I Love Cynics!

Yes, I’m reviewing a four year old book. As the debate continues over evolution vs. intelligent design, and more of the fundamentalist right try to push creationism in the classroom, I decided to take a refresher course on the science of evolution. Consider it a sanity break.

I read other reviews of The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution prior to purchasing this book. They tended to fall into three camps. First, there are the die-hard Dawkins loyalists who feel that he can do no wrong. Second, the hardcore creationist, who seem to see Dawkins as the harbinger of the apocalypse. And finally, a small, but vocal group of “why does he have to get political?” readers. Which I find odd, now that I’ve read the book, since he rarely does.

Dawkins takes an interesting approach in this book. Starting with us humans, he starts a backwards pilgrimage where we meet up with a currently existing animal (I use the term loosely…we meet animals, plants, fungi, etc…), and find our nearest common ancestor, or concestor, to that animal (or group of animals, as is usually the case.) For example, at Rendezvous 1, we meet the chimpanzee pilgrims. Now, we are not directly related, but at some point in the past we shared a common ancestor. So Dawkins looks at the fossil record, and, more specifically, the chemical signatures of DNA, to describe what this ancestor may have looked like.

The book continues this way, traveling back in time, following the fossil and chemical records to show the process of evolution in action. Along the way, he discusses not just the common ancestors, but what shaped those modern day travelers that join us on our pilgrimage back through time.

The book, as a whole, is extremely educational, even for a genetics-understanding impaired reader such as myself. I might have preferred knowing some of the terms used in the book before hand, but Dawkins explains the concepts in such a way as to be fairly understandable, even to those of us outside the field.

If you are a religious person, expect to have your convictions questioned. Dawkins makes no attempt to hide his distaste of theories involving “divine creators” and exposes the fallacies behind several “Intelligent Design” talking points, such as Irreducible Complexity.

Throughout the book Dawkins recommends books by many other authors, and a “Further Reading” section also accompanies the book. The Ancestor’s Tale makes an excellent jumping off point for further reading. At over 600 pages, it is packed with amazing information and tidbits from more detailed studies. It is an excellent read.