Shaking the Tree: Readings from “Nature” in the History of Life

“Nature” has published news about the history of life ever since its first issue in 1869, in which T.H. Huxley (“Darwin’s bulldog”) wrote about Triassic dinosaurs. In recent years, the field has enjoyed a tremendous flowering due to new investigative techniques drawn from cladistics (a revolutionary method for charting evolutionary relationships) and molecular biology. “Shaking the Tree” brings together 19 review articles written for “Nature” over the past decade by many of the major figures in paleontology and evolution, from Stephen Jay Gould to Simon Conway Morris. Each article is brief, accessible and opinionated, providing “shoot from the hip” accounts of the latest news and debates. Topics covered include major extinction events, homeotic genes and body plans, the origin and evolution of the primates, and reconstructions of phylogenetic trees for a wide variety of groups. The editor, Henry Gee, gives new commentary and updated references. “Shaking the Tree” is a one-stop resource for engaging overviews of the latest research in the history of life on Earth.