Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species - Hardcover

Carroll, Sean B.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 015101485X ISBN 13: 9780151014859

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009

Synopsis

An award-winning biologist takes us on the dramatic expeditions that unearthed the history of life on our planet.

 

Just 150 years ago, most of our world was an unexplored wilderness. Our sense of its age was vague and vastly off the mark, and much of the knowledge of our own species’ history was a set of fantastic myths and fairy tales. In the tradition of The Microbe Hunters and Gods, Graves, and Scholars, Sean Carroll leads a rousing voyage that recounts the most important discoveries in two centuries of natural history: from Darwin’s trip around the world to Charles Walcott’s discovery of pre-Cambrian life in the Grand Canyon; from Louis and Mary Leakey’s investigation of our deepest past in East Africa to the trailblazers in modern laboratories who have located a time clock in our DNA.

About this title

Review

"These scientific adventurers inspire the author--and will do the same for experts and novices alike--with their fearless dedication to getting at the truth, as far as it can be known. A stirring introduction to the wonder of evolutionary biology." --Kirkus Review, 12/15/08

"These scientific adventurers inspire the author—and will do the same for experts and novices alike—with their fearless dedication to getting at the truth, as far as it can be known. A stirring introduction to the wonder of evolutionary biology." --Kirkus Review, 12/15/08

National Book Award Finalist

"The Economist" Best Book of the Year

Amazon.com Top Ten Science Books of 2009

"These 'remarkable creatures' are in fact the pioneering naturalists whose dramatic discoveries fleshed out Darwin's theory. Carroll gives us voyages, expeditions, obstacles and what drives the passions of scientists." - Scientific American

"Darwin wasn't the only scientist to hit the high seas. Carroll chronicles his own journey alongside other voyages of discovery that helped evolve the study of evolution . . . Carroll, a leading biologist, is one of the high priests of evo devo (evolutionary developmental biology), a field that's been revolutionizing our understanding of why we are the way we are." - Wired

"These scientific adventurers inspire the author and will do the same for experts and novices alike with their fearless dedication to getting at the truth, as far as it can be known. A stirring introduction to the wonder of evolutionary biology." --"Kirkus Review," 12/15/08"

From the Back Cover

Remarkable Creatures tells the story of the evolution revolution - two centuries of exploration, adventure and discovery that changed our view of life, our planet and ourselves forever. “Of all the scientists in the world today, there is no one with whom Charles Darwin would rather spend an evening than Sean Carroll” Michael Ruse, author of The Evolution-Creation Struggle. For Making of the Fittest: “Dazzling... Carroll is passionate and magisterial. Nothing of more lasting importance is likely to be published this year” Guardian. “Smart and passionate” Daily Telegraph.

Edition details

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 015101485X
• ISBN 13: 9780151014859
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 331