99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up: 1 - Softcover

Jonathan Silvertown; Caroline Pond; David Robinson; Peter Skelton; Daniel Nettle; Monica Grady; Gary Slapper

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0565092316 ISBN 13: 9780565092313

Publisher: Natural History Museum, 2008

Synopsis

Charles Darwin was mocked for suggesting that humans have apes for ancestors, but every scientific advance in the study of life in the last 150 years has confirmed the reality of evolution. In 99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up leading experts explain this fundamental yet often complex subject and guide the general reader through the latest evidence. They explore our own origins and the genealogy of living things, as well as highlighting some of the key turning points in evolutionary history. Read the latest research on Darwin's finches and how new species evolve, uncover the flaws in 'intelligent design', find out what evolution has to say about psychology, the development of the human mind and morality, and how we are still evolving. With the use of colour illustrations and clear diagrams throughout, this is a comprehensive introduction to evolution and the latest thinking on the subject.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Silvertown is professor of ecology at the Open University, Milton Keynes, and is the author of Demons in Eden and An Orchard Invisible: The Natural History of Seeds.

From Publishers Weekly

Silvertown, an evolutionary biologist at Britain's Open University, and six colleagues have produced an attractive, easy-to-navigate book that explains the data supporting evolutionary theory. You don't need any background in science to enjoy this book, note the authors, and this is both its greatest strength and weakness. The discussion is easy to grasp, but also somewhat superficial. The 19 brief chapters are arranged in four sections: Origins, on the genetic relatedness of all living things; Body Building, on the process of developmental change and the evidence for it in the fossil record; Diversity, on the importance of sex in creating diversity and speciation; and Here and Now, on evolution's significance today. Readers will learn about the myriad interactions among genes and how easy these interactions make it for new evolutionary patterns and processes to develop. And readers will learn that evidence from a wide variety of fields, from geology to molecular genetics, physiology and evolutionary psychology, consistently support one another, demonstrating the power of evolutionary theory. The abundant and very attractive color pictures help illustrate the underlying science and are a pleasure to look at in their own right. (Apr. 15)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Natural History Museum
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0565092316
• ISBN 13: 9780565092313
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224
• Editor: Jonathan Silvertown