River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Science Masters Series) - Softcover

Dawkins, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0465069908 ISBN 13: 9780465069903

Publisher: Basic Books, 1996

Synopsis

How did the replication bomb we call ”life” begin and where in the world, or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing with characteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (the New York Times described his style as ”the sort of science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius”), Richard Dawkins confronts this ancient mystery.

About this title

Review:

Nearly a century and a half after Charles Darwin formulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed-- witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. In River Out of Eden he introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, "The genes that survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of the species.") Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that "we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realize, and we have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest."

About the Author:

Richard Dawkins is the first holder of Oxford University's newly endowed Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science. He is the author of two acclaimed bestsellers, The Blind Watchmaker, which won both the Royal Society of Literature Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science, and the even better known The Selfish Gene.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0465069908
• ISBN 13: 9780465069903
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 192