The Network of Life - by David P Mindell (Hardcover)

About the Book

The author explains why evolution is like a network, not a family tree--and why it matters for understanding the health of all living things.

Book Synopsis

Why evolution is like a network, not a family tree--and why it matters for understanding the health of all living things

In The Network of Life, David Mindell explains why the conventional narrative of evolution needs to evolve. Ever since Darwin, evolution has largely been thought to work like a family tree in which species are related through a series of branching events. But, today, a growing knowledge of the ways species share genetic materials in a process known as horizontal evolution has revealed that evolution is actually a network of shared genealogy in which species are more interconnected than previously thought. In this book, Mindell presents this new narrative of life's evolution and its profound implications for all life on Earth.

The Network of Life describes the drivers of horizontal evolution--interbreeding and genetic recombination, the merger of species, horizontal gene transfer, and coevolution. The network view of evolution that emerges supports a new symbiotic theory of health, which holds that the future health of humans, other species, and our shared environments depends on evolution and adaptation across life's network.

Difficult times lie ahead for many of Earth's species as climates and habitats transform. At the same time, new and altered life-forms are arising and spreading in association with human activities. We are also learning to reshape and create life by mimicking the mechanisms of horizontal evolution, and we are coevolving with technology as we enhance our bodies, brains, and life spans. The Network of Life shows why and how increasing our knowledge of horizontal evolution can provide critical lessons as we navigate our looming challenges.

Review Quotes

"An important book."---David Lorimer, Paradigm Explorer

"A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year"

"There are a number of books on networks in the biological and computer sciences, but none that explore the horizontal connections that Mindell finds so important. A valuable book."-- "Choice"

"Mr. Mindell is an excellent guide to this complex picture. . . . [The Network of Life] offers good, solid science and a clear illustration of an emerging perspective that is beginning to pay dividends in our understanding of evolution."---David P. Barash, Wall Street Journal

"I am quite sure that Darwin, were he alive today, would embrace this added view of evolution and would be foremost in its supporters. . . . The book is beautifully written and thought-provoking in myriad ways."---David Gascoigne, Travels with Birds

"A perspective-shifting reconceptualization of evolution."---Wade Lee-Smith, Library Journal

"Eye-opening analysis. . . . The heady ideas [in The Network of Life] will change how readers understand some of biology's most fundamental concepts."-- "Publishers Weekly"

About the Author

David P. Mindell is a senior researcher at the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of The Evolving World: Evolution in Everyday Life, which won the Independent Publisher Book Awards Gold Medal in Science, and the coeditor of The Theory of Evolution. He is a former professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Michigan, director of the UM Museum of Zoology, and dean of science at the California Academy of Sciences.