| Description |
xxi, 771 pages, 32 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some colour) ; 24 cm |
| Contents |
Machine generated contents note: 0.All Humankind -- The Tasmanian's Tale -- Epilogue to the Tasmanian's Tale -- Prologue to the Farmer's Tale -- The Farmer's Tale -- The Cro-Magnon's Tale -- Archaic Homo Sapiens -- Prologue to Eve's Tale -- Eve's Tale -- Epilogue to Eve's Tale -- Prologue to the Denisovan's Tale -- The Denisovan's Tale -- Epilogue to the Denisovan's Tale -- Ergasts -- The Ergast's Tale -- Habilines -- The Handyman's Tale -- Ape-Men -- Ardi's Tale -- Epilogue to Ardi's Tale -- 1.Chimpanzees -- Prologue to the Chimpanzee's Tale -- The Chimpanzee's Tale -- Epilogue to the Chimpanzee's Tale -- The Bonobo's Tale -- 2.Gorillas -- The Gorilla's Tale -- 3.Orang Utans -- The Orang Utan's Tale -- 4.Gibbons -- The Gibbon's Tale -- Epilogue to the Gibbon's Tale -- 5.Old World Monkeys -- 6.New World Monkeys -- The Howler Monkey's Tale -- 7.Tarsiers -- 8.Lemurs, Bushbabies and Their Kin -- The Aye-Aye's Tale -- The Great Cretaceous Catastrophe -- 9 & 10 Colugos and Tree Shrews -- The Colugo's Tale -- 11.Rodents and Rabbitkind -- The Mouse's Tale -- Epilogue to the Mouse's Tale -- The Beaver's Tale -- 12.Laurasiatheres -- The Hippo's Tale -- Epilogue to the Hippo's Tale -- The Seal's Tale -- 13.Xenarthrans and Afrotheres -- Prologue to the Sloth's Tale -- The Sloth's Tale -- 14.Marsupials -- The Marsupial Mole's Tale -- 15.Monotremes -- The Duckbill's Tale -- What the Star-Nosed Mole Said to the Duckbilled Platypus -- Mammal-Like Reptiles -- 16.Sauropsids -- The Lava Lizard's Tale -- Prologue to the Galapagos Finch's Tale -- The Galapagos Finch's Tale -- The Peacock's Tale -- The Dodo's Tale -- The Elephant Bird's Tale -- 17.Amphibians -- The Salamander's Tale -- The Narrowmouth's Tale -- The Axolotl's Tale -- 18.Lungfish -- The Lungfish's Tale -- 19.Coelacanths -- The Coelacanth's Tale -- 20.Ray-Finned Fish -- The Leafy Sea Dragon's Tale -- The Pike's Tale -- The Cichlid's Tale -- The Blind Cave Fish's Tale -- The Flounder's Tale -- 21.Sharks and Their Kin -- 22.Lampreys and Hagfish -- The Lamprey's Tale -- 23.Sea Squirts -- 24.Lancelets -- The Lancelet's Tale -- 25.Ambulacrarians -- 26.cPROTOSTOMES -- The Ragworm's Tale -- The Brine Shrimp's Tale -- The Leaf Cutter's Tale -- The Grasshopper's Tale -- The Fruit Fly's Tale -- The Rotifer's Tale -- The Barnacle's Tale -- The Velvet Worm's Tale -- Epilogue to the Velvet Worm's Tale -- 27.Acoelomorph Flatworms -- 28.Cnidarians -- The Jellyfish's Tale -- The Polypifer's Tale -- 29.Ctenophores -- 30.Placozoans -- 31.Sponges -- The Sponge's Tale -- 32.Choanoflagellates -- The Choanoflagellate's Tale -- 33.Filastereans -- 34.Drips -- 35.Fungi -- 36.Uncertain -- 37.Amoebozoans -- 38.Light Harvesters and Their Kin -- The Cauliflower's Tale -- The Redwood's Tale -- The Humped Bladderwort's Tale -- The Mixotrich's Tale -- The Great Historic Rendezvous -- 39.Archaea -- 40.Eubacteria -- The Rhizobium's Tale -- Taq's Tale -- Canterbury -- The Host's Return |
| Summary |
A fully updated edition of one of the most original accounts of evolution ever written, featuring new fractal diagrams, six new 'tales' and the latest scientific developments. The Ancestor's Tale is a dazzling, four-billion-year pilgrimage to the origins of life: Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong take us on an exhilarating reverse journey through evolution, from present-day humans back to the microbial beginnings of life. It is a journey happily interrupted by meetings of fellow modern animals (as well as plants, fungi and bacteria) similarly tracing their evolutionary path back through history. As each evolutionary pilgrim tells their tale, Dawkins and Wong shed light on topics such as speciation, sexual selection and extinction. Written with unparalleled wit, clarity and intelligence; taking in new scientific discoveries of the past decade; and including new 'tales', illustrations and fractal diagrams, 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 |
| Notes |
Originally published: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2004 |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 710-736) and index |
| Audience |
Adult |
| Subject |
Animals, Fossil.
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Evolution (Biology)
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Evolution (Biology) -- History.
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Evolution (Biology) -- Philosophy.
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Human beings -- Origin.
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Human evolution.
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Life -- Origin.
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| Author |
Wong, Yan, author
|
| LC no. |
2018300893 |
| ISBN |
1474600565 (hardback) |
|
9781474600569 (hardback) |
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