''Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life'' is a book by

Eva Jablonka Eva Jablonka (; born 1952) is an Israeli evolutionary theorist and geneticist, known especially for her interest in epigenetic inheritance. Born in 1952 in Poland, she emigrated to Israel in 1957. She is a professor at the Cohn Institute for th ...

and Marion J. Lamb about

evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes such as natural selection, common descent, and speciation that produced the diversity of life on Earth. In the 1930s, the discipline of evolutionary biolo ...

. First published by the

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

imprint

Bradford Books The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Acces ...

in 2005, the book challenges the

gene-centric view of evolution The gene-centered view of evolution, gene's eye view, gene selection theory, or selfish gene theory holds that adaptive evolution occurs through the differential survival of competing genes, increasing the allele frequency of those alleles wh ...

for what the authors consider its excessive focus on the role of

DNA Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...

sequences in

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

and

biological inheritance Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic inform ...

. The book's title refers to the argument made by the authors that evolution by

natural selection Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the Heredity, heritable traits characteristic of a population over generation ...

, rather than only acting on DNA sequence variation, acts on four different systems or "dimensions": genetic,

epigenetic In biology, epigenetics is the study of changes in gene expression that happen without changes to the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix ''epi-'' (ἐπι- "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "on top of" or "in ...

behavior Behavior (American English) or behaviour (British English) is the range of actions of Individual, individuals, organisms, systems or Artificial intelligence, artificial entities in some environment. These systems can include other systems or or ...

al, and symbolic. It includes cartoon illustrations by Anna Zeligowski, an artist and physician.

Reviews

Steven Rose Steven Peter Russell Rose (born 4 July 1938) is an English neuroscientist, author, and social commentator. He is an emeritus professor of biology and neurobiology at the Open University and Gresham College, London. Early life Born in London, U ...

reviewed ''Evolution in Four Dimensions'' favorably for ''

the Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', describing it as "a lucid book that restores subtlety to evolutionary theory". Andrew Lloyd of St. Vincent's University Hospital reviewed the book favorably as well, describing it as "engagingly well-written" and praising the cartoon illustrations.

Stuart Newman Stuart Alan Newman (born April 4, 1945 in New York City) is a professor of cell biology and anatomy at New York Medical College in Valhalla, NY, United States. His research centers around three program areas: cellular and molecular mechanisms o ...

also reviewed ''Evolution'' favorably, calling it "gracefully written, in a tone that is unusually relaxed and confident given the complexity and broad range of its subject matter and the iconoclastic ideas of the authors."

Michael Benton Michael James Benton (born 8 April 1956) is a British palaeontologist, and professor of vertebrate paleontology, vertebrate palaeontology in the School of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol. His published work has mostly concentrated on ...

praised it as "one of the best written ooksthat I have read in years: clear, succinct, thoroughly signposted, and with ample summaries and reviews of difficult areas." In a more mixed review of the 2017 revised edition, Russell Bonduriansky of the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW) is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It was established in 1949. The university comprises seven faculties, through which it offers bachelor's, master's and docto ...

argued, "Jablonka and Lamb do not quite pull off the Herculean feat of clarifying how all of these dimensions and processes eferring to the "four dimensions"fit together into a coherent picture of evolution. Yet, this book certainly succeeds in a more modest but still important objective—to compel readers to ponder new evidence and question long-held assumptions." Similarly, Aaron D. Blackwell argued that Jablonka and Lamb propose a new theory of evolution based on the four dimensions they describe, but fail to detail what exactly such a theory would look like. Blackwell acknowledges, however, that "it is hard to fault them for this one" because " r understandings of epigenetics and cultural inheritance are still limited".

References

2005 non-fiction books Books about evolution Extended evolutionary synthesis MIT Press books {{Biology-book-stub