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Author
Formats
Description
Charles Darwin's seminal work published in 1859, presents the theory of evolution through natural selection. The book outlines how species change over time, with variations in physical and behavioral characteristics allowing organisms better suited to their environment to survive and reproduce, passing on favorable traits to future generations. Darwin cites evidence from his observations, experiments, and research, including on his voyage aboard the...
Author
Description
"Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts how mammals survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs and made the world their own, becoming the astonishingly diverse range of animals that dominate today's Earth. Brusatte also brings alive the lost worlds mammals inhabited through time, from ice ages to volcanic catastrophes. Entwined in this story is the detective work he and other scientists have...
Author
Pub. Date
c2003, 2004
Physical Desc
xxii, 420 p., [10] p. : ill. ; 22 cm.
Description
Theorizes about a profound change in prehistoric female sexuality, which gave way to the emergence of Homo sapiens 150,000 years ago, citing evolutionary circumstances that led to the development of religion, death awareness, patriarchal culture, and human love. As in the bestselling the Alphabet Versus the Goddess, Leonard Shlain provocative new book promises to change the way readers view themselves and where they came from. Sex, Time, and Power...
Author
Pub. Date
2010, ©2009
Physical Desc
344 pages : illustrations ; 21 cm
Description
Nick Lane expertly reconstructs the history of life by describing the ten greatest inventions of evolution (including DNA, photosynthesis, sex, and sight), based on their historical impact, role in organisms today, and relevance to current controversies.
Author
Pub. Date
2023.
Physical Desc
viii, 336 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Description
"Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive, constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly. Once we start to look, these "sleeping beauties" crop up everywhere. But why? Looking at the book of life, from apex predators to keystone crops, and informed by his own cutting-edge experiments, renowned scientist Andreas Wagner demonstrates that innovations can come frequently...
Author
Pub. Date
2011
Formats
Description
The author, a Stanford biologist reveals the surprising origins of the world's most deadly viruses, and how we can overcome catastrophic pandemics. He discussses the complex interactions between humans and viruses, and the threat from viruses that jump from species to species. He tells the story of how viruses and human beings have evolved side by side through history; how deadly viruses like HIV, swine flu, and bird flu almost wiped us out in the...
Author
Pub. Date
[2019]
Physical Desc
xxi, 520 pages, 8 pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map ; 25 cm
Description
"For too long, scientists have focused on the dark side of our biological heritage: our capacity for aggression, cruelty, prejudice, and self-interest. But natural selection has given us a suite of beneficial social features, including our capacity for love, friendship, cooperation, and learning. Beneath all our inventions--our tools, farms, machines, cities, nations--we carry with us innate proclivities to make a good society. In Blueprint, Nicholas...
Author
Description
Philosopher Peter Godfrey-Smith dons a wet suit and journeys into the depths of consciousness in Other Minds
Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known
Author
Pub. Date
[2019]
Physical Desc
xviii, 412 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Description
"Renowned neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux digs into the natural history of life on earth to provide a new perspective on the similarities between us and our ancestors in deep time. This page-turning survey of the whole of terrestrial evolution sheds new light on how nervous systems evolved in animals, how the brain developed, and what it means to be human." --Amazon.
Author
Pub. Date
2019
Physical Desc
xxiii, 340 pages, 12 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color), maps ; 24 cm
Description
Based on the latest scientific discoveries and enriched by personal observations, The Ascent of Birds sets out to answer these fundamental questions. ... It also introduces the concept of neoteny, an evolutionary trick that enabled dinosaurs to become birds and humans to conquer the planet.
16) A new history of life: the radical new discoveries about the origins and evolution of life on earth
Author
Pub. Date
2015.
Physical Desc
391 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Description
"The history of life on Earth is, in some form or another, known to us all-- or so we think. [This book] offers a provocative new account, based on the latest scientific research, of how modern lifeforms evolved"--Amazon.com.
Author
Pub. Date
2017.
Physical Desc
xv, 368 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Description
"Earth's natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change--a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze--caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really play in the constantly changing...
Author
Pub. Date
2009
Physical Desc
ix, 470 p., [32] p. of plates : ill. (chiefly col.), map ; 25 cm.
Description
Sifting through rich layers of scientific evidence, Dawkins' "The Greatest Show on Earth" is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument."
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