The genetic book of the dead : a Darwinian reverie
Dawkins, Richard, 1941-2024
Book
"In this groundbreaking new approach to the evolution of all life, Richard Dawkins shows how the body, behaviour, and genes of every living creature can be read as a book - an archive of the worlds of its ancestors. A perfectly camouflaged desert lizard has a desiccated landscape of sand and stones 'painted' on its back. Its skin can be read as a description of ancient deserts in which its ancestors survived - and, before that, of the worlds of its more remote ancestors: a genetic book of the dead. But such descriptions are more than skin-deep. The fine chisels of Darwinian natural selection carve their way through the very warp and woof of the body, into every biochemical nook and corner, into every cell of every living creature. A zoologist of the future, presented with a hitherto-unknown animal, will be able to reconstruct the worlds that shaped its ancestors, to read its unique 'book of the dead'. The book is filled with fascinating examples of the power of Darwinian natural selection to build exquisite perfection, paradoxically accompanied by what look like gross blunders. Along the way, Dawkins dismantles influential criticisms of the 'gene's-eye-view' of life. And, to end with a provocative sting in the tail, the author asks there is a sense in which all our 'own' genes can be seen as a gigantic colony of cooperating viruses?"--Amazon.com.
Main title:
The genetic book of the dead : a Darwinian reverie / Richard Dawkins ; illustrated by Jana Lenzová.
Author:
Dawkins, Richard, 1941-, authorLenzová, Jana, illustrator
Imprint:
London : Head of Zeus, 2024.©2024
Collation:
351 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 24 cm
Notes:
"An Apollo book."Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Reading the Animal'Paintings' and 'Statues'In the Depths of the PalimpsestReverse EngineeringCommon Problem, Common SolutionVariations on a ThemeIn Living MemoryThe Immortal GeneOut Beyond the Body WallThe Backward Gene's-Eye ViewMore Glances in the Rear-View MirrorGood Companions, Bad CompanionsShared Exit to the Future
ISBN:
9781804548080 (hardback)
Dewey class:
576
Language:
English
BRN:
474610