River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Science Masters Series)

How Did The Replication Bomb We Call Life Begin And Where In The World, Or Rather, In The Universe, Is It Heading? Writing With Characteristic Wit And An Ability To Clarify Complex Phenomena (the New York Times Described His Style As The Sort Of Science Writing That Makes The Reader Feel Like A Genius), Richard Dawkins Confronts This Ancient Mystery. Dawkins Has Been Named By The London Daily Telegraph The Most Brilliant Contemporary Preacher Of Charles Darwin's Theory Of Evolution. More Than Any Other Contemporary Scientist, He Has Lent Credence To The Idea That Human Beings - Indeed, All Living Things - Are Mere Vehicles Of Information, Gene Carriers Whose Primary Purpose Is Propagation Of Their Own Dna. In This New Book, Dawkins Explains Evolution As A Flowing River Of Genes, Genes Meeting, Competing, Uniting, And Sometimes Separating To Form New Species.^ Filled With Absorbing, At Times Alarming, Stories About The World Of Bees And Orchids, Designed Eyes And Human Ancestors, River Out Of Eden Answers Tantalizing Questions: Why Are Forest Trees Tall - Wouldn't Each Survive More Economically If All Were Short? Why Is The Sex Ratio Fifty-fifty When Relatively Few Males Are Needed To Impregnate Many Females? Why Do We Inherit Genes For Fatal Illnesses? Who Was Our Last Universal Ancestor? Dawkins Suggests That It Was More Likely To Have Been An Adam Than An African Eve. By Reverse Engineering, He Deduces The Purpose Of Life (god's Utility Function). Hammering Home The Crucial Role Of Gradualism In Evolution, He Confounds Those Who Argue That Every Element Of, Say, An Eye Has To Function Perfectly Or The Whole System Will Collapse.^ But The Engaging, Personal, Frequently Provocative Narrative That Carries Us Along River Out Of Eden Has A Larger Purpose: The Book Illustrates The Nature Of Scientific Reasoning, Exposing The Difficulties Scientists Face In Explaining Life. We Learn That Our Assumptions, Intuitions, Origin Myths, And Trendy Intellectual And Cultural Isms All Too Often Lead Us Astray. The Digital River -- All Africa And Her Progenies -- Do Good By Stealth -- God's Utility Function -- The Replication Bomb. Richard Dawkins ; Illustrations By Lalla Ward. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 163-166) And Index.

how Did The Replication Bomb We Call ”life” Begin And Where In The World, Or Rather, In The Universe, Is It Heading? Writing With Characteristic Wit And An Ability To Clarify Complex Phenomena (the Ne

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dawkins (the Selfish Gene) Pictures Evolution As A Vast River Of Dna-coded Information Flowing Over Millennia And Splitting Into Three Billion Branches, Of Which 30 Million Branches-today's Extant Species-survive. Emphasizing That The Genetic Code Is Uncannily Computer-like, Comprising Long Strings Of Digital Information, The Eminent Oxford Evolutionary Biologist Surmises That We Are ``survival Machines'' Programmed To Propagate The Database We Carry. From His Perspective, Nature Is Not Cruel-only Indifferent-and The Goal Of A Presumed Divine Engineer Is Maximizing Dna Survival. Dawkins Cautiously Endorses The Controversial ``african Eve'' Theory, According To Which The Most Recent Common Ancestor Of All Modern Humans Probably Lived In Africa Fewer Than 250,000 Years Ago. The Author's Narrative Masterfully Deals With Controversies In Evolutionary Biology. Natural Science Book Club Dual Main Selection; Library Of Science Alternate. (mar.)

How did the replication bomb we call #8221;life#8221; begin and where in the world, or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing with characteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (the New York Times described his style as #8221;the sort of science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius#8221;), Richard Dawkins confronts this ancient mystery All peoples have epic legends about their tribal ancestors, and these legends often formalize themselves into religious cults.