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A review by maricasement
Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution by Jonathan B. Losos
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
Losos writes in an informative and easy-to-read style, which makes the book enlightening and enjoyable.
The book is about evolution and whether it is convergent or divergent. He presents examples and arguments that might push you one way or the other, but eventually concludes thatConway Morris is a twat. Ok, jokes aside, he argues that, even though some species have convergent traits (there's a whole discussion about what that even means), if we replayed the tape of life, there is no knowing what species would turn up and how they would adapt to their
environments. How we adapt has a lot to do with our genetic predispositions (how our ancestors adapted before us) and the chance of some mutation occurring. So no, Conway Morris, humans would probably not evolve again, thank you very much.
The only thing I have to complain about is the pacing at the end of the second part. In this part, Losos is talking about different evolution experiments performed in the wild and their different conclusions. It is extremely interesting (makes we want to be an experimental ecologist or smth), but at the end it becomes a bit repetitive. Though when you manage to finish the second part and start the third one, things flow quite smoothly again.
This book has got me even more interested in evolution and it's experimental side, and I'd suggest it to everyone who finds even our own existence something interesting.
The book is about evolution and whether it is convergent or divergent. He presents examples and arguments that might push you one way or the other, but eventually concludes that
environments. How we adapt has a lot to do with our genetic predispositions (how our ancestors adapted before us) and the chance of some mutation occurring. So no, Conway Morris, humans would probably not evolve again, thank you very much.
The only thing I have to complain about is the pacing at the end of the second part. In this part, Losos is talking about different evolution experiments performed in the wild and their different conclusions. It is extremely interesting (makes we want to be an experimental ecologist or smth), but at the end it becomes a bit repetitive. Though when you manage to finish the second part and start the third one, things flow quite smoothly again.
This book has got me even more interested in evolution and it's experimental side, and I'd suggest it to everyone who finds even our own existence something interesting.