Explaining Life through Evolution

Prosanta Chakrabarty is Professor of Evolutionary Biology and Curator of Fishes at Louisiana State University. He is a TED Senior Fellow, an Elected Fellow of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), a Fulbright Distinguished Chair, and a National Geographic Certified Educator.

Part I: A Personal Prologue
Called to Action 3
Pulled Into the Fight 11
On Trust 17
Facts and Truth 21

Part II: The Evolution Revolution
Introduction to Evolution 27
The Great Chain of Being or Ladder of Life 37
Theories of Evolution 47
From So Simple a Beginning 53
The Selection of Natural Selection 67
Mendel and the Maintenance of Variation 73
Mutants and Mutations 79
Speciation: The Formation of New Species 89

Part III: Questions and Misconceptions
Who You Calling "Primitive"? 109
Our Crappy-Crappie Bodies 117
The Tree of Life 123
The Origin of Life 129
The History of Life 137

Part IV: Why Understanding Evolution Matters
Evolution in the Anthropocene 145
Natural History 155
Our Genealogy and Ancestry 163
Sex/Gender/Sexuality 175
Combating Post-Truth with Trust 189
Conversation with a Creationist 195

Epilogue 201
Acknowledgments 207
Glossary 209
Notes 219
Further Reading 257
Figure Credits 259
Index 263