The Theory of Evolution

by John Maynard Smith, Richard Dawkins (Foreword)

All living plants and animals, including man, are the modified descendants of one or a few simple living things. A hundred years ago Darwin and Wallace in their theory of natural selection, or the survival of the fittest, explained how evolution could have happened, in terms of processes known to take place today. In this book John Maynard Smith describes how their theory has been confirmed, but at the same time transformed, by recent research, and in particular by the discovery of the laws of inheritance.

Genres: Science, Evolution, Biology, Nonfiction, Popular Science, Genetics

380 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

John Maynard Smith FRS was a British theoretical and mathematical evolutionary biologist and geneticist. Originally an aeronautical engineer during the Second World War, he took a second degree in genetics under the well-known biologist J. B. S. Haldane

Reviews

[Emelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. I felt at times that I was lost to the point of the science being explained, but that could of been that there was no point, simply John Maynard Smith was enlightening me to something. In the end though, this is a good book to get a comprehensive view of evolution and it's mechanics. Even if you are not into science and skip over the harder parts, you'll eventually be left with a nice understanding of evolution, genetics, speciation and the point of the most interesting discussion towards the end, the difference between evolutionary development and historical. Makes you think.

[Xander · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to pick up and read John Maynard Smith's The Theory of Evolution (1995) to deepen my understanding of evultionary biology. My primary knowledge comes (mainly) from popular accounts of this field by the likes of Richard Dawkins and Carl Zimmer.

Even though I do not regret reading this book, I cannot really say I enjoyed the book, or that it was useful in understanding evolution better. Maynard Smith was a mathematician-turned-biologist and this is clear from his writing style. It is written in a rather dull and abstract way, which makes it hard to follow.

Especially when dealing with the genetic underpinnings of evolution, Maynard Smith makes it harder than necessary for the reader to understand the topic. I have read more modern texts - preferably with pictures and diagrams - that are able to explain the exact same topic in a much more practical and concise way. For example, describing the different effects of homo- and heterozygosity on phenotypes with words is a rather convulated way - compared to, say, a diagram.

Anyway, even though the book didn't really offer me any new insights in evolutionary biology, it was a good refresher. It helps to read different authors on the same topic; makes it easier to grasp the material (in my experience).

Evolution is a rather simple and beautiful idea: genes build bodies, via long chains of proteins building proteins. Genetic and environmental variations - during the development from fertilized egg to adult - lead to morphological and behavioural differences between individuals. These differences in traits result in differences in fit between organism and environment. These differences in fitness result in differences in reproductive success. Hence, the environment selects, via the built phenotypes, the genotypes that are - comparatively speaking - the best ones available. This leads, over geological time (measured in millions of years), to the accumulation of changes, resulting in different species. This, in a nutshell, is evolution.

Maynard Smith emphasizes the relative rol of natural selection in evolution. He explains how fitness can account for only a small percentage of the selection going on - most of it is contingent (for example unfortunate individuals dying having nothing to do with any fit whatsoever). He also explains how evolution is continuously going on: an ever-changing environment leads to an ever-changing fit between individual and environment. Hence, evolution is undpredictable and can only be distilled with hindsight. A last important point is the infamous bottleneck in evolution. All (higher) organisms have to go through an emryonic and youthful stage. This means that genetic changes have an effect on the development of organisms, and hence are 'constrained' by the body plan that they alter. Most changes in the DNA are developmentally neutral/non-existent; most changes that aren't developmentally neutral are developmentally disastrous, leading to the (early) death of the organism. Natural selection has to 'work' with the minimum of variation that is available. This is an important point that Maynard Smith works out with great detail and in all its complexities (for example, the existence of a minimum of variation in populations).

So, can I recommend this book? Not really, rather pick up a contemporary biology textbook and study the topics. On some points Maynard Smith's book is outdated, as well. In the last chapter he tries to hypothesize about human ancestry - a domain which has been flooded with recent discoveries, culminating in a much more complete (and certain) history of mankind. The same thing concerning genetics; modern day genetics has progressed since the time Maynard Smith wrote this book, so it would (probably) be better to pick up a more recent book.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Skip 4 years of Genetics undergrad and read this! Sad the nice pelican cover isn't on Goodreads; Jeff please approve my librarian application.

[Andreas Schmidt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lo troLo trovo un testo interessante, anche se non ho grande interesse ad approfondire lo studio della biologia. In particolare il testo parla di grandi argomenti, il DNA (e tutto quello che ruota attorno, sull'evoluzione di fenotipo/genotipo), speciazione, teoria darwiniana dell'evoluzione. Ho molto gradito anche la traduzione dall'inglese all'italiano di termini che altri traduttori in altri manuali riportano (per ignoranza?) semplicemente in inglese.
vo un testo interessante, anche se non ho grande interesse ad approfondire lo studio della biologia. In particolare il testo parla di grandi argomenti, il DNA (e tutto quello che ruota attorno, sull'evoluzione di fenotipo/genotipo), speciazione, teoria darwiniana dell'evoluzione. Ho molto gradito anche la traduzione dall'inglese all'italiano di termini che altri traduttori in altri manuali riportano (per ignoranza?) semplicemente in inglese.

[Ram Vasudeva · Rating 5 out of 5]

In his account of the theory of Evolution, JM Smith has done an exceptional service to anyone interested in wanting to know how it all works, and this is my first ever read of one of his books. He narrates the grand scheme of the diversity of life on earth, processes, mechanisms and the function of it. This book, although written/published, over twenty+ years ago, is still is a gem in many respects- language, detail and enjoyment of reading. I strongly feel that it will help the reader to understand the arguments put forward, as it is cohesive and clear. Each chapter begins with a broad overview, with many great examples for how evolution works. I especially liked the chapter discussing Evolution and History; Speciation processes and how Development and Evolution processes are stitched together. Highly recommended!

[DrosoPHila · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was originally written and published in 1958 for the 100th anniversary of Darwin's and Wallace's papers in 1958, and of The Origin of Species in 1959. At the time the author was a young (38-year old) researcher working at UCL. Maynard Smith updated the book a few times, but the text had become somewhat dated by its final edition in 1993. Such is the onward march of science. The publisher liked it though, because it sold.

There are better introductory-level popular science books on the topic available.

[Violet Lange · Rating 4 out of 5]

My attention span is limited when reading about drosophila a bunch but had some nice other examples. I read the pelican print of this from 1960s.