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Now in paperback, Did Darwin Get It Right discusses some of the
hottest issues in biology today. Its author, the eminently quotable
John Maynard Smith, discusses such fascinating conundrums as how
life began, whether the brain works like a computer, why most
animals and plants reproduce sexually, and how social behavior
evolved out of the context of natural selection--a process which
would seem to favor selfishness. A humorous and insightful writer,
John Maynard Smith has the special ability to convey the excitement
of science, its complexity and fascination, without baffling or
boring his readers. In these 28 brief and accessible essays,
Maynard ranges widely over such issues as science and the media,
the birth of sociobiology, the evolution of animal intelligence and
the limitations of evolutionary theory. For his work on the
evolution of sex, Smith won the Darwin medal from the Royal
Society, and he has pioneered the application of game theory to
animal behavior.
By applying game theory to the problems of population biology, the author has succeeded in inventing new and interesting ways of looking at populations and has developed a theory leading to testable predictions.
This book is aimed at anyone with a serious interest in ecology.
Ecological models of two kinds are dealt with: mathematical models
of a strategic kind aimed at an understanding of the general
properties of ecosystems and laboratory models designed with the
same aim in view. The mathematical and experimental models
illuminate one another. A strength of the account is that although
there is a good deal of mathematics, Professor Maynard Smith has
concentrated on making clear the assumptions behind the mathematics
and the conclusions to be drawn. Proofs and derivations have been
omitted as far as possible. The book is therefore comprehensible to
anyone with a minimal familiarity with mathematical notation. This
book was written in the twin convictions that ecology will not come
of age until it has a sound theoretical basis and there is a long
way to go before that state of affairs is reached.
The question of why organisms reproduce sexually is still a matter
of controversy. In this account, Professor Maynard Smith considers
the selective forces responsible for the origin and evolution of
sexual reproduction and genetic recombination, using quantitative
population genetics arguments to support his ideas. The relative
importance of individual and group selection processes are also
considered. the aim is to give a clear statement of the theoretical
issues, and present enough of the evidence to show what kinds of
facts are relevant. It is hoped that where crucial evidence is
missing, experimentalists and field workers may be encouraged to
collect the relevant data. The author does not claim to solve all
the problems he raises, but this clear and well-argued account
should provide stimulating reading for advanced undergraduate
students and research workers in evolutionary theory.
In this fascinating book, John Maynard Smith and Eors Szathmary present an original picture of evolution. They propose that during evolution there have been a number of major transitions in the way in which information is passed between generations. These transitions include the appearance of the first replicating molecules, the emergence of co-operative animal societies, and the unique language ability of humans. Containing many new ideas, this book is contemporary biology on the grandest scale, from the birth of life to the origin of language.
During evolution there have been several major changes in the way genetic information is organized and transmitted from one generation to the next. These transitions include the origin of life itself, the first eukaryotic cells, reproduction by sexual means, the appearance of multicellular plants and animals, the emergence of cooperation and of animal societies. This is the first book to discuss all these major transitions and their implications for our understanding of evolution. Clearly written and illustrated with many original diagrams, this book will be welcomed by students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary biology, ecology, and genetics.
The "ant" and the "peacock" stand for two puzzles in Darwinism--altruism and sexual selection. How can natural selection favor those, such as the worker ant, that renounce tooth and claw in favor of the public-spirited ways of the commune? And how can "peacocks"--flamboyant, ornamental and apparently useless--be tolerated by the grimly economical Darwinian reaper? Helena Cronin has a deep understanding of today's answers to these riddles and their roots in the nineteenth century; the analysis is new and exciting and the explanations lucid and compelling.
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.
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