The Ancestor's Tale - by Richard Dawkins (Paperback)

About the Book

A newly revised and expanded edition of the classic account of evolution.

Book Synopsis

The renowned biologist and thinker Richard Dawkins presents his most expansive work in this revised edition that offers a comprehensive look at evolution.

Loosely based on the form of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Dawkins's tale takes us modern humans back through four billion years of life on our planet. As the pilgrimage progresses, we join with other organisms at the forty "rendezvous points" where we find a common ancestor. The band of pilgrims swells into a vast crowd as we join first with other primates, then with other mammals, and so on back to the first primordial organism.

Dawkins's brilliant, inventive approach allows us to view the connections between ourselves and all other life in a bracingly novel way. It also lets him shed bright new light on the most compelling aspects of evolutionary history and theory: sexual selection, speciation, convergent evolution, extinction, genetics, plate tectonics, geographical dispersal, and more.

The Ancestor's Tale is at once a far-reaching survey of the latest, best thinking on biology and a fascinating history of life on Earth. Here Dawkins shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world.

From the Back Cover

Like Steven Pinker s "How the Mind Works" or Stephen Hawking s "A Brief History of Time," it s a one-stop education, a marathon for the mind. "Newsday" In the decade since this elegantly wrought tale appeared, a wealth of new discoveries has significantly broadened and refined our understanding of the four-billion-year journey that produced modern humans. Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong now update and revise this classic tale to include these fresh developments. Loosely based on the form of Chaucer s "Canterbury Tales, ""The Ancestor s Tale "presents an exhilarating reverse tour through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life. Throughout the journey, Dawkins and Wong spin entertaining, insightful stories and shed light on the most cutting-edge aspects of evolutionary history and theory. At once a survey of the latest, best thinking on biology and a fascinating history of all life on Earth, "The Ancestor s Tale" shows us how remarkable we are, how astonishing our history, and how intimate our relationship with the rest of the living world. As full and clear a picture of the way life developed on our planet as you are likely to find ... A splendid piece of writing. "Washington Post Book World" This is an ambitious and important book rich with fascinating insights. "New York Times" RICHARD DAWKINS is a world-renowned evolutionary biologist. He was educated at Oxford and taught zoology before becoming the first holder of the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford University in 1995. His best-selling books, which rank among the most influential works of our time, include "The Selfish Gene, River Out of Eden, The God Delusion, "and "The Magic of Reality." His second memoir, "Brief Candle in the Dark, " was published in 2015. YAN WONG is an evolutionary biologist with a diverse range of interests. He was educated at Oxford, where Richard Dawkins was his tutor. He lectured in evolution at the University of Leeds before becoming a radio and television presenter, perhaps best known from the BBC One television show "Bang Goes the Theory." He collaborated with Richard Dawkins in preparing the first edition of this book, and has extensively revised this second edition. "

Review Quotes

"This clever approach to our extended family tree should prove a natural hit with science readers." Publishers Weekly, Starred

"One of Dawkins's best: a big, almost encyclopedic compendium bursting with information and ideas." Kirkus Reviews, Starred

"This is an ambitious, important book rich with fascinating insights. Also, it couldn't come at a better time." --Carl Zimmer The New York Times Book Review

"Our complete evolutionary story, brilliantly recounted by Dawkins." --Jonathan Keats, Popular Science

"The most modest and winning of his eight books." --John Horgan, Discover --

About the Author

Richard Dawkins taught zoology at the University of California, Berkeley and Oxford University. He has been the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford since 1995. Yan Wong is an evolutionary biologist, and appears on the BBC One show BANG GOES THE THEORY.