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Book Review of Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea

Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea
deltatiger avatar reviewed on + 74 more book reviews


This is an accessible and entertaining discussion of evolution, aimed at a general reader with little science background. If you're already knowledgeable on the subject, it will probably be too general for you.

Although some of the information was old to me (the development of the theory of evolution hasn't changed since I studied it many years ago), it was still engaging to read it again.

But where the book really shines is in detailing the amazing advanced in our understanding of evolution since we began sequencing DNA. The closest independent relative of our own mitochondria causes a disease that can kill us. Who could have expected such a connection?

Varying between the awe-inspiring sweep of 3.5 billion years of evolution and the detailed view of insects developing immunity to pesticides, this book should be interesting to someone who knows a bit about evolution and wants to know more, or knows nothing about it and wants to learn what it's all about.