Copyright © 2017 by Wil C. Fry.
Some rights reserved.
Author: Richard Dawkins (& Yan Wong)
Year: 2004 (mine is 2005 trade paperback)
Genre: evolution, biology, genetics, fossils, pre-history
Publisher: Mariner Books (Houghton Mifflin Company)
ISBN 0-618-61916-x (paperback)
Wikipedia page
Author’s Wikipedia page
Summary
Structured in an homage to Chaucer’s Canturbury Tales, this 2004 dive into the history of humanity’s evolutionary ancestry is long and dense. Celebrated evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins patiently but precisely tracks human ancestors backward in time, detailing current scientific theories and contrasting them with older ones. At each “rendezvous” with cousin species (the branching-off points), he includes a “tale” titled in honor of a related species or genus — “The Bonobo’s Tale”, for example.
In 2005, The Ancestor’s Tale was one of six nominees for “the most prestigious science book prize in Britain”, the Royal Society Science Book Prize. A New York Times reviewer called it “an ambitious, important book rich with fascinating insights” and “an excellent place to start” for anyone who wants to understand evolutionary family trees.
What I Liked Least About It
With my apologies to both Dawkins and Geoffrey Chaucer, the thing I liked least about this book was the structure. I do appreciate the effort that went into it, but it came across as an artificial and distracting attempt to force the information into the format of Canterbury Tales.
The only other bothersome part was Dawkins’ tendency to use a lot of taxonomic designations for the various critters. I mean, there’s not really another name for Myllokunmingia, so he was kind of stuck with that one. And in many cases, there simply wasn’t another precise word to describe exactly what he was referring to, so this must count as a very minor complaint. But as a lay reader of scientific topics, it certainly slowed things down.
What I Liked Most About It
The entire book was enjoyable. The idea to go backward — in a hypothetical, metaphorical time machine — was brilliantly conceived and fairly well carried out. At least to me, the idea of approaching a “family tree” in this way was unique. We’ve all seen branching “trees” of evolutionary relationships, but the path in this book was singular.
As briefly as I can describe it: Dawkins began with humanity (Homo sapiens sapiens) and moved backward until our most recent branch point — speciation event — involving another extant species or group. (The first was when we split off from the chimps.) Once describing what is known of this common ancestor, we’re carried further back to the previous branch points. At each “rendezvous”, our merry band of time traveling pilgrims is joined by another branched-off group. Each chapter begins with a chart showing which types of living creatures are joining us this time, how many years ago it was (if known), and which geological eras or epochs are relevant.
Interesting Tidbits
The book is filled with curious bits of knowledge. One thing I’d never really considered before is this: “The insects alone constitute at least three-quarters of all animal species, and probably more... to a first approximation, all species are insects.” There are more than a million known species of insects, compared to only about 5,000 species of mammal (including us). The ants alone have more species than all of mammalia.
Near the end of the tale, as all the known lines of life on this planet begin to converge around the very beginning — when all lines are composed of single-celled organisms, I learned quite a bit about these fascinating bits of life. So much of it wasn’t in my high school (or college) biology textbooks. For example, I had no idea that the mitochonria inside our cells are separately descended from bacteria.
Conclusion
While I still favor The Selfish Gene as my favorite Dawkins book, Ancestor’s Tale is well worth a read.
Note: A shorter version of this review is available on Goodreads, here.
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