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Flaws of Nature: The Limits and Liabilities of Natural Selection
Species evolve over time to become perfectly adapted to their environments, right?Well, sometimes.
Consider that an elephant will not grow a seventh set of teeth, even though wearing down the sixth will condemn it to starvation; that hosts of the European cuckoo seem unable to tell that the overgrown monster in their nest is not their own chick; and that whales are fully aquatic mammals who, millions of years after first abandoning the land, still cannot breathe underwater.
This book is about evolution, but not its greatest hits. Instead, it explores everything in the animal kingdom that is self-defeating, ill-made, uneconomical, or downright weird – and explains how natural selection has favoured it. In the grand struggle for survival, some surprising patterns animals are always slightly out-of-date; inefficiency tends to increase over time; predators usually lose, and parasites usually win. With equal parts humour and scientific insight, Andy Dobson is here to explain the how and why of evolution's limits and liabilities.
Consider that an elephant will not grow a seventh set of teeth, even though wearing down the sixth will condemn it to starvation; that hosts of the European cuckoo seem unable to tell that the overgrown monster in their nest is not their own chick; and that whales are fully aquatic mammals who, millions of years after first abandoning the land, still cannot breathe underwater.
This book is about evolution, but not its greatest hits. Instead, it explores everything in the animal kingdom that is self-defeating, ill-made, uneconomical, or downright weird – and explains how natural selection has favoured it. In the grand struggle for survival, some surprising patterns animals are always slightly out-of-date; inefficiency tends to increase over time; predators usually lose, and parasites usually win. With equal parts humour and scientific insight, Andy Dobson is here to explain the how and why of evolution's limits and liabilities.
301 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 20, 2023
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211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
March 6, 2025
Really good. It goes into what natural selection actually is and moves away from the idea that evolution is a perfect process or that we're evolving towards any sort of ideal.
The cheetah example will now be my go to for explaining it to anyone. I think some of the stuff on sexual selection falls victim to gendered pitfalls of cheating and other stuff. But that's more of a flaw of the field itself and the final chapter is pretty affirming.
The cheetah example will now be my go to for explaining it to anyone. I think some of the stuff on sexual selection falls victim to gendered pitfalls of cheating and other stuff. But that's more of a flaw of the field itself and the final chapter is pretty affirming.
December 21, 2025
this was BRILLIANT!! FASCINATING!! REFRESHING!! the author picked an overlooked intriguing angle of natural selection, never digressed nor made it about himself, AND his humor was just the cherry on top :D
wishing my next nonfiction nature reads are just as interesting as this one
wishing my next nonfiction nature reads are just as interesting as this one
January 16, 2025
Excellent book, a bit heavy going in parts but worth the effort. Any one with a desire to understand evolution should read this book.
Recommended!
Recommended!
January 9, 2026
A genuinely fascinating ‘different’ take on Evolution and Natural Selection.
The book opens with a quick simple overview of what evolution is, and what it means to talk about natural selection and the survival of the fittest. However, the majority of the book is focused upon examples which seem (on the surface) to raise questions about natural selection.
For example, chapter 1 looks at some predators, and we quickly find that they are not ‘very’ successful, all things considered. Polar bears are successful in securing prey on only 10% of the occasions in which they try to do so. Cheetah’s are probably the most successful predator, but they are only successful on 41% of the occasions. And the survival rate of a cub from birth to 17 months when the cub is capable of living independently is only around 4.8%. To the extent that those outcomes are products of natural selection, it doesn’t exactly point to an efficient or effective mechanism.
Later in the book we hear about elephants and Koala bears which wear out their teeth and are then left to starve to death. We hear about parasties and about snakes rendering bird populations extinct, and the remarkable ways that honeyguides work with humans and the ways Drongos attempt to deceive babblers. The details are fascinating.
As the book progresses we hear about comparisons between whales and fish, and the problems of whales occasionally drowning, especially when they get trapped in ice. It raises questions about why whales are not like fish. What these kinds of comparisons show is that Natural Selection has produced a ‘good enough’ world, but it is hardly one that is ideal or perfect. There are many flaws, in the sense that if the world was being designed from scratch in a creationist sense, you would really have to wonder how and why the resulting outcome could arise.
The final chapter was a little odd. It made some good points about the fallacy of equating good with natural, and it gave some pertinent reasons for doubting that. But it also went off on an intermission about issues of human sexuality and how they are (mistakenly) associated with what is natural. The points were interesting, but it was all very hurried and simplistic. Those issues would be better explored in a separate book, rather than squashed into the middle of a final chapter.
Textually the book was well presented. Each chapter contained (a few) references, and the notes appeared at the end of each chapter. About 10% of the book was dedicated to indexes and bibliographies where there were helpful suggestions for further reading.
Overall, the book presents a varied and interesting array of examples from the natural world, to argue persuasively that Natural Selection (or Nature itself) should never be mistaken for some kind of process that is bringing animals or humans to some kind of ideal or favourable state.
The book opens with a quick simple overview of what evolution is, and what it means to talk about natural selection and the survival of the fittest. However, the majority of the book is focused upon examples which seem (on the surface) to raise questions about natural selection.
For example, chapter 1 looks at some predators, and we quickly find that they are not ‘very’ successful, all things considered. Polar bears are successful in securing prey on only 10% of the occasions in which they try to do so. Cheetah’s are probably the most successful predator, but they are only successful on 41% of the occasions. And the survival rate of a cub from birth to 17 months when the cub is capable of living independently is only around 4.8%. To the extent that those outcomes are products of natural selection, it doesn’t exactly point to an efficient or effective mechanism.
Later in the book we hear about elephants and Koala bears which wear out their teeth and are then left to starve to death. We hear about parasties and about snakes rendering bird populations extinct, and the remarkable ways that honeyguides work with humans and the ways Drongos attempt to deceive babblers. The details are fascinating.
As the book progresses we hear about comparisons between whales and fish, and the problems of whales occasionally drowning, especially when they get trapped in ice. It raises questions about why whales are not like fish. What these kinds of comparisons show is that Natural Selection has produced a ‘good enough’ world, but it is hardly one that is ideal or perfect. There are many flaws, in the sense that if the world was being designed from scratch in a creationist sense, you would really have to wonder how and why the resulting outcome could arise.
The final chapter was a little odd. It made some good points about the fallacy of equating good with natural, and it gave some pertinent reasons for doubting that. But it also went off on an intermission about issues of human sexuality and how they are (mistakenly) associated with what is natural. The points were interesting, but it was all very hurried and simplistic. Those issues would be better explored in a separate book, rather than squashed into the middle of a final chapter.
Textually the book was well presented. Each chapter contained (a few) references, and the notes appeared at the end of each chapter. About 10% of the book was dedicated to indexes and bibliographies where there were helpful suggestions for further reading.
Overall, the book presents a varied and interesting array of examples from the natural world, to argue persuasively that Natural Selection (or Nature itself) should never be mistaken for some kind of process that is bringing animals or humans to some kind of ideal or favourable state.
June 16, 2025
3.75 Rounding up a bit - like a lot of non-fiction books with a simple 'hook' this was strongest when it focused on the hook rather than the tangentially related digressions , but was generally very worthwhile and informative without undue padding. Like a lot of Pop-Sci evolutionary books some of the explanations of things like altruism and spite based on 'kin selection' felt a bit like a just so story. Questions like 'if we're only altruistic to favour the replication of our genes how come people can be absolute bastards to their blood relatives and then jump into icy waters to rescue a stranger?' always spring to mind. The epilogue on how the appeal to nature is a fallacy was strong. If Mr. Dobson were ever minded to write a book on the weaknesses of 'evo psych' I think that would be well worth a read.
August 26, 2023
A must-read for anyone interested in the world we share with our fellow creatures. Andy Dobson's writing style is clever, insightful, often amusing, and the bonus is you get to learn more than a little about the natural world around us.
I regularly found myself wandering off to quote various passages to my partner! There were answers within these pages about evolutionary blind spots, fatal progressions to extinction, and yet a joy and amusement to be found in the cunning manner some creatures use to cheat at the game of life.
I will be keeping an eye out for more works by Andy Dobson.
I regularly found myself wandering off to quote various passages to my partner! There were answers within these pages about evolutionary blind spots, fatal progressions to extinction, and yet a joy and amusement to be found in the cunning manner some creatures use to cheat at the game of life.
I will be keeping an eye out for more works by Andy Dobson.
September 8, 2024
This is what popular science books should be like. It takes a narrow, interesting subject - the limits of natural selection - and then goes deeply into it at a pace that the general reader can keep up with
It has the feel of one of Stephen J Gould's collections.
It has the feel of one of Stephen J Gould's collections.
March 26, 2025
This is science communication done right. A really well put together book that readers of any background will be able to absorb and enjoy.
December 28, 2025
"So is the cheetah a perfect predator? Quite the opposite; most of them will never kill a thing"
Sneaky. Drawn in by the limits of natural selection, and end up learning some of the intricacies of evolution. I absolutely loved it. Probably the best book I've read this year.
"It is very easy to point to instances where animals have evolved seemingly miraculous adaptations, but if, for example, we are to give credit to evolution for bestowing upon the clownfish an immunity to anemone stings, then we must also give it the blame for replacing its tongue with a live-in vampire."
Sneaky. Drawn in by the limits of natural selection, and end up learning some of the intricacies of evolution. I absolutely loved it. Probably the best book I've read this year.
"It is very easy to point to instances where animals have evolved seemingly miraculous adaptations, but if, for example, we are to give credit to evolution for bestowing upon the clownfish an immunity to anemone stings, then we must also give it the blame for replacing its tongue with a live-in vampire."
April 19, 2024
Flaws of Nature is a witty and smart ride into evolution's dark underbelly, focusing on its fascinating flaws and limitations. Read my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2024...
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews