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Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species
An award-winning biologist takes us on the dramatic expeditions that unearthed the history of life on our planet. Just 150 years ago, most of our world was an unexplored wilderness. Our sense of its age was vague and vastly off the mark, and much of the knowledge of our own species’ history was a set of fantastic myths and fairy tales. In the tradition of The Microbe Hunters and Gods , Graves , and Scholars , Sean Carroll leads a rousing voyage that recounts the most important discoveries in two centuries of natural from Darwin’s trip around the world to Charles Walcott’s discovery of pre-Cambrian life in the Grand Canyon; from Louis and Mary Leakey’s investigation of our deepest past in East Africa to the trailblazers in modern laboratories who have located a time clock in our DNA.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
191 people are currently reading
2706 people want to read
About the author
Sean B. Carroll
29 books303 followersSean B. Carroll (born September 17, 1960) is a professor of molecular biology, genetics, and medical genetics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He studies the evolution of cis-regulation in the context of biological development, using Drosophila as a model system. He is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Since 2010, he has been vice-president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 156 reviews
May 9, 2017
A really good book for anyone interested in the origins of life and the history of archaeology or paleontology. It's gives a good idea of the history for the idea of evolution and how it came to be and how it has been shaped since. The writing is simple and straight forward and it's written for the average reader rather than the academic so anyone who is interested in the evolution and emergence of life can enjoy it. It's not comprehensive but it gives a good idea for anyone not familiar with the field though it focuses on the scientists behind the ideas more than the science. I found the balance between the scientists biographical information and the discussion of the ideas and their impact to be really great though. I think it's pretty hard to get that right with these non fiction books so I enjoyed this one a lot more than most.
August 30, 2015
This is a wonderful book about naturalists and their adventures in search for the origin of species. Sean Carroll is an excellent author. He is also a professor of molecular biology, and his previous books have been excellent, too.
Most chapters follow a naturalist into the wilds. The first chaptera are about the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, and Henry Bates and their subsequent analyses of findings. When Humboldt visited the United States, he visited the president, Thomas Jefferson and talked about science, not politics!
Then come some fascinating chapters about paleontologists, like Charles Walcott who discovered the remarkable Burgess Shale. Roy Chapman Andrews led an expedition into the Gobi desert in Mongolia in the 1920's. While looking for ancient human fossils, he found instead a treasure of dinosaur and mammal fossils.
Probably because of Sean Carroll's background, the last chapters are about molecular biology, DNA, and recent discoveries about the time clock embedded in the DNA of all creatures.
Sean Carroll's writing is superb. I highly recommend this book!
I didn't read this book--I listened to it as an audiobook. Jim Bond was the narrator, and he does a good job narrating this non-fiction book.
Most chapters follow a naturalist into the wilds. The first chaptera are about the adventures of Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, Alfred Wallace, and Henry Bates and their subsequent analyses of findings. When Humboldt visited the United States, he visited the president, Thomas Jefferson and talked about science, not politics!
Then come some fascinating chapters about paleontologists, like Charles Walcott who discovered the remarkable Burgess Shale. Roy Chapman Andrews led an expedition into the Gobi desert in Mongolia in the 1920's. While looking for ancient human fossils, he found instead a treasure of dinosaur and mammal fossils.
Probably because of Sean Carroll's background, the last chapters are about molecular biology, DNA, and recent discoveries about the time clock embedded in the DNA of all creatures.
Sean Carroll's writing is superb. I highly recommend this book!
I didn't read this book--I listened to it as an audiobook. Jim Bond was the narrator, and he does a good job narrating this non-fiction book.
May 10, 2023
The remarkable creatures in this book are of the human variety: each chapter discusses the lives and discoveries of famous explorers, paleontologists, and scientists who have helped unlock the secrets of life, starting with Darwin and ending with advances in DNA sequencing from just a few years ago. If you were thinking it would be about evolution’s remarkable creatures you have the wrong book. Although fossils are introduced and described, they get little time in the narrative compared to the careers and exploits of their discoverers. In that sense the title is misleading, and I wondered if it was chosen by the publisher instead of the author, on the assumption that something like “Famous Paleontologists and their Discoveries” would not sell as well. If you want to know about the most important ancient creatures I would recommend Donald Prothero’s Story of the Earth in 25 Fossils or Richard Fortey’s Fossils: The History of Life.
