Author:
Charlesworth, Brian, author.
Edition Statement:Revised impression
ImprintOxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.
Imprint2017
Descriptionxx, 146 pages : illustrations ; 18 cm.
Note:Originally published 2003.
Note:Acknowledgments -- List of illustrations -- Introduction -- The processes of evolution -- The evidence for evolution: similarities and differences between organisms -- The evidence for evolution: patterns in time and space -- Adaptation and natural selection -- The formation and divergence of species -- Some difficult problems -- Afterword.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:POPULAR SCIENCE. Less than 450 years ago, all European scholars believed that the Earth was at the centre of a Universe that was at most a few million miles in extent, and that the planets, sun, and stars all rotated around this centre. Less than 250 years ago, they believed that the Universe was created essentially in its present state about 6000 years ago. Even less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was still dominant. The recognition by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection has completely transformed our understanding of the living world, including our own origins. In this Very Short Introduction Brian and Deborah Charlesworth provide a clear and concise summary of the process of evolution by natural selection, and how natural selection gives rise to adaptations and eventually, over many generations, to new species.
