''The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life'' is a 2004 science book by

Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins (born 26 March 1941) is a British evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist, zoologist, science communicator and author. He is an Oxford fellow, emeritus fellow of New College, Oxford, and was Simonyi Professor for the Publ ...

and Yan Wong that delves into the topic of

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 ...

. The book adopts a unique approach, retracing the path of humans in reverse chronological order through

evolutionary history The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for '' gigaannum'') and ...

. Along the way, it introduces readers to various

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, referred to as humanity's cousins, as they converge on shared common ancestors. Drawing on scientific principles and research, "The Ancestor's Tale" offers an accessible and thought-provoking exploration of life's origins and the intricate relationships that connect all living beings.

Synopsis

The book follows a path backwards in time through evolution and meets different groupings of organisms. In this 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,

LUCA Luca or LUCA may refer to: People * Luca (masculine given name), including a list of people * Luca (feminine given name), including a list of people * Luca (surname), including a list of people Places * The ancient name of Lucca, an Etruscan ...

, short for Last Universal Common Ancestor, is the ancestor of all surviving life forms on Earth. The evidence for this is that all organisms share the same

genetic code Genetic code is a set of rules used by living cell (biology), cells to Translation (biology), translate information encoded within genetic material (DNA or RNA sequences of nucleotide triplets or codons) into proteins. Translation is accomplished ...

and it is not thought that this code was invented twice. There is no sign of other independent origins of life, and as the book explains, if new life did now arise, its organisms would probably be quickly eaten by existing lifeforms. ''The Ancestor's Tale'' follows what it calls a "pilgrimage", to discover our ancestors and meet other "pilgrims" (i.e. groups of species) who join as the book reaches a common ancestor that humanity 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 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 ...

's late-14th century work ''

The Canterbury Tales ''The Canterbury Tales'' () is a collection of 24 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer between 1387 and 1400. The book presents the tales, which are mostly written in verse, as part of a fictional storytelling contest held ...

'' and its pilgrims. For instance, how new species come about, how the

axolotl The axolotl (; from ) (''Ambystoma mexicanum'') is a neoteny, paedomorphic salamander, one that Sexual maturity, matures without undergoing metamorphosis into the terrestrial adult form; adults remain Aquatic animal, fully aquatic with obvio ...

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 A most recent common ancestor (MRCA), also known as a last common ancestor (LCA), is the most recent individual from which all organisms of a set are inferred to have descended. The most recent common ancestor of a higher taxon is generally assu ...

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 symbiogenesis, symbiosis in evolution. In particular, Margulis tr ...

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 organisms other than by the ("vertical") transmission of DNA from parent to offspring (reproduction). HGT is an important factor in the e ...

Origin of life

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

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 existence ...

, enterobacteria phage Qbeta, the

Miller–Urey experiment The Miller–Urey experiment, or Miller experiment, was an experiment in chemical synthesis carried out in 1952 that simulated the conditions thought at the time to be present in the Prebiotic atmosphere, atmosphere of the early, prebiotic Earth ...

Spiegelman's Monster Spiegelman's Monster is an RNA chain of only 218 nucleotides that is able to be reproduced by the RNA replication enzyme RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, also called RNA replicase. It is named after its creator, Sol Spiegelman, of the University of I ...

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

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the book received an 82 out of 100 based on 14 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In the January/February 2005 issue of '' Bookmarks'', the book was scored four out of five. The magazine's critical summary reads: "Overall, it’s a grand celebration of life on earth". Carl Zimmer 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 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 ...

'' thought it was awkward to move backward in time starting from humans and thought this 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 ''The Tim ...

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 ...

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 Biology books Books about evolution Books by Richard Dawkins English-language non-fiction books English non-fiction books Houghton Mifflin books Human evolution books Most recent common ancestors Weidenfeld & Nicolson books