The book is, nevertheless, well researched and adds to the reader’s understanding of the process of scientific discovery and diffusion. For instance, it is well known that Darwin withheld publication of his theory for years, until forced to move forward by Alfred Russell Wallace’s parallel discovery. Darwin knew his theory would be controversial, and his wife was a devout Christian, but this book provides another, seldom discussed reason: early publication would have been a slap in the face to his mentors, who all believed in creation by supernatural means, and in any case the scientific community, much less society at large, was not ready for it. “Charles thought it was unwise, even reckless, to publish at the time. It would have meant breaking ranks with his teachers and supporters – Lyell, Henslow, and Sedgwick – as well as the rest of the scientific establishment and would be professional suicide.” (p.53-54) Over time, however, as evidence of an ancient earth appeared in the 1840s and 50s, people became more receptive to new ideas, within limits. As the author says, “Folks were starting to get used to the idea of the earth changing; they didn’t at all like the idea of life evolving.” (p. 66)
The book moves in chronological order, and these men (and a few women) deserve to be remembered. Many of them spent years under difficult circumstances, making and reporting their discoveries. Alexander von Humboldt is covered, and Wallace, so often overshadowed by Darwin, gets the attention he deserves.
The twentieth century starts with the remarkable discoveries of Charles Walcott, who is remembered today for his discovery of the 508 million year old Burgess Shale formation while on a fossil-hunting vacation in British Columbia. However, he was also one of the most influential paleontologists of the century, and served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for twenty years. There was also tragedy in his life: his first wife died in a train crash, and one of his sons, who had been active in assisting in the scientific studies, was the first American airman to die in Europe during World War One.
In terms of sheer Indiana Jones-type adventure, the best chapter in the book is probably the one about Roy Chapman Andrews, who started out as a janitor just so that he could be close to the dinosaur fossils, and ended up as one of the most renowned fossil hunters of the century. His expedition to Mongolia in 1923 discovered the first dinosaur eggs, and a further expedition in 1930 added to the finds. Mongolia was rich in fossils; in some places the ground was covered with with fragments, and a few large specimens were discovered. The book mentions in an aside that it is fortunate the discoveries were in Mongolia, not China, where for centuries fossils had been ground up as “dragon bones” and used in folk medicine. There is also a humorous incident which shows some of the hazards the expedition faced, in that one freezing night, as they slept, poisonous vipers entered their tents to warm themselves. No one was injured, but it must have been an exciting morning when they woke up.
There is also a chapter on Linus Pauling, who was a great scientist with many important discoveries to his credit. He did important work in X-ray crystallography and applying quantum mechanical calculations to atoms and molecules, and enhanced his reputation with a series of papers on chemical bonds. He was also a peace activist and opponent of nuclear weapons, who was refused a passport by the US government on the grounds that he might have had Communist sympathies. The book does not mention that he was also an avowed racist and eugenicist, and his insistence on treating his wife’s cancer with massive doses of Vitamin C instead of radiation and surgery probably shortened her life.
The book has an interesting chapter on the Leakeys and their east African discoveries of early hominids. Richard Leakey was more of an administrator than a hands-in-the-dirt paleontologist, so much of the actual work in the field was done by his wife Mary.
In bringing the reader up to the present time, the book ends with a discussion of the molecular clocks embedded in our DNA, where the rate of change can be roughly calculated, allowing researchers to estimate when any two species diverged from their last common ancestor.
Since I was expecting this book to be about fossils, not their discoverers, it was not what I had anticipated. I enjoyed it, however, and learned a number of things, and it is written in a style that is accessible to anyone.
The book is, nevertheless, well researched and adds to the reader’s understanding of the process of scientific discovery and diffusion. For instance, it is well known that Darwin withheld publication of his theory for years, until forced to move forward by Alfred Russell Wallace’s parallel discovery. Darwin knew his theory would be controversial, and his wife was a devout Christian, but this book provides another, seldom discussed reason: early publication would have been a slap in the face to his mentors, who all believed in creation by supernatural means, and in any case the scientific community, much less society at large, was not ready for it. “Charles thought it was unwise, even reckless, to publish at the time. It would have meant breaking ranks with his teachers and supporters – Lyell, Henslow, and Sedgwick – as well as the rest of the scientific establishment and would be professional suicide.” (p.53-54) Over time, however, as evidence of an ancient earth appeared in the 1840s and 50s, people became more receptive to new ideas, within limits. As the author says, “Folks were starting to get used to the idea of the earth changing; they didn’t at all like the idea of life evolving.” (p. 66)
The book moves in chronological order, and these men (and a few women) deserve to be remembered. Many of them spent years under difficult circumstances, making and reporting their discoveries. Alexander von Humboldt is covered, and Wallace, so often overshadowed by Darwin, gets the attention he deserves.
The twentieth century starts with the remarkable discoveries of Charles Walcott, who is remembered today for his discovery of the 508 million year old Burgess Shale formation while on a fossil-hunting vacation in British Columbia. However, he was also one of the most influential paleontologists of the century, and served as Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution for twenty years. There was also tragedy in his life: his first wife died in a train crash, and one of his sons, who had been active in assisting in the scientific studies, was the first American airman to die in Europe during World War One.
In terms of sheer Indiana Jones-type adventure, the best chapter in the book is probably the one about Roy Chapman Andrews, who started out as a janitor just so that he could be close to the dinosaur fossils, and ended up as one of the most renowned fossil hunters of the century. His expedition to Mongolia in 1923 discovered the first dinosaur eggs, and a further expedition in 1930 added to the finds. Mongolia was rich in fossils; in some places the ground was covered with with fragments, and a few large specimens were discovered. The book mentions in an aside that it is fortunate the discoveries were in Mongolia, not China, where for centuries fossils had been ground up as “dragon bones” and used in folk medicine. There is also a humorous incident which shows some of the hazards the expedition faced, in that one freezing night, as they slept, poisonous vipers entered their tents to warm themselves. No one was injured, but it must have been an exciting morning when they woke up.
There is also a chapter on Linus Pauling, who was a great scientist with many important discoveries to his credit. He did important work in X-ray crystallography and applying quantum mechanical calculations to atoms and molecules, and enhanced his reputation with a series of papers on chemical bonds. He was also a peace activist and opponent of nuclear weapons, who was refused a passport by the US government on the grounds that he might have had Communist sympathies. The book does not mention that he was also an avowed racist and eugenicist, and his insistence on treating his wife’s cancer with massive doses of Vitamin C instead of radiation and surgery probably shortened her life.
The book has an interesting chapter on the Leakeys and their east African discoveries of early hominids. Richard Leakey was more of an administrator than a hands-in-the-dirt paleontologist, so much of the actual work in the field was done by his wife Mary.
In bringing the reader up to the present time, the book ends with a discussion of the molecular clocks embedded in our DNA, where the rate of change can be roughly calculated, allowing researchers to estimate when any two species diverged from their last common ancestor.
Since I was expecting this book to be about fossils, not their discoverers, it was not what I had anticipated. I enjoyed it, however, and learned a number of things, and it is written in a style that is accessible to anyone.
February 16, 2010
Sooo.....we did evolve from apes. I knew it! That explains so many things, all the hair in unusual places, the urge to groom my husband, why my youngest hangs on me like a monkey. Carroll includes a quote on the last page of this book, talk is cheap, exploration and discovery is hard. Boy, oh boy is that true! Some people are just born to find stuff. Some people are just premade to tackle decades of dealing with sunburns, throwing up, fire ant bites, fevers, sea-sickness, more throwing up, starvation, bitter cold, gale force winds, spear-holding natives, being buried in sandstorms, and sore bums from riding donkeys. But I don't know, being the first to set foot in unexplored wilderness, places no humans have treaded in thousands of years, if at all, may make it worth it. Just maybe...
A great group of mostly men (and a few briefly mentioned women - Mary Leakey), some tiny men (Darwin), some Indiana Jones types (Roy Chapman Andrews), and some nerdy, but cute multiple Nobel Prize winning scientists (Linus Pauling) are included along with several others in this book. I learned a lot of things I didn't know about some the greatest explorers of the last centuries. What trials they went through to make their discoveries. What great determination!
After reading this I felt a great urge to marry a determined explorer and let him take the credit for all my discoveries, or maybe take up rock collecting again, or visit the nearest fossil beds, as I live in Idaho and there are a lot of past tense creatures buried around here, not including our current state political leaders....
Ahem.
Read this book if you are the least bit interested in science, discovering something new, and if you've ever in your life hit a rock with a hammer to find a diamond inside.
Just be sure to wear protective glasses if you do that.
Trust me I know.
A great group of mostly men (and a few briefly mentioned women - Mary Leakey), some tiny men (Darwin), some Indiana Jones types (Roy Chapman Andrews), and some nerdy, but cute multiple Nobel Prize winning scientists (Linus Pauling) are included along with several others in this book. I learned a lot of things I didn't know about some the greatest explorers of the last centuries. What trials they went through to make their discoveries. What great determination!
After reading this I felt a great urge to marry a determined explorer and let him take the credit for all my discoveries, or maybe take up rock collecting again, or visit the nearest fossil beds, as I live in Idaho and there are a lot of past tense creatures buried around here, not including our current state political leaders....
Ahem.
Read this book if you are the least bit interested in science, discovering something new, and if you've ever in your life hit a rock with a hammer to find a diamond inside.
Just be sure to wear protective glasses if you do that.
Trust me I know.
