Explaining Life through Evolution

(Paperback)

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A broad overview of the science of evolution, and why understanding it matters in our everyday lives. Explaining Life through Evolution tells the origin story of life on this planet and how we arrived at the tremendous diversity among organisms that we see around us today. Prosanta Chakrabarty explains evolution in a concise, accessible, and engaging way, emphasizing the importance of understanding evolution in everyday contemporary life. Weaving his own lived experience among discussions of Darwin and the origins of evolutionary thought, Chakrabarty also covers key concepts to our understanding of our current condition, including mutation; the spectrum of race, sex, gender, and sexuality; the limitations of ancestry tests; and the evolution of viruses like SARS-CoV-2, the virus at the heart of the COVID-19 pandemic. Offering a contemporary update to classic popular evolution books by Stephen Jay Gould, Jerry Coyne, and others, Explaining Life through Evolution is not only an illuminating read, but also an essential guide to the kind of scientific literacy that we need in order to face the challenges of our collective future.

Reviews

Chakrabartygives a well-informed account that should refresh the knowledge of curious readers and convince those with open minds... this book is a superb gift for a teenager fascinated by science but frustrated at the careful, abbreviated approach to evolution they are likely to encounter in high school biology class.
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Author Bio

Prosanta Chakrabarty is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Fishes at Louisiana State University. He is a TED Senior Fellow, an Elected Fellow of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, and a National Geographic Certified Educator.