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River Out of Eden - A Darwinian View of Life |
One of the excellent 'Science Masters' series, this is an attempt to explain how evolution actually works. The river referred to in the title is the DNA streaming through the ages, splitting and dividing as it goes and although it is slightly disconcerting to come to regard yourself merely as a tool for its replication (no higher purpose here!) I can heartily recommend this as a fascinating, easily accessible and very entertaining read.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 34 April 2006) |
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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Source Of Life |
This is a reverse take on the usual evolutionary story where the rise of mankind takes place as a seemingly inevitable progression from the starting point of life. Instead working backwards and looking at points where different and often larger groups join our own story provides the reader with a far greater sense of the grandeur of life and our place within it. This illuminating journey ends, of course, with the origins of life itself.
(Clive Yelf - bwl 55 Winter 2010) |
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The God Delusion |
No sitting on the fence with a title like that and Dawkins 'does what he says on the tin', by addressing the claims of religion and dispatching them one by one. Which is fine but I suspect most readers at the very least treat religion as a cultural comfort blanket and this book eventually comes across as a touch of Supper-Nanny 'tough love'. Next he'll have a go at Father Christmas and the Tooth Fairy . . .
(Clive Yelf - bwl 42 October 2007) |
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