September 24, 2015
Subtitle: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species. Now that Richard Dawkins has gone from spokesman for biology to spokesman for atheists, we are left to look for who will take up the previous role played by Dawkins, and before him Stephen Jay Gould. Sean Carroll is the author of two (excellent) previous books on evolution; he is part of the new school called Evo Devo, which is less hip but more substantive than the name suggests. Here, he puts aside (but not far aside) the topic of evolution per se, to talk not so much about biology, as biologists. The 'Remarkable Creatures' of the title are the explorer researchers who had both the sense of adventure to go far afield to see life where it was happening, and also the aptitude for abstraction to formulate or extend theories to explain what they saw. It's the sort of book one reads (or writes) to get a good perspective on how the field has come this far, and what biases and assumptions tripped up your predecessors, the better to see your own, perhaps.
Also, of course, the sort of thing that would cast you as a natural spokesman for your field.
Not that I'm saying this was Carroll's conscious intention. But it cannot have escaped his attention that even after a century of discussion of Darwin's 'Origin of Species', there is still a lot of basic misunderstanding about evolution and biology among the general public, and not only among those who just don't accept it at all. In order to help fix that, you have to be well known enough to be listened to.
Carroll does reveal himself to be an adept story-teller. Each of the chapters in "Remarkable Creatures"is essentially a short story, about a man who made a major contribution to biology. They are all men, probably because until very recently it was not feasible for a woman to go alone (or nearly so) into the wilderness on a scientific expedition. The chapters relate to each other tangentially (Darwin's story a good preface to Wallace's, Wallace a good preface to Bates, who he had traveled with early in his career, and so forth). Several of them set off into the wilderness, far from civilized areas at that time, for much the same reason that younger reporters go into war zones more recently: it is dangerous, dirty, and physically and emotionally grueling, but all these things mean that few others will do it, and therefore you have a better chance of distinguishing yourself from your peers.
Many of them have some point in their life when their decision to stake everything on a gamble of this kind seemed to have been a mistake. I was left wondering how many equally brilliant minds may have gambled and lost, struck down by yellow fever or killed in a shipwreck or having simply guessed wrong as to where the fossil or sample they were in search of lay. We only hear about those who gambled and won.
There are clear differences in personality, however, and Carroll does a good job of finding enough anecdotes on each subject to make them come alive as real people, with their own flaws and eccentricities. You come away from the book with an opinion as to which of these people you would want to have as a friend, and not every reader will have the same conclusion. Carroll is to be congratulated for this, as too many histories of science (especially those in textbooks) tell us only about the conclusions of scientists, not how they arrived at them or why they cared.
Another thing which comes to mind any time I read a book of this sort is, why are our textbooks so dull? "Remarkable Creatures" is no more technical than your typical high school text, and it's a lot more engaging. If I were inclined towards conspiracy theories, I would suspect a plot to keep our kids from learning science, by convincing them that it is boring.
The other recurring theme in Carroll's stories, is the length of time it takes for evidence to overturn prior consensus. This is probably for the best, as a scientific field willing to immediately discard everything it had believed at the appearance of the first unexpected claim, would probably not be an improvement (and we do not see here the stories of those who claimed the established consensus was wrong, who turned out to be wrong themselves). However, there is no question that time and again we can see a generational divide, with older scientists still resisting the steady accumulation of facts well after a younger generation has taken to the new view with enthusiasm. As our average lifespan increases, especially among the advanced economies from which scientists are mostly drawn, I wonder if it will become more difficult to overthrow the established viewpoint simply because it takes longer for them all to die off and make way for the new.
Unless, of course, they move on to new careers, like being spokesman for atheists. Behold, the new spokesman: Sean B. Carroll. Biology is in good hands.
Also, of course, the sort of thing that would cast you as a natural spokesman for your field.
Not that I'm saying this was Carroll's conscious intention. But it cannot have escaped his attention that even after a century of discussion of Darwin's 'Origin of Species', there is still a lot of basic misunderstanding about evolution and biology among the general public, and not only among those who just don't accept it at all. In order to help fix that, you have to be well known enough to be listened to.
Carroll does reveal himself to be an adept story-teller. Each of the chapters in "Remarkable Creatures"is essentially a short story, about a man who made a major contribution to biology. They are all men, probably because until very recently it was not feasible for a woman to go alone (or nearly so) into the wilderness on a scientific expedition. The chapters relate to each other tangentially (Darwin's story a good preface to Wallace's, Wallace a good preface to Bates, who he had traveled with early in his career, and so forth). Several of them set off into the wilderness, far from civilized areas at that time, for much the same reason that younger reporters go into war zones more recently: it is dangerous, dirty, and physically and emotionally grueling, but all these things mean that few others will do it, and therefore you have a better chance of distinguishing yourself from your peers.
