''The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life'' is a science book by Richard Dawkins and Yan Wong on the subject of evolution, which follows the path of humans backwards through evolutionary history, describing some of humanity's cousins as they converge on their common ancestors. The book was first published in 2004 and substantially updated in 2016. It was nominated for the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books.

Synopsis

The book takes a different path backwards through evolution and meets different groupings of organisms. The authors use backward chronology instead of a forward chronology as a way of celebrating the unity of life. In a backward chronology, the ancestors of any set of species must eventually meet at a particular moment. The last common ancestor is the one that they all share which the authors call a "concestor". The oldest concestor is the ancestor of all surviving life forms on this planet. The evidence for this is that all organisms share the same

genetic code The genetic code is the set of rules used by living cells to translate information encoded within genetic material ( DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets, or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished by the ribosome, which links ...

and was not invented twice. There is no sign of other independent

origins of life In biology, abiogenesis (from a- 'not' + Greek bios 'life' + genesis 'origin') or the origin of life is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothes ...

, and if new ones would now arise, they would probably be eaten. This book is a pilgrimage to discover our ancestors and meet other pilgrims (organisms) who join as the book reaches a common ancestor that man shares with them. The reader reads of 40 rendezvous before hitting the origin of life itself. The book's structure is inspired by Geoffrey Chaucer's late-14th century work '' The Canterbury Tales'' and its pilgrims. For instance, how new species come about, how the

axolotl The axolotl (; from nci, āxōlōtl ), ''Ambystoma mexicanum'', is a paedomorphic salamander closely related to the tiger salamander. Axolotls are unusual among amphibians in that they reach adulthood without undergoing metamorphosis. I ...

never needs to mature, how hard it is to classify animals, and why our fish-like ancestors moved to the land.

Concestors

The authors use the term ''concestor'', coined by Nicky Warren, for the

most recent common ancestor In biology and genetic genealogy, the most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as the last common ancestor (LCA) or concestor, of a set of organisms is the most recent individual from which all the organisms of the set are descended. The ...

at each rendezvous point. At each rendezvous point, we meet the concestor of ourselves and the listed species or collection of species. The concestor does not have to have been much like those creatures. After the "rendezvous", our fellow "pilgrims" have had as much time to evolve and change as we have. Along the way, the authors introduce new pilgrims who join us on the trip backwards through time.

Chapters

Prologue

Primates

Non-primate mammals

Non-mammal chordates

Non-chordate animals

From the lancelets onward, the authors provide dates under duress stating that "dating becomes so difficult and controversial that my courage fails me".

Non-animal eukaryotes

There are essential differences between the 1st and 2nd editions of the book in this section. Another rendezvous has been added (#33), and the unknown rendezvous has been partially resolved.

Great Historic Rendezvous

This is a significantly shorter section in the second edition. The authors describe the critical beginnings of eukaryotic cells and describe the endosymbiotic theory proposed by

Lynn Margulis Lynn Margulis (born Lynn Petra Alexander; March 5, 1938 – November 22, 2011) was an American evolutionary biologist, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn Ma ...

Prokaryotes

Prokaryotes can move genetic material between unicellular and multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring by way of

Horizontal gene transfer Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or lateral gene transfer (LGT) is the movement of genetic material between unicellular and/or multicellular organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). H ...

Origin of life

The authors elaborate at length about the possible origins of life through

RNA world The RNA world is a hypothetical stage in the evolutionary history of life on Earth, in which self-replicating RNA molecules proliferated before the evolution of DNA and proteins. The term also refers to the hypothesis that posits the existen ...

, Enterobacteria phage Qbeta,

Miller–Urey experiment The Miller–Urey experiment (or Miller experiment) is a famous chemistry experiment that simulated the conditions thought at the time (1952) to be present in the atmosphere of the early, prebiotic Earth, in order to test the hypothesis of the ...

, Spiegelman's Monster and the possible hypercycle of DNA, RNA, and enzymes which work together to support each other in a primordial world.

Reception

Carl Zimmer Carl Zimmer (born 1966) is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as ''The Ne ...

of the ''New York Times'' stated that the book is one of the best to understand evolutionary trees. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' thought it was awkward to move backward in time starting from humans and required linguistic gymnastics with new definitions of before and after a certain evolutionary point.

Matt Ridley Matthew White Ridley, 5th Viscount Ridley, (born 7 February 1958), is a British science writer, journalist and businessman. He is known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics and has been a regular contributor to ''Th ...

at ''The Guardian'' liked the approach of a

Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...

Pilgrim traveling backwards and the perspective of not seeing other animals as failures.

Translations

References

External links

Video introduction by Richard Dawkins

by Connie Barlow, with video, slides and scripts.
OneZoom
an interactive fractal explorer of the tree of life, used to make the visualizations in ''The Ancestor's Tale''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ancestor's Tale, The 2004 non-fiction books 2004 in biology 2016 in biology 2016 non-fiction books Biological evolution Biology books Books about evolution Books by Richard Dawkins English-language books English non-fiction books Houghton Mifflin books Human evolution books Last common ancestors Weidenfeld & Nicolson books Roc (mythology)