Evolutionary Genetics

by John Maynard Smith

Authored by an internationally prominent figure in the field, Evolutionary Genetics unites the molecular and population approaches to evolution to show how population genetics can be applied to real biological problems. It explores the mechanisms of evolution, covering basic population and
quantitative genetics; evolutionary game theory; evolution of behavior; prokaryote evolution; evolution of genomes; sex, recombination, breeding systems, and sexual selection; speciation; and macroevolution. Throughout, science is viewed as a dynamic activity rather than a body of received
doctrine, and current research is given a comprehensive treatment. End-of-chapter problems, with answers and explanations at the back of the book, along with computer projects, allow students to practice the skills central to problem-solving and model-making in population and evolution.

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

338 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

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

[Alex Zakharov]

A friend and I took Coursera’s “Genetics and Evolution” MOOC and we used this textbook to get a better understanding of the material. It is authored by a giant in the field, who also happens to be a clear writer. It is hard to overstate how consequential such clarity is for communicating scientific concepts, suffices to say that both of the “recommended” textbooks are utterly incomprehensible. After genuinely suffering with Griffith’s and Freeman’s textbooks for the first two weeks, we discovered J.M. Smith by accident and the light bulb just went off. The contrast was so great, I started to think that environment actually matters :)

Notes to self – 4-page handwritten summary of the course:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/x77XahvpmEU...

[Ni Hi]

Concepts explained easily. Perfect for students

[DrosoPHila]

This was written as an MSc-level textbook by the late great John Maynard Smith, and is fairly mathematical/statistical.