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Nature Strange and Beautiful: How Living Beings Evolved and Made the Earth a Home
A beautifully written exploration of how cooperation shaped life on earth, from its single-celled beginnings to complex human societies
In this rich, wide-ranging, beautifully illustrated volume, Egbert Leigh explores the results of billions of years of evolution at work. Leigh, who has spent five decades on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island reflecting on the organization of various amazingly diverse tropical ecosystems, now shows how selection on “selfish genes” gives rise to complex modes of cooperation and interdependence.
With the help of such artists as the celebrated nature photographer Christian Ziegler, natural history illustrator Deborah Miriam Kaspari, and Damond Kyllo, Leigh explains basic concepts of evolutionary biology, ranging from life’s single-celled beginnings to the complex societies humans have formed today. The book covers a range of topics, focusing on adaptation, competition, mutualism, heredity, natural selection, sexual selection, genetics, and language. Leigh’s reflections on evolution, competition, and cooperation show how the natural world becomes even more beautiful when viewed in the light of evolution.
In this rich, wide-ranging, beautifully illustrated volume, Egbert Leigh explores the results of billions of years of evolution at work. Leigh, who has spent five decades on Panama’s Barro Colorado Island reflecting on the organization of various amazingly diverse tropical ecosystems, now shows how selection on “selfish genes” gives rise to complex modes of cooperation and interdependence.
With the help of such artists as the celebrated nature photographer Christian Ziegler, natural history illustrator Deborah Miriam Kaspari, and Damond Kyllo, Leigh explains basic concepts of evolutionary biology, ranging from life’s single-celled beginnings to the complex societies humans have formed today. The book covers a range of topics, focusing on adaptation, competition, mutualism, heredity, natural selection, sexual selection, genetics, and language. Leigh’s reflections on evolution, competition, and cooperation show how the natural world becomes even more beautiful when viewed in the light of evolution.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published August 20, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 11, 2025
Three stars is more reflective of my inability to judge the author’s arguments at various points. The book is super clear and provides tons of fascinating examples as it charts the path by which life developed. Couple notes:
- I was somewhat moved by the comparison of the natural world to the human social order. How nature balances diversity and competition, interdependence and individualism is fascinating. We humans could learn something here. They make a powerful point that cultural evolution lacks the checks that make genetic evolution so fair.
- The discussion of the origin of life was fascinating, but I have no way of assessing the argument. Hot deep sea water burst up into colder waters above and caused chemical interactions which may have prompted the emergence of reproducible matter? I dunno.
- The discussion of consciousness was also moving. I’m fascinated by the quotation at the end that seems to suggest that the scientific presupposition that there can be no alien influence interfering with the physical problems of life may be proven to be untrue. What exactly are they suggesting with this? At the risk of sounding super naive (which I am), is it permissible to speculate that human consciousness (which the authors say allows us insights into other human and even animal existence) may turn out to be the key to peering into the depth of the universe itself? What if our having a mind suggests the universe isn’t actually mindless at all, and the processes described in this book aren’t random and based on chance, but rather based on—dare I say it—grace?
- I was somewhat moved by the comparison of the natural world to the human social order. How nature balances diversity and competition, interdependence and individualism is fascinating. We humans could learn something here. They make a powerful point that cultural evolution lacks the checks that make genetic evolution so fair.
- The discussion of the origin of life was fascinating, but I have no way of assessing the argument. Hot deep sea water burst up into colder waters above and caused chemical interactions which may have prompted the emergence of reproducible matter? I dunno.
- The discussion of consciousness was also moving. I’m fascinated by the quotation at the end that seems to suggest that the scientific presupposition that there can be no alien influence interfering with the physical problems of life may be proven to be untrue. What exactly are they suggesting with this? At the risk of sounding super naive (which I am), is it permissible to speculate that human consciousness (which the authors say allows us insights into other human and even animal existence) may turn out to be the key to peering into the depth of the universe itself? What if our having a mind suggests the universe isn’t actually mindless at all, and the processes described in this book aren’t random and based on chance, but rather based on—dare I say it—grace?
September 11, 2019
From single cell on up this book is a great exploration of nature with excellent illustrations. I will be using it in my children's home schooling. I highly recommend!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews