Why Rats Laugh and Jellyfish Sleep: And Other Enchanting Stories of Evolution
Stipp, David
ISBN 10: 1643264877 ISBN 13: 9781643264875
Published by Timber Press, 2025
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hardcover
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HPB-Ruby, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
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Synopsis:
For fans of accessible, fun popular science comes an exploration of evolution's quirkiest puzzles and most enduring mysteries
Why do cats live longer than dogs? Why do many different kinds of bees have yellow stripes? Why can we smell a skunk a mile away, much farther than we can detect the strongest perfume? Such questions can be seen as puzzles about creatures' evolved traits. Besides offering standing invitations to the joys of curiosity, they focus our attention on beguiling designs that have been millions of years in the making. Indeed, looking at the living world through a Darwinian lens reveals its colossal depth in a way that's all too easy to miss in the age of endless distractions. And you need only summon up your inner 7-year-old-the kid spilling over with naive / brilliant why questions-to notice such puzzles, and to find yourself slowing down and looking deeper while considering possible solutions.
In this lively, lucid book, science writer David Stipp ponders Darwinian puzzles about nine familiar creatures and things-bumblebees, dogs, sparrows, caffeine, earthworms, and sleep, among others-to show how rewarding it can be to look at nature in this deeper way. By revealing hidden depths of the ordinary, The Everyday Darwinist shows not only that fascinating intricacies lie just beneath the natural world's familiar surfaces, but also that noticing them lets us connect dots that in many cases we didn't realize existed. This is backyard biophilia at its most entertaining and enlightening.
About the Author: David Stipp is an award-winning science writer whose work has appeared in Scientific American, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Science, and other publications. The author of The Youth Pill, he lives in Boston, Massachusetts.
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Bibliographic Details
Title: Why Rats Laugh and Jellyfish Sleep: And ...
Publisher: Timber Press
Publication Date: 2025
Binding: hardcover
Condition: Very Good