Why Evolution is True

Description

Why Evolution is True focuses on the hard evidence that proves evolution by natural selection to be a fact. Weaving together and explaining the latest discoveries and ideas from many disparate areas of modern science, this succinct and important book will leave no one with an open mind in any doubt about the truth-and the beauty-of evolution.

• While other books describe the concept and the processes by which evolution proceeds, Why Evolution is True presents the evidence: using modern science to demonstrate the 'indelible stamp' of the process first proposed by Darwin.
• Allows the reader to understand all the evidence, drawn from diverse areas of modern science, which supports Darwinian evolution.
• Presents the very latest research from the fields of genetics, palaeontology, geology, molecular biology, anatomy, and development.
• Written by one of the world's foremost evolutionary biologists
• Besides examining the evidence, the book dispels common misunderstandings about what evolution is: whether it is a fact or 'only' a theory, and what its implications are for human culture and for our sense of purpose and meaning.

About the Author(s)

Jerry A. Coyne, Professor of Ecology & Evolution, University of Chicago

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
1:What is Evolution?
2:Written in The Rocks
3:Remnants: Vestiges, Embryos, and Bad Design
4:The Geography of Life
5:The Engine of Evolution
6:How Sex Drives Evolution
7:The Origin of Species
8:What about Us?
9:Evolution Redux
Glossary
Suggestions for Further Reading
References

Reviews

Review from previous edition Coyne is hugely knowledgeable and an excellent writer. - Nature, Vol. 462

Review from previous edition One of the very best and most important book on evolution for broad audiences in at least 50 years. - Douglas J. Futuyma, Trends in Ecology and Evolution

A scholarly, yet delightfully readable account. - Tom Tregenza, Current Biology, Volume 19

We must present the evidence, and Jerry Coyne's book does an excellent job of it. - Massimo Pigliucci, Science

Evolution is true...Coyne displays it for us in a way that no objective reader could fail to find compelling. - Richard Dawkins, TLS

'Why Evolution is True'is outstandingly good. - Richard Dawkins, TLS

Coyne's knowledge of evolutionary biology is prodigious, his deployment of it as masterful as his touch is light. - Richard Dawkins, TLS

His coverage is enviably comprehensive, yet he simultaneously manages to keep the book compact and readable. - Richard Dawkins, TLS

Coyne's book is just what we needed in this bicentennial year to anchor Darwin where he belongs. - Nigel Hawkes, The Times

A clear, engaging, accessible explanation of the evidence for evolution. - Massimo Pigliucci, Science

Excellent volume. - Clive Cookson, Financial Times

Lucid, thorough and eminently readable, this book is a delight from start to finish. - Doug Johnstone, Scotsman.com

Coyne gives a clear and engaging overview of what evolution is, and how it works. - BBC Focus

Coyne is as graceful a stylist and as clear a scientific explainer as Darwin himself (no mean feat). It's one of the best single-volume introductions to evolutionary theory ever. - Wired magazine

A masterfully concise reinstating of [Darwin's] big idea. - Karen Shook, THE

There are many superb books on evolution, but this one is superb in a new way — it explains the latest evidence for evolution lucidly, thoroughly, and with devastating effectiveness. - Steven Pinker

For anyone who wishes a clear, well-written explanation of evolution by one of the foremost scientists working on the subject, 'Why Evolution is True' should be your choice. - E. O. Wilson

I once wrote that anybody who didn't believe in evolution must be stupid, insane or ignorant, and I was then careful to add that ignorance is no crime. I should now update my statement: aybody who doesn't believe in evolution is stupid, insane, or hasn't read Jerry Coyne. - Richard Dawkins

An engaging and accessible account of one of the most important ideas ever conceived by mankind. The book is a stunning achievement, written by one of the world's leading evolutionary biologists. Coyne has produced a classic. - Neil Shubin, author of 'Your Inner Fish'