The Ancestor's Tale may be one of my favorite popular science books ever, except for maybe The Greatest Show on Earth. Both books were written by the most prominent evolutionary biologist in the world, Richard Dawkins. If anyone wants to understand evolution and our place within life, I suggest you read these two books. We may disagree on matters of Religion and God, but his clarity and knowledge of science overwhelms me.
In The Ancestor's Tale, Dawkins lays out a history of the human body by taking us on a pilgrimage. During our trek backwards through time, we meet up with all the other species making the path. Our closer cousins join us sooner than our more distant relatives, but all the species on Earth eventually converge to the same point the last universal common ancestor (LUCA). As groups join us, they bring their stories that tell us something more about evolution. It is a long, long book, but good science and good information. I recommend it strongly.
In this video, Dawkins makes the closing statement from the book about the beauty of life. It is good. I promise.
Enjoy!
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