us than they are to cats, for instance!
I liked the narrative conceit, too, that we humans are pilgrims travelling backwards along our family tree, meeting up with the other living "pilgrims" at points of common ancestry. It made for an interesting structure.
Another thing that I especially appreciated was how Dawkins highlighted controversies and uncertainties, and new discoveries. I came to realize that the field of evolutionary biology has been really active in the past decade or so, thanks to lots of newly-available data from DNA. Neat!
The only reason I'm giving it four stars rather than five is that midway through I started to flounder in the technical names of things; I can appreciate why he needed to use them, but it did lose me a bit."
"I am enjoying this book immensely. Dawkins tells me so many interesting scientific things in the most conversational and understandable way, feeding my hunger for knowledge of the history of life on Earth. No really -- a nonfiction that I can't put down! Stay tuned, science buffs."
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