The Tangled Bank An Introduction to Evolution

by Zimmer, Carl

• ISBN13: 9781936221448
• ISBN10: 1936221446
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2013-08-26
• Publisher: W. H. Freeman

Summary

Used widely in non-majors biology classes, 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.

Table of Contents

1. Walking Whales: An Introduction To Evolution

2. Before and After Darwin: A Brief History of Evolutionary Biology

3. What the Rocks Say: How Geology and Paleontology Reveal the History of Life

4. The Tree of Life: How Biologists Use Phylogeny to Reconstruct the Deep Past

5. Evolution’s Raw Materials

6. The Ways of Change: Drift, and Selection

7. Molecular Evolution: The History in Our Genes

8. Adaptation: The Birth of the New

9. Sex and Family

10. Darwin’s First Question: The Origin of Species

11. Macroevolution: Life Over the Long Run

12. Intimate Partnerships: How Species Adapt to Each Other

13. Minds and Microbes: The Evolution of Behavior

14. A New Kind Of Ape

15. Evolutionary Medicine