«River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life» by Richard Dawkins. A book review.
Fortunately, it is not the least bit religious, despite the suggestive title. There are some truly wonderful examples that usually involve the reader directly, and I relished reading it. No pictures, but none are needed as the words themselves convey the ideas successfully. I found the sections on gastrulation, ancestry, bees, eyes, particularly fascinating. The two chapters «Do Good by Stealth» and «The Replication Bomb» were exceptional!
For me, it was refreshing, because I was accustomed to reading astronomy books. The book was just the right length. I was very satisfied when I finished it and I did not desire to keep reading about the same topic. The size of the font is perfect, unlike a few of Richard Dawkin’s other books, in which it is way too small.
It is the sort of book that if you haven’t read it in a while and you then open it at random and start reading [as I’m doing now to effectively review the book] it draws you right in again and before you know it, you’re reading several pages again!
After reading it, the only trouble I found was that although I understood the function of a gene, I wasn’t exactly sure what it actually is. Is it a DNA sequence?
But if you think genes and DNA do everything, then you might want to read the book «How the Leopard changed its spots», because it reveals that chemistry, mathematics and physics play a significant role in the formation of an organism.
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