The Theory of Evolution

This book describes how evolution theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research.

John Maynard Smith (Author), Richard Dawkins (Foreword by)

9780521451284, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 July 1993

380 pages, 37 b/w illus.
21.2 x 14.9 x 2.3 cm, 0.51 kg

'Few people in the world are better qualified than John Maynard Smith to explain evolution to us, and no subject more than evolution deserves such a talented teacher. Like Darwin himself, Maynard Smith knows that his story if intrinsically interesting and important enough to need no more than clear, patient, honest exposition. The new Introduction is an elegant essay which can be recommended in its own right as a summary of important recent developments in evolutionary theory. This book is the best general introduction to the subject now available.' Richard Dawkins, from the Foreword to the Canto edition

All living plants and animals, including man, are the modified descendants of one or a few simple living things. A hundred years ago Darwin and Wallace in their theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, explained how evolution could have happened in terms of processes known to take place today. In this book John Maynard Smith describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research, and in particular by the discovery of the laws of inheritance. This reissue reprints the third edition of John Maynard Smith's classic account, adding a substantial new introduction covering recent developments. A new foreword, by the author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker, commends the book to a fresh generation of readers.

List of figures
Preface
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the third edition
Foreword to the Canto edition by Richard Dawkins
Introduction to the Canto edition
1. Adaptation
2. The theory of natural selection
3. Heredity
4. Weismann, Lamarck and the central dogma
5. Molecular evolution
6. The origin and early evolution of life
7. The structure of chromosomes and the control of gene action
8. Variation
9. Artificial selection: some experiments with fruitflies
10. Natural selection in wild populations
11. Protein polymorphism
12. Altruism, social behaviour and sex
13. What are species?
14. The origins of species
15. What keeps species distinct?
16. The genetics of species differences
17. The fossil evidence
18. Evolution and development
19. Evolution and history
Further reading
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ]