Evolution: The triumph of an idea by Carl Zimmer, Heinemann, 拢25, ISBN
0434009091
DO WE need more books about Darwin? Yes, we do, but only if they are as good
as Carl Zimmer鈥檚 Evolution, which brings the great man鈥檚 ideas bang up to
date. As an editor at Discover magazine, Zimmer saw the most
interesting developments in science pass across his desk. He has used this
knowledge to excellent effect.
A popular book can鈥檛 assume that its readers have much background knowledge,
so Zimmer inevitably begins with the usual historical introduction: the
education of the young Darwin at Edinburgh and Cambridge, followed by our hero鈥檚
voyage of discovery on HMS Beagle, and so on. Then Zimmer is free to develop his
own style and stride.
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A rough list of his coverage should tempt readers: for starters there are
discussions of radiometric dating, Gregor Mendel, genes, DNA, natural selection
and more. He then tackles the big ideas on the origin, evolution and extinction
of life, co-evolution, evolution of disease and sex, and human evolution, before
finishing off with the status of evolutionary science in society today.
Zimmer鈥檚 interweaving of history and contemporary science makes for an
interesting and stimulating read. You鈥檒l find the recent developments in the
story of Neanderthal DNA and the isotope studies that confirmed the
Neanderthals鈥� meat-eating habits. At the other end of the geological timescale,
we get the recent discoveries in the Precambrian, such as the amazing
570-million-year-old sub-millimetre invertebrate embryos from China. Cast in
phosphate mineral they preserve early cleavage stages of the embryo cells鈥�
development. Darwin was worried that the Cambrian period started with advanced
creatures. But Zimmer shows there was nothing to worry about: those recent
revelations of the Precambrian fossil record show life鈥檚 long fuse.
The book is part of a big American project that includes a TV series, a
website, multimedia library and educational outreach programme. Richard Hutton,
an executive at Boston TV company WGBH, writes in the foreword: 鈥淲e are
chronicling Charles Darwin鈥檚 life as part of our 8-hour television series on
evolution鈥elling the story of evolution is almost as daunting as filming it.
So over to you, Carl鈥�.
A project like this is good news because, as Zimmer points out, vocal
opposition to Darwin鈥檚 ideas still flourishes鈥攏ot least in the US. But I
have a few minor quibbles. Zimmer鈥檚 text begins: 鈥淚n late October 1831, a
90-foot coaster named HMS Beagle鈥︹�� and a few lines later 鈥溾�he crew replaced
the ship鈥檚 10 steel cannons with brass ones鈥︹�� Now, I know the Beagle was a
survey ship and designed to work in shallow waters. But why 鈥渃oaster鈥� for a ship
that was, as the book鈥檚 illustrations clearly show, a three-masted,
square-rigged ship that famously circumnavigated the world? And steel cannon did
not exist in 1831: Alfred Krupp introduced an all-steel cannon in 1851. Before
that, cannon were made of iron or brass. Perhaps I am being overly fussy.