The Ancestor's Tale A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution

I learned so much from this book! Disappointing. I love Richard Dawkins, and love his books both on evolutionary biology and atheism. However, this book had a very defensive tone, and was kind of whiny to me.

If you are only going to read one book about biology/genetics it should be this one.

This is an epic read that will take you step by step to the dawn of life. Outstanding down to earth descriptions of what is a complicated subject. At the end you will be able to discourse on the difference between a deuterosome and a protosome, have a new perspective on race, why most creatures a bilateral, and so much more. It's long but really worth it.

This is a wonderful book. Once again Dawkins brings the laymen and the scientific professional valuable information on how we are all so beautifully connected!

The premise of this book is intriguing -- Dawkins retraces human evolution back to the origin of life, taking time at each phylogenetic rendezvous to talk about the organisms that join us there. I was hoping for a sort of general overview of the different sorts of organism and the key evolutionary events that define them, since good books like that are surprisingly hard to find. There is some of...more

The premise of this book is intriguing -- Dawkins retraces human evolution back to the origin of life, taking time at each phylogenetic rendezvous to talk about the organisms that join us there. I was hoping for a sort of general overview of the different sorts of organism and the key evolutionary events that define them, since good books like that are surprisingly hard to find. There is some of that, to be sure, but the book lacks a sense of structure; it's more a collection of mini-essays on different evolutionary topics, some of which are a lot more interesting than others. Still, Dawkins is a clear and engaging writer. I can recommend this to readers who don't have much biology education, and even those who do will likely encounter a fascinating new fact here and there.   hide

Actually went into the past while reading this book. Master piece

It's good book, the only thing is that reading it feels like reading a text book :-)

Excellent review of evolution....though a little technical at parts. Someone without a background in science would have a tough go making it through the book. Most impressively, Dawkins manages to tone down his anti-religious tendencies. (It's almost as though he realizes that a book about science isn't a place to proselytize!)

Dawkins with full illustrations aweinspiring