The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution.RICHARD DAWKINS Perhaps the preeminent evolutionary biologist of our time presents his magnum opus here--a comprehensive, 4-billion-year tour of life on Earth. Based loosely on Canterbury Tales, Dawkins' book introduces 40 of our ancestors--or concestors, as he calls them--going back to the beginning of time. AS he introduces humans, chimpanzees, amphibians amphibians members of the animal class Amphibia. Includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and cecilians all capable of living on land or in water. , fungi, and bacteria, he presents marvelously lucid ideas about his field of expertise. For instance, in "The Tasmanian's Tale," Dawkins writes about genealogical ancestry. In "The Seal's Tale," he discusses the male-female divide, and the tenets of sexual selection come to light in "The Peacock's Tale." In these and other tales, readers learn that hippos more closely resemble whales than pigs, that a platypus platypus (plăt`əpəs), semiaquatic egg-laying mammal, Ornithorhynchus anatinus, of Tasmania and E Australia. Also called duckbill, or duckbilled platypus, it belongs to the order Monotremata (see monotreme), the most primitive group hunts its prey by sensing electricity, and that some frogs manufacture a kind of antifreeze antifreeze, substance added to a solvent to lower its freezing point. The solution formed is called an antifreeze mixture. Antifreeze is typically added to water in the cooling system of an internal-combustion engine so that it may be cooled below the freezing point to withstand the cold. Such facts punctuate punc·tu·ate v. punc·tu·at·ed, punc·tu·at·ing, punc·tu·ates v.tr. 1. To provide (a text) with punctuation marks. 2. an amazingly broad account of evolutionary biology, including Dawkins, views on everything from speciation speciation Formation of new and distinct species, whereby a single evolutionary line splits into two or more genetically independent ones. One of the fundamental processes of evolution, speciation may occur in many ways. and extinction to plate tectonics. This book could serve as a reference on the history of life. HM, 2004, 673 p., hardcover, $28.00. |
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