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.