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In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan
present an answer to the one enduring mystery of evolution that Charles Darwin
could never solve: the source of the inherited variation that gives rise to new
species. The authors argue that random mutation, long believed (but never demonstrated)
to be the main source of genetic variation, is of only marginal importance. Much
more significant is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger.
The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly arcane
literature, this is the first book to go beyond -- and reveal the severe limitations
of -- the dogmatic thinking that has dominated evolutionary biology for almost
three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E.O. Wilson called 'one of the most successful
synthetic thinkers in modern biology,' and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written
a comprehensive and scientifically supported presentation of a theory that directly
challenges the assumptions we hold about the diversity of the living world.
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is a member of
the National Academy of Sciences and the Russian Academy of Natural Science. She
received a National Medal of Science from President Clinton in 2000. Her previous
books include What Is Life?, What Is Sex?, Slanted Truths (all
co-authored with Dorion Sagan) and Symbiotic Planet. She lives in Amherst,
Massachusetts. Dorion Sagan is the author of
Biospheres and, with Dr. John
Skoyles, Up From Dragons: The Evolution of Human Intelligence.
He lives in New York City. |