Many of them have some point in their life when their decision to stake everything on a gamble of this kind seemed to have been a mistake. I was left wondering how many equally brilliant minds may have gambled and lost, struck down by yellow fever or killed in a shipwreck or having simply guessed wrong as to where the fossil or sample they were in search of lay. We only hear about those who gambled and won.
There are clear differences in personality, however, and Carroll does a good job of finding enough anecdotes on each subject to make them come alive as real people, with their own flaws and eccentricities. You come away from the book with an opinion as to which of these people you would want to have as a friend, and not every reader will have the same conclusion. Carroll is to be congratulated for this, as too many histories of science (especially those in textbooks) tell us only about the conclusions of scientists, not how they arrived at them or why they cared.
Another thing which comes to mind any time I read a book of this sort is, why are our textbooks so dull? "Remarkable Creatures" is no more technical than your typical high school text, and it's a lot more engaging. If I were inclined towards conspiracy theories, I would suspect a plot to keep our kids from learning science, by convincing them that it is boring.
The other recurring theme in Carroll's stories, is the length of time it takes for evidence to overturn prior consensus. This is probably for the best, as a scientific field willing to immediately discard everything it had believed at the appearance of the first unexpected claim, would probably not be an improvement (and we do not see here the stories of those who claimed the established consensus was wrong, who turned out to be wrong themselves). However, there is no question that time and again we can see a generational divide, with older scientists still resisting the steady accumulation of facts well after a younger generation has taken to the new view with enthusiasm. As our average lifespan increases, especially among the advanced economies from which scientists are mostly drawn, I wonder if it will become more difficult to overthrow the established viewpoint simply because it takes longer for them all to die off and make way for the new.
Unless, of course, they move on to new careers, like being spokesman for atheists. Behold, the new spokesman: Sean B. Carroll. Biology is in good hands.
March 31, 2020
I'm not sure if the Remarkable Creatures referred to in the title are the microbes, dinosaurs, and hominids discovered by these scientists, or the scientists themselves. I'm going with the latter.
I just finished a book written by the scientist in Chapter 10. Also excellent.
I just finished a book written by the scientist in Chapter 10. Also excellent.
December 15, 2010
I very much enjoyed this author's style and method of presentation of the material. He makes complex subjects accessible for the non-scientist but doesn't dumb the material down so much that it's robbed of its vigor. While I was familiar with a number of the episodes and scientists portrayed, there was plenty that was new to me and I learned quite a bit. Each chapter is a mini-biography for a key researcher or explorer, combined with the major he advances made. What becomes clear is how each new breakthrough owes much to prior discoveries and theories.
March 31, 2009
I liked this book because it was as much about the scientists included as their discoveries. Of course now I want to go pick up more thorough biographies about some of the people that it covers...
The very end of the book starts to drag though. After a good overview of Pauling's political activism, things get a bit jargon heavy and we stop getting the same level of personal detail that made the rest of the book so interesting.
The very end of the book starts to drag though. After a good overview of Pauling's political activism, things get a bit jargon heavy and we stop getting the same level of personal detail that made the rest of the book so interesting.
December 31, 2024
Quite an interesting summary of the history of paleontology and the most important people behind it. Sometimes I was a bit confused by which parts of their stories the author chose to tell, especially in the beginning. Why does Humboldt’s friendship with Jefferson get treated in more detail than his time exploring South America. And why is Darwin’s sea sickness more important than his discovery of fossils?
Also, I would have liked to have a visual timeline somewhere. I did have trouble putting the different explorers into relation to each other and, especially in the middle, where the discoveries were quite similar in a way (one piece of human scull here, one piece there) I had trouble keeping the stories apart and remembering everyone who was mentioned.
Also, I would have liked to have a visual timeline somewhere. I did have trouble putting the different explorers into relation to each other and, especially in the middle, where the discoveries were quite similar in a way (one piece of human scull here, one piece there) I had trouble keeping the stories apart and remembering everyone who was mentioned.
March 13, 2019
Remarkable Creatures shows us the remarkable journeys that men like Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace embarked on to try to solve the “mystery of mysteries” about the origins of species.
We meet scientists like John Ostrom, who was able to make the evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs via a fossil named Archaeopteryx, an ancient bird that lived alongside the great beasts. Explorer and discoverer Roy Andrews found a plethora of dinosaur bones, including intact dinosaur eggs.
Fun Fact: Roy Andrews was famous for always carrying his pistol and wearing his hat while on expeditions. He may have been the inspiration for the character Indiana Jones!
Louis and Mary Leakey were the husband/wife team that located hundreds of early Stone Age hand-made tools in Africa, not to mention fossils of the earliest species of Man, Australopithecus. This was unexpected since it was believed at the time that the origins of Man were in Asia, so their discoveries turned the paleoanthropology world upside down.
