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The Ancestors Tale - Richard Dawkins.

  • 02-07-2009 10:43am
    #1
    jackdaw
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,788 ✭✭✭


    Hi
    Anyone recommend this book ?

    I have read the Selfish Gene, Blind Watchmaker and the extended phenotype --

    Blind Watchmaker - excellent , Selfish Gene - very good .. quite advanced though, and extended phenotype well most of it went over my head ...

    so is The Ancestors Tale as advanced ?

    cheers..
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    rccaulfield
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,015 ✭✭✭rccaulfield


    Yo can watch 5 part summaries narrated and presented by dawkins himself on all of those and more- not a great book reader myself-but just incase u didnt know!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkGpO1lQrLY


  • #3
    marco_polo
    Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 10,088 Mod ✭✭✭✭marco_polo


    jackdaw wrote: »
    Hi
    Anyone recommend this book ?

    I have read the Selfish Gene, Blind Watchmaker and the extended phenotype --

    Blind Watchmaker - excellent , Selfish Gene - very good .. quite advanced though, and extended phenotype well most of it went over my head ...

    so is The Ancestors Tale as advanced ?

    cheers..

    Bit late in the reply perhaps, but found it a very interesting book that I enjoyed very much, and it is a easier casual read than the Selfish Gene.


  • #4
    A Primal Nut
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,949 ✭✭✭A Primal Nut


    I disagree. I found the Selfish Gene fascinating and easy to read as it all arguments backed up by facts.

    The Ancestor's Tale is basically a collection of fact after fact, with some arguments thrown in. Interesting, but very long and can be difficult to finish.


  • #5
    MrCreosote
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,320 ✭✭✭MrCreosote


    I found it a good read. Interesting take on evolution as well going backwards in time.

    There's a patch in the book about 50 pages in that's heavy going. To be fair Dawkins highlights it, and you could easily skip past it without missing much.


  • #6
    Tim Robbins
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,023 ✭✭✭Tim Robbins


    jackdaw wrote: »
    Hi
    Anyone recommend this book ?

    I have read the Selfish Gene, Blind Watchmaker and the extended phenotype --

    Blind Watchmaker - excellent , Selfish Gene - very good .. quite advanced though, and extended phenotype well most of it went over my head ...

    so is The Ancestors Tale as advanced ?

    cheers..

    Yes. Read it. Ancestor's tale goes into quite some detail about the species. it picks one interesting thing about each species and goes backwards in evolution so to speak.

    On the downside, it's very long. Took me 5 months to read. The audio version is 7 CDs but it leaves out some of the text.


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