WTF, Evolution?!: A Theory of Unintelligible Design - Softcover

Grunbaum, Mara

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0761180346 ISBN 13: 9780761180340

Publisher: Workman Publishing Company, 2014

Synopsis

We all have our off days. Why should Evolution be any different? Maybe Evolution got carried away with an idea that was just a little too crazy―like having the Regal Horned Lizard defend itself by shooting three-foot streams of blood from its eyes. Or maybe Evolution ran out of steam (Memo to Evolution: The Irrawaddy Dolphin looks like a prototype that should have been left on the drawing board). Or maybe Evolution was feeling cheeky―a fish with hands? Joke’s on you, Red Handfish! Or maybe Evolution simply goofed up: How else to explain the overgrown teeth of the babirusas that curl backward over their face? Oops.

Mara Grunbaum is a very smart, very funny science writer who celebrates the best―or, really, the worst―of Evolution’s blunders. Here are more than 100 outlandish mammals, reptiles, insects, fish, birds, and other creatures whose very existence leaves us shaking our heads and muttering WTF?! Ms. Grunbaum’s especially brilliant stroke is to personify Evolution as a well-meaning but somewhat oblivious experimenter whose conversations with a skeptical narrator are hilarious.

For almost 4 billion years, Evolution has produced a nonstop parade of inflatable noses, bizarre genitalia, and seriously awkward necks. What a comedian!

About this title

About the Author:

Mara Grunbaum is a science writer and editor who’s covered everything from the biology of whiskers to mining palladium on the moon. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, Discover magazine, OnEarth, ScientificAmerican.com, and other publications and websites. She is a graduate of New York University’s master’s program in Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting, and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Review:

"This book cracks me up. Grunbaum lends the pitch-perfect voice to nature's absurdities." -Jennifer Holland, New York Times bestselling author of Unlikely Friendships

"A hilarious celebration of the weird, ugly, and barely functional freaks created by a flawed force called Evolution. I love them all." -Lucy Cooke, BBC wildlife presenter and New York Times bestselling author of A Little Book of Sloth 

"Although many of the species profiled here have downright disgusting quirks (such as baby toads that crawl through their mother's skin), readers can't help but be awed by them."
-Scientific American

"In addition to being entertaining, the combined photos and commentary are extremely educational. They are also a constant reminder of what evolution is and how it really works." -Huffington Post

"Mara Grunbaum's existential dialogues with the metaphysical embodiment of evolution, toiling away on the most F'd up critters on Darwin's green Earth, do more than introduce funny animals. They point out that life abides by a system that we can figure out. Science is weird, but it's also true." -WIRED

About this edition

• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0761180346
• ISBN 13: 9780761180340
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272