Carroll also introduces us to the scientists who were able to study ancient DNA and provide an age when Man and Ape split from our common ancestor. We also learn about Neanderthals and their relation (or lack thereof) with modern humans.
Author Sean B. Carroll is a great writer and makes learning about all these amazing people fun and engaging. There is also plenty of photos to add to the narrative. The biographies and the descriptions of the discoveries are short, but I didn’t mind. This was a great introduction for those who want to meet the big names of the archaeology and anthropology fields and learn a bit about the amazing discoveries they made!
We meet scientists like John Ostrom, who was able to make the evolutionary connection between birds and dinosaurs via a fossil named Archaeopteryx, an ancient bird that lived alongside the great beasts. Explorer and discoverer Roy Andrews found a plethora of dinosaur bones, including intact dinosaur eggs.
Fun Fact: Roy Andrews was famous for always carrying his pistol and wearing his hat while on expeditions. He may have been the inspiration for the character Indiana Jones!
Louis and Mary Leakey were the husband/wife team that located hundreds of early Stone Age hand-made tools in Africa, not to mention fossils of the earliest species of Man, Australopithecus. This was unexpected since it was believed at the time that the origins of Man were in Asia, so their discoveries turned the paleoanthropology world upside down.
Carroll also introduces us to the scientists who were able to study ancient DNA and provide an age when Man and Ape split from our common ancestor. We also learn about Neanderthals and their relation (or lack thereof) with modern humans.
Author Sean B. Carroll is a great writer and makes learning about all these amazing people fun and engaging. There is also plenty of photos to add to the narrative. The biographies and the descriptions of the discoveries are short, but I didn’t mind. This was a great introduction for those who want to meet the big names of the archaeology and anthropology fields and learn a bit about the amazing discoveries they made!
January 8, 2026
Sean Carroll relates the journeys and adventures of naturalists/scientists starting with Alexander von Humboldt. He had a great influence on the naturalists who followed--in particular, a young Englishman named Charles Darwin, who, at the age of 22, set off on the HMS Beagle for a round-the-world voyage. What Darwin learned on this voyage would shake the foundations of science as it led to his writing his book "The Origin of Species..." Another naturalist who was also an explorer was Alfred Russel Wallace who developed the theory of evolution in parallel to Darwin. We also follow a Dutch doctor, Eugene Dubois, to the Dutch East Indies, where he discovered the prehistoric ape-man who became known as "Java Man." Then there's Charles Walcott, who found Cambrian life in the Burgess Shale- and Roy Chapman Andrews, who found dinosaur eggs in the Gobi desert. And we are with Neil Shubin in the Arctic as he finds "Tiktaalik"--the fishapod. We also go to Olduvai gorge with the Leakeys to search for our early ancestors in Africa. And, finally, we are in the labs of the present-day where DNA is being extracted from extinct species. It all makes for an exciting story--and a most important one.
June 15, 2018
This book is difficult to classify. It contains biographies, historical accounts, scientific explanations and lots of adventure. Like other reviewers have pointed out, the Remarkable creatures are both those being explored and the explorers themselves. Overall, this was one of the best natural science books I've had the pleasure of enjoying and I recommend reading it together with Between Man and Beast: An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure That Took the Victorian World by Storm for a similar feeling.
(P.S. As an avid dinosaur enthusiast, I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the K-T extinction and the discovery of dino fossils - especially the "birds-are-dinosaurs" revelation.)
(P.S. As an avid dinosaur enthusiast, I particularly enjoyed the chapters about the K-T extinction and the discovery of dino fossils - especially the "birds-are-dinosaurs" revelation.)
November 25, 2018
It’s a book on the history of the development of evolutionary theory. I expected more development in the book and a more in-depth look at the theory. It’s a good introduction for someone that has no background in the history of evolutionary science.
December 27, 2019
A very well written book, it takes you on a very long and fun-filled adventure, with all great naturalists and scientists. If you are remotely interested in evolution and how we arrived at this understanding of the history of our planet, it is a great read. I would also highly recommend it to anyone who is pursuing natural science or wants to do so. It shows you the struggle of scientists, how often they felt lost and how often they were lost and yet made great contributions to their field. It brings out the idea of how you can be good at school, bad at it, never receive any formal education, be politically influencial or have no money, and none of it would matter if you are truly passionate about what you wish to do. It is a book full of adventure, emotions and a lot of information about evolution of species, including us.
April 12, 2019
A collection of interesting stories from evolutionary scientists. Or how a fall during a playful elephant dung-throwing fight resulted in finding 3.5 million year old hominid footprints.
August 24, 2018
Really loved this book, it's a wonderful read about the progress of evolutionary science. Fascinating and well written.
January 3, 2020
First half awesome, second half drags a bit.
