River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life (Science Masters Series)
Nearly a century and a half afterCharles Darwinformulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford  scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed-- witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. InRiver Out of Edenhe  introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology,  gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, "The genes that  survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of  the species.") Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that  "we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realize, and we  have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest."