River Out of Eden

February 27, 1995
Dawkins (The Selfish Gene) pictures evolution as a vast river of DNA-coded information flowing over millennia and splitting into three billion branches, of which 30 million branches--today's extant species--survive. Emphasizing that the genetic code is uncannily computer-like, comprising long strings of digital information, the eminent Oxford evolutionary biologist surmises that we are ``survival machines'' programmed to propagate the database we carry. From his perspective, nature is not cruel--only indifferent--and the goal of a presumed Divine Engineer is maximizing DNA survival. Dawkins cautiously endorses the controversial ``African Eve'' theory, according to which the most recent common ancestor of all modern humans probably lived in Africa fewer than 250,000 years ago. The author's narrative masterfully deals with controversies in evolutionary biology. Natural Science Book Club dual main selection; Library of Science alternate.

March 15, 1995
Dawkins continues discussion of the evolutionary themes introduced in his previous popular works, The Selfish Gene (LJ 12/1/76) and The Blind Watchmaker (LJ 2/1/87). Using the concept of a digital river of DNA, he explores the evolution of humans from a single ancestor; evolutions of specific organs (e.g., eyes) and coadaptation of species (e.g., wasps and orchids); nature's physical and behavioral mechanisms to maximize survival of DNA; and, finally, the ultimate results when our DNA reaches out into space. His arguments and examples are clear, compelling, and often amusing. Offering alternative and potentially controversial views of nature and its evolutionary processes, Dawkins's book is an enjoyable read, written in terms understandable to nonspecialists but with nuances appealing to more specialized readers. Recommended for academic and larger public science collections.--Jeanne Davidson, Oregon State Univ., Corvallis

February 15, 1995
The newest volume in the new Science Masters series condenses the subject of inherited genes for readers wanting maximum absorption in a single sitting. As with fellow authors in the series, British biologist Dawkins brings the success of a popular science work ("The Selfish Gene," 1989) to the goal of introducing the curious to his specialty, evolution. Dawkins' lecture-like text stakes out firm beliefs in gradualism, rather than variants of "creationism," as the motive force in biological change. To a clerical letter-writer who divines divine design in wasp behavior (and by extension, in the intricate structure of life), Dawkins playfully opposes perfectly natural reasons for bee dances. Another chapter attacks the common notion of purposefulness in any biological process--except for DNA's primal drive to self-replicate. The work is crammed with illustrative examples of Dawkins' conceptions; and although it can get ruthlessly grim, the playful exposition earns Dawkins a place on the biology shelves, again. ((Reviewed Feb 15, 1995))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1995, American Library Association.)