Paperback, 480 pages
English language
Published Aug. 1, 2019 by HarperCollins Publishers Limited.
Longlisted for the National Book Award for Nonfiction and A New York Times Notable Book of 2018. Our understanding of the 'tree of life', with powerful implications for human genetics, human health and our own human nature, has recently completely changed.
An ocean of facts and a new concept of evolution and genetic transmission. Well, at least new to me.
The author says that this is a history of molecular phylogenetics. It is and I also think of it as a personal biographical and gossipy approach to the history of the development of the idea of the phylogenetic tree. Principal topics are the discovery of the archaea, the discovery of endosymbiosis in eukaryotes by chloroplasts and mitochondria, the discovery of lateral gene transfer - first in bacteria and then everywhere, and, in a flurry at the end, the microbiome, transposons, endogenous retroviruses, and CRISPR. The book is organized historically, and largely around the life and relationships of Carl Woese. Until I finished it I thought this book to be a standard 4 star work, but, as it ended, it made me think of many other things not directly discussed, including my own career, and I’ve gone full five stars on it.
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The author uses kibitz in a non-standard way …
The author says that this is a history of molecular phylogenetics. It is and I also think of it as a personal biographical and gossipy approach to the history of the development of the idea of the phylogenetic tree. Principal topics are the discovery of the archaea, the discovery of endosymbiosis in eukaryotes by chloroplasts and mitochondria, the discovery of lateral gene transfer - first in bacteria and then everywhere, and, in a flurry at the end, the microbiome, transposons, endogenous retroviruses, and CRISPR. The book is organized historically, and largely around the life and relationships of Carl Woese. Until I finished it I thought this book to be a standard 4 star work, but, as it ended, it made me think of many other things not directly discussed, including my own career, and I’ve gone full five stars on it.
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The author uses kibitz in a non-standard way to seemingly mean that he had monitored a class.
4.5 stars
The Tangled Tree is a book about the history of molecular phylogenetics, that is the evolutionary development and diversification of species. It is also a book about (perhaps) the most important biologist of the twentieth century, whose name I never heard of. His name was Carl Woese, a white-haired scientist in Urbana, Illinois, who made a discovery in 1977 that changed the way we understand the history of life on the planet.
A fascinating and immensely accessible book, from one of my favourite science writers.
I wanted a lot more of the science and a lot less of the scientists (especially Carl Woese) and the author's experiences meeting them than this book delivered. It also had a smug, good ole boys tone that really rubbed me the wrong way. I think with all the room Quammen gave the annoying personalities of the scientists he discussed, he could have worked harder to make space for the contributions women made or discuss more about why they weren't there and how maybe the raunchy, sexist jokes and drinking culture he obviously found so charming might have contributed to that lack.
But it did pull together a lot of the intellectual history of HGT, which is interesting and important.
