Darwinism

  (out of 5 stars)

I picked up this book hoping that its subtitle, 'Evolution Beyond Natural Selection' would offer an interesting abstration of neo-Darwinian theory. In some ways, it certainly did so, but the results are a strange mix of solid science, sour grapes, and wishful cheerleading.

Make no mistake, the book is a relatively easy read, is well-written, and contains a ton of reference to good science, scientists, and some of the latest arguments on all sides of evolutionary thought. The backbone of the book, its discussion of symbiosis, is fascinating and would offer enlightenment to any reader unfamiliar with it. Ryan does an outstanding job conveying the importance of symbiotic relationships throughout most of the book, and I have no doubt of its importance as a primary driver of evolutionary diversity.

He hits at neo-Darwinists repeatedly, although generally backed up by some science. He uses Darwin's last 2 points (the gradual shift of the genome through small changes) to hammer away at neo-Darwinian theories, and offers some solid proof that Darwin was wrong to deny that evolution could be nearly spontaneous and dramatic. However, somewhere around halfway, I began to have some doubts about where this was heading. He had mentioned Lovelock and Gaia Theory, mostly in passing to that point, but had not quite dove head first into the fray. But his insistence throughout on emphasizing the positive aspects of symbiosis as key to evolution led to the utter decline of his narrative into an argument in favor of altruistic behavoir as something other than the widely accepted selfish gene theory. That's ok by itself, alternative theories offer guides toward better understanding, but the last 3 chapters are quite bizarre compared to the rest of the book. Ryan steps into near-metaphysical conjectures about altruism, social acceptance, and several times cherry-picks bits of good science to argue his points. Several alternative theories to selfish genes are thrown out, almost in a scattershot approach, kind of a last ditch effort to convince the reader that the neo-Darwinians are wrong, or at best, misleading.

I'm open to some of the alternative theories Ryan offers, clearly what we know about evolution is not the full picture and the role of symbiosis has been largely undervalued in popular science books, but by the time I'd read the first 80% of the book, I'd drawn a conclusion based on his presented evidence that the selfish gene theory could explain almost everything he claimed Darwinians could not explain. A few times he even props up stale straw men just to knock them down with a less-than-stellar argument in favor of his view.

At the end of the read, it was worth the time despite its weaknesses, and it should be an excellent introduction to the role of symbiosis in evolution and in daily life. Just consider how little direct evidence he offers for his secondary thesis that selfish gene theory fails to explain some of the things he offers, and I personally ignored his insistence in using Gaia as his platform for discussion. Altruism is a big one and Ryan's treatment of it really soured this book a bit at the end given that he had fallen down into subjective speculation rather than solid science. Take note of his leap-of-faith trick in refering to the 3-million year old footprints of (I believe it was Australopithecus africanus) in his discussions of social altruism. Overall, three and one-half stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

I've been on a kick lately learning about Dawkin's Extended Phenotype and the idea that genetics can drive a complex system in ways that aren't solely isolated to a single body vehicle. I thought this book might take up that idea and run with it, but the author doesn't quite make that connection to dawkins. However, he comes very close with Liaisons. This book is a quick read and includes examples of microbes that have joined larger plants or animals to become symbionts. Most of the examples are of mutually beneficial relationships between the microbes and their hosts, including lichen, angler fish, legumes, and many others.

This is an area of science that is fascinating, quickly changing, and can be mind boggling at times, but I felt Wakeford did an excellent job conveying his points and explaining the complex relationships without overburdening with deep science. There is good detail in the book, and it is not for the very casual science reader, but still approachable by curious readers. Recommended for anyone seeking an extention of the Phenotype idea or general science readers. Four stars.