River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Science Masters)

by Prof Richard Dawkins (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2001

  $3.64

  The Number One SUNDAY TIMES bestseller. A fascinating explanation of how evolution works, from bestselling author Richard Dawkins. The river of Dawkins's title is a river of DNA, flowing through time from the beginning of life on earth to the present - and onwards. Dawkins explains that DNA must be thought of as the most sophisticated information system imaginable: 'Life is just bytes and bytes of information,' he writes. Using this perspective, he describes the mechanisms by which evolution has taken place, gradually but inexorably, over a period of three thousand million years. It is the story of how evolution happens, rather than a narrative of what has actually happened in evolution. He discusses current views on the process of human evolution, including the idea that we all trace back to a comparatively recent African 'Eve', and speculates that the 'information explosion' that was unleashed on Earth when DNA came into being has almost certainly happened in other places in the universe.

• Used

  Paperback
  1995

  $3.40

  The information system contained in DNA is so powerful and so elegant that it far outstrips anything that has been invented by way of computers. Dawkin's description of it aims to bring out the inspirational quality of our understanding of Darwinian life. The river of the title is the river of information carried through time in DNA, flowing and branching like a real river, and giving rise to new species as it does so. This book provides an explanation of the process of evolution, as illuminated by the theory of Darwinian natural selection.