February 1, 2015
Possibly the best of three books of his I have read so far, as the previous ones dealt with the specific mechanisms of evolution and were therefore more technical. The author is passionate about evolutionary biology, and this is perhaps his way of paying homage to the giants of the field, from Darwin and Wallace to the lesser known but more recent paleontologists and scientists that have made significant inroads into our understanding of the timeline of evolution on Earth and the major events that have marked it's long history, leading right up to our own species.
Each chapter delves briefly into the lives of one of these famous persona, serving as a sort of biographical sketch, and how their discoveries proved to be significant. They are short, concise and highly readable, but obviously not meant as a detailed biography or treatise on the particular subject concerned. For elaboration, the reader can refer to the end notes and references at the end. By organizing itself in chronological order, the book is a good recap of the major advances in the study of evolution and shows how far we have come in our understanding of the mysteries of how we arrived at the present state of life on Earth. It is thus grand in scope and highly stimulating and exciting reading, even for those with prior knowledge of the key players.
Carroll postulates at the end of the book that the next great breakthrough will be the discovery of life on other planets, which is logical given we have already more or less established the timeline of evolution on our own. The high probability of there being extraterrestrial life given the sheer number of potentially habitable planets out there makes it a matter of time before we should find them. However it is also slightly ominous that we have had no contact so far with other intelligent beings given the same. One can perhaps surmise that it is also equally likely that any technologically advanced civilizations out there could well have died off, through internal conflict or other self made cataclysm, before contact with others could be made. Given our own bleak prospects of reaching planetary limits to growth and self destructing in the not too distant future, I give such reasoning quite high credibility.
Each chapter delves briefly into the lives of one of these famous persona, serving as a sort of biographical sketch, and how their discoveries proved to be significant. They are short, concise and highly readable, but obviously not meant as a detailed biography or treatise on the particular subject concerned. For elaboration, the reader can refer to the end notes and references at the end. By organizing itself in chronological order, the book is a good recap of the major advances in the study of evolution and shows how far we have come in our understanding of the mysteries of how we arrived at the present state of life on Earth. It is thus grand in scope and highly stimulating and exciting reading, even for those with prior knowledge of the key players.
Carroll postulates at the end of the book that the next great breakthrough will be the discovery of life on other planets, which is logical given we have already more or less established the timeline of evolution on our own. The high probability of there being extraterrestrial life given the sheer number of potentially habitable planets out there makes it a matter of time before we should find them. However it is also slightly ominous that we have had no contact so far with other intelligent beings given the same. One can perhaps surmise that it is also equally likely that any technologically advanced civilizations out there could well have died off, through internal conflict or other self made cataclysm, before contact with others could be made. Given our own bleak prospects of reaching planetary limits to growth and self destructing in the not too distant future, I give such reasoning quite high credibility.
February 10, 2010
Science has a reputation for being boring. I’ve made the acquaintance of many a science textbook in my time, and I can say that, in spite of my love for science, that reputation is not unwarranted. Textbook writers could stand to learn a thing or two from Sean B. Carroll, author of Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origin of Species.
In Remarkable Creatures, Carroll tells the stories of many of the men and women that have made great discoveries in the field of evolutionary science. It turns out that these scientists are not the stodgy, grey-haired stereotypes that we’d expect. Henry Wallace Bates lived 11 years alone in the Amazon. Alfred Wallace spent 10 days in a leaky lifeboat after his ship burned and sank. Paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews may be the real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, right down to his fear of snakes and his ever-present pistol.
Their stories are fascinating, and while I read them, I couldn’t help but learn an awful lot about evolution. Perhaps if science was presented with a little more personality, more people would be interested in studying the sciences, or (if the threat of inhospitable environments and tropical diseases are just too daunting) at least reading about them.
The last two chapters leave the field behind and dwell almost exclusively in the laboratory where the science can get a little intense (I had to read those chapters very slowly and more than once), but otherwise, I think this is a book that almost anyone would enjoy.*
* Unless you aren’t a fan of evolution, but I probably didn’t need to say that, did I?
In Remarkable Creatures, Carroll tells the stories of many of the men and women that have made great discoveries in the field of evolutionary science. It turns out that these scientists are not the stodgy, grey-haired stereotypes that we’d expect. Henry Wallace Bates lived 11 years alone in the Amazon. Alfred Wallace spent 10 days in a leaky lifeboat after his ship burned and sank. Paleontologist Roy Chapman Andrews may be the real-life inspiration for Indiana Jones, right down to his fear of snakes and his ever-present pistol.
Their stories are fascinating, and while I read them, I couldn’t help but learn an awful lot about evolution. Perhaps if science was presented with a little more personality, more people would be interested in studying the sciences, or (if the threat of inhospitable environments and tropical diseases are just too daunting) at least reading about them.
