Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
Bezig met laden... Het verhaal van onze voorouders een pelgrimstocht naar de oorsprong van het leven (2004)door Richard Dawkins
Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden.
Een uniek boek in de details waarin de pelgrimstocht van heden tot het allerprilste begin van het leven wordt beschreven. Een boek dat niet altijd makkelijk leest maar je tegelijk in verwondering brengt voor de rijkdom aan levensvormen die onze planeet herbergt en herbergde. Bij momenten is de leeservaring duizelingwekkend als je alle terminologie en naamgeving op je laat afkomen. Er zijn in vele opmerkelijke feiten die in het boek worden beschreven zodat elke opsomming te kort schiet. Ik beperk me dan ook tot enkele opmerkelijke feiten: de veelheid aan navigatie (echo, elektrische velden, elektromagnetisme, drukverschillen) binnen het dierenrijk en de zwermintelligentie bij mieren en termieten. Een boek waar je de tijd voor moeten nemen en dat je allicht niet in één tijd uitleest daarvoor is de inhoud te zwaarwichtig doordat het doorspekt is met naamgeving. ( )
Beginning with modern humans and moving backwards in time, he describes our lineage as we successively join — a geneticist would say coalesce — with the common ancestors of other species. Human evolution has involved 40 such joints, each occupied by what Dawkins calls a "concestor", and each is the subject of a single chapter. He begins, of course, with our common ancestor with chimps, followed by the concestor with gorillas, then other primates, and so on through the fusion with early mammals, sponges, plants, Eubacteria and ultimately the Ur-species, probably a naked molecule of RNA. This narrative is engagingly written and attractively illustrated with reconstructions of the concestors, colourful phylogenies, and photographs of bizarre living species. The book is also remarkably up to date and, despite its size, nearly error-free. Especially notable are Dawkins' treatments of human evolution and the origin of life, the best accounts of these topics I've seen in a crowded literature. Evolutionary trees have become the lingua franca of biology. Virus hunters draw them to find the origin of SARS and H.I.V. Conservation biologists draw them to decide which endangered species are in most urgent need of saving. Geneticists draw them to pinpoint the genes that have made us uniquely humans. Genome sequencers draw them to discover new genes that may lead to new technologies and medical treatments. If you want to understand these trees -- and through them, the nature of life -- ''The Ancestor's Tale'' is an excellent place to start. Dawkins has already expounded the arguments that form his vision of life, both in the natural and human realm. Now, having risen from the Bar to Bench, he is in a position to offer himself as judge and senior guide. In The Ancestor's Tale, he has become the kind of teacher without whom childhood nostalgia is incomplete: unflagging in his devotion to enlightenment, given to idiosyncratic asides. His mission is to tell the story of the origin of species backwards
Verwijzingen naar dit werk in externe bronnen. Wikipedia in het Engels (27)The renowned biologist and thinker Richard Dawkins presents his most expansive work yet: a comprehensive look at evolution, ranging from the latest developments in the field to his own provocative views. 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. Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)576.8Natural sciences and mathematics Life Sciences, Biology Genetics and evolution EvolutionLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |