
In 1809, when Darwin was born, much of the world was an unexplored wilderness. Our knowledge of the past was nonexistent, & our picture of our species` history little more than a set of fantastic myths & fairytales. But a new era was dawning. Five decades later, On the Origin of the Species was able to draw on the pioneering work of explorers & naturalists to produce a theory that revolutionized our conception of our world. & the revolution didn`t stop with the publication of Darwin`s masterwork. 150 years later, his `dangerous idea` is still headline news, denied by many, capable of enraging & dividing, even as biologists decipher the 3-billion-year history of life as written in our very DNA. This book tells the stories of the most dramatic adventures & important discoveries in two centuries of natural history
- from Alexander von Humboldt`s epic journeys in South America to the hi-tech genome-reading projects making headlines today
- & how they gave birth to & have nourished the evolution revolution.