Advice and help of various kinds were willingly given by Michael Yudkin, Mark Griffith, Steve Simpson, Angela Douglas, George McGavin, Jack Pettigrew, George Barlow, Colin Blakemore, John Mollon, Henry Bennet-Clark, Robin Elisabeth Cornwell, Lindell Bromham, Mark Sutton, Bethia Thomas, Eliza Howlett, Tom Kemp, Malgosia Nowak-Kemp, Richard Fortey, Derek Siveter, Alex Freeman, Nicky Warren, A. When Yan left to cycle across Patagonia, the book in its final stages benefited greatly from Sam Turvey's extraordinary knowledge of zoology and his conscientious care in deploying it. Apprentice or master, Yan's contribution has been so great that, for certain tales, I have insisted on adding his name as joint author. He then did his doctorate under the supervision of Alan Grafen, once my own graduate student, so I suppose Yan could be called my grandstudent as well as my student. If, here, I have gratefully assumed the role of apprentice, it could be said that he was my apprentice before I was his, for I was his tutor at New College. His resourcefulness and detailed familiarity with modern biology have been matched only by his green fingers with computers. My research assistant Yan Wong has been intimately involved at every stage of the planning, researching and writing of the book. Others at the publishers helped greatly, but Jennie Condell and the designer, Ken Wilson, went beyond the call of duty. Her grasp of the big picture simultaneously with the details, her encyclopaedic knowledge, her love of science and her selfless devotion to promoting it have benefited me, and this book, in more ways than I can count. As with A Devil's Chaplain, Latha's support has been beyond all estimation. The best of his many good decisions was to engage Latha Menon as a freelance editor. Michael Dover tolerated that delay with humour and fortitude, and always encouraged me by his swift and intelligent understanding of what I was trying to do. The fact that he had moved on before the book was published reflects my unconscionable delay in finishing it. I was persuaded to write this book by Anthony Cheetham, founder of Orion Books. It isn't only conferences that will never be the same again. If he can't manage the dates you have in mind, you must just reschedule the conference.He will charm and amuse the young research workers, listen to their stories, inspire them, rekindle enthusiasms that might be flagging, and send them back to their laboratories or their muddy fields, enlivened and invigorated, eager to try out the new ideas he has generously shared with them.' 'Never mind the lectures or the "workshops" be Mowed to the motor coach excursions to local beauty spots forget your fancy visual aids and radio microphones the only thing that really matters at a conference is that John Maynard Smith must be in residence and there must be a spacious, convivial bar. John Maynard Smith (1920-2004) He saw a draft and graciously accepted the dedication, which now, sadly, must become THE ANCESTOR'S TALE A PILGRIMAGE TO THE DAWN OF LIFE R ICHARD D AWKINS with additional research by YAN WONG At the end of the journey lies something remarkable in its simplicity and transformative power: the first, humble, replicating molecules.īy the same author: The Selfish Gene The Extended Phenotype The Blind Watchmaker River Out of Eden Climbing Mount Improbable Unweaving the Rainbow A Devil's Chaplain "The Ancestor's Tale" represents a pilgrimage on an unimaginable scale: our goal is four billion years away, and the number of pilgrims joining us grows vast - ultimately encompassing all living creatures. The tales are interspersed with prologues detailing the journey, route maps showing joining lineages, and life-like reconstructions of our common ancestors. Together they give a deep understanding of the processes that have shaped life on Earth: convergent evolution, the isolation of populations, continental drift, the great extinctions. Each explores an aspect of evolutionary biology through the stories of characters met along the way or glimpsed from afar - the "Elephant Bird's Tale", the "Marsupial Mole's Tale", the "Lungfish's Tale". The journey provides the setting for a collection of some 40 tales. Chimpanzees join us at about 6 million years in the past, gorillas at 7 million years, orang utans at 14 million years, as we stride on together, a growing band. "The Ancestor's Tale" is a pilgrimage back through time a journey on which we meet up with fellow pilgrims as we and they converge on our common ancestors.
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