Product Description

The Tangled Bank is the first textbook about evolution intended for the general reader. Zimmer, an award-winning science writer, takes readers on a fascinating journey into the latest discoveries about evolution. In the Canadian Arctic, paleontologists unearth fossils documenting the move of our ancestors from sea to land. In the outback of Australia, a zoologist tracks some of the world's deadliest snakes to decipher the 100-million-year evolution of venom molecules. In Africa, geneticists are gathering DNA to probe the origin of our species. In clear, non-technical language, Zimmer explains the central concepts essential for understanding new advances in evolution, including natural selection, genetic drift, and sexual selection. He demonstrates how vital evolution is to all branches of modern biology--from the fight against deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria to the analysis of the human genome. Richly illustrated with nearly 300 illustrations and photographs, The Tangled Bank is essential reading for anyone who wants understand the history of life on Earth.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #103636 in Books
• Published on: 2009-11-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 394 pages

About the Author
Carl Zimmer is one of the country's leading science writers. A regular contributor to the New York Times and magazines like Scientific American and Discover, he is the author of six books, including Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea and Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life. He has won numerous awards from institutions including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. You can learn more at the author's website: www.carlzimmer.com.

Customer Reviews

balanced, modern and comprehensive
Of all the evolution and Darwin books that have been published this year, The Tangled Bank could be one of the most significant. It may not get the same amount of publicity or readership as "The Greatest Show On Earth" but it is just as important. This is a comprehensive and modern account of evolution as a process, the evidence for it and its importance as an area of knowledge. The molecular and genetic nature of evolution is better covered in this book than in any other I have read. This is a rapidly expanding area of knowledge and as a result it is one that this is often missing from older texts.

This is a rare example of text book that is so well written, that you can read for its own sake. It is beautifully clear, lucid and well illustrated.

One of the aspects I most like about it is that it has no chapter on human evolution. Human evolution is not a separate branch of evolution so it does not get a chapter. Humans evolved through the same processes as whales, fish and beetles. What there is to replace this chapter is a guide the points you to the relevant sections of the book that deal with human evolution as part of a wider chapter. As evolved animals we get the same treatment in this book as any other - which seems to be a reasonable thing in my opinion!

As this is a text book I have not read it all (yet!) I have read mainly in the areas of human evolution and the section on Evolutionary Medicine. The fact that I often find myself just turning the pages and keeping on reading speaks volumes of the quality of this book.

As an accessible textbook (albeit without the flamboyance of some other writers!) for those wishing a balanced, modern, comprehensive account of evolution you should not go past this book.

Highly recommended.