Just as we trace our personal family trees from parents to grandparents
and so on back in time, so in The Ancestor's Tale Richard Dawkins traces
the ancestry of life. As he is at pains to point out, this is very much
our human tale, our ancestry. Surprisingly, it is one that many otherwise
literate people are largely unaware of. Hopefully Dawkins's name and
well deserved reputation as a best selling writer will introduce them to
this wonderful saga.

The Ancestor's Tale takes us from our immediate human ancestors back
through what he calls .concestors,. those shared with the apes, monkeys
and other mammals and other vertebrates and beyond to the dim and distant
microbial beginnings of life some 4 billion years ago. It is a remarkable
story which is still very much in the process of being uncovered. And,
of course from a scientist of Dawkins stature and reputation we get an
insider's knowledge of the most up-to-date science and many of those
involved in the research. And, as we have come to expect of Dawkins,
it is told with a passionate commitment to scientific veracity and a nose
for a good story. Dawkins's knowledge of the vast and wonderful sweep of
life's diversity is admirable. Not only does it encompass the most
interesting living representatives of so many groups of organisms but
also the important and informative fossil ones, many of which have only
been found in recent years.

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