The last two chapters leave the field behind and dwell almost exclusively in the laboratory where the science can get a little intense (I had to read those chapters very slowly and more than once), but otherwise, I think this is a book that almost anyone would enjoy.*
* Unless you aren’t a fan of evolution, but I probably didn’t need to say that, did I?
April 5, 2009
I've read several of Dr. Carroll's scientific papers. So, standing on science section of a book store and finding a natural history book authored by him was like a tiny adventure for me, a successful one. I couldn't wait to read this book and follow his journey in tracking the pioneers of scientific natural history research in search for all the remarkable lifeforms on earth.
From Darwin, Wallace, Eugene Dubois with his 'Java man', back to the "Cambrian period which marked the early life on earth" with Charles Walcott, to the CSI work on finding the difference of Neanderthals to modern human by Allan Wilson and others, seemed timeless.
In the afterword, Sean Carroll offered the universe as the great challenge for exploration of lifeforms as long as you use the right key by following the right path to seek. I, myself thought that the earth is still challenging, and opening our minds to seek the right question to answer is the key to keep exploring. Just like Roy Chapman Andrews said, "always there has been an adventure just around the corner-and the world is still full of corners!"
Anyway, Roy who explored the Gobi desert in 1925 and found the first dinosaur's eggs and some Cretaceous mammals, was thought to inspire George Lucas on Indiana Jones character. He was also afraid of snakes!
From Darwin, Wallace, Eugene Dubois with his 'Java man', back to the "Cambrian period which marked the early life on earth" with Charles Walcott, to the CSI work on finding the difference of Neanderthals to modern human by Allan Wilson and others, seemed timeless.
In the afterword, Sean Carroll offered the universe as the great challenge for exploration of lifeforms as long as you use the right key by following the right path to seek. I, myself thought that the earth is still challenging, and opening our minds to seek the right question to answer is the key to keep exploring. Just like Roy Chapman Andrews said, "always there has been an adventure just around the corner-and the world is still full of corners!"
Anyway, Roy who explored the Gobi desert in 1925 and found the first dinosaur's eggs and some Cretaceous mammals, was thought to inspire George Lucas on Indiana Jones character. He was also afraid of snakes!
April 26, 2009
In an extremely close, affectionate, life-long marriage, Charles Darwin and his wife Emma were able to tolerate and transcend their philosophical differences. (She was a devout, conservative Christian who believed in the Biblical version of creation.) He entrusted her with the disposition of his writings in the event of his early demise.
Louis Leaky, a son of English missionaries in Africa, was initiated into the native Kikuyu society at the age of 11. He received an African name (Wakuruigi, "Son of the Sparrow Hawk"), constructed a dwelling of his own, and thereafter lived apart from his family. His eventual wife, Mary Leaky, enjoyed relaxing with a cigar at the end of the day.
On April 29, 1962, Linus Pauling picketed the White House with a group of protesters opposed to the U.S. resumption of nuclear testing. Then he changed his clothes, went inside, and joined President Kennedy for a dinner honoring him and other American Nobel Prize winners.
With details like these, Sean B. Carroll brings to life some of the "remarkable creatures" whose discoveries have furthered human understanding of the history of life on earth. A very readable book, Remarkable Creatures does a credible job of putting into context about two hundred years of scientific accomplishments. Highly recommended.
Louis Leaky, a son of English missionaries in Africa, was initiated into the native Kikuyu society at the age of 11. He received an African name (Wakuruigi, "Son of the Sparrow Hawk"), constructed a dwelling of his own, and thereafter lived apart from his family. His eventual wife, Mary Leaky, enjoyed relaxing with a cigar at the end of the day.
On April 29, 1962, Linus Pauling picketed the White House with a group of protesters opposed to the U.S. resumption of nuclear testing. Then he changed his clothes, went inside, and joined President Kennedy for a dinner honoring him and other American Nobel Prize winners.
With details like these, Sean B. Carroll brings to life some of the "remarkable creatures" whose discoveries have furthered human understanding of the history of life on earth. A very readable book, Remarkable Creatures does a credible job of putting into context about two hundred years of scientific accomplishments. Highly recommended.
June 16, 2011
Carroll writes a fieldwork-centric, mostly paleontology-centric book on evolution, which is interesting. You sometimes get pretty interesting paleontological popular science (Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish, which Carroll covers, being a recent example), but they tend to be quite narrow in scope. It's easy to see why: you can't really give a broad overview of the whole of evolutionary biology without tackling more theoretical work. That work may be borne out in the fossil record, but using the fossil record itself to demonstrate broad principles will generally require a whole lot of writing.
So what Carroll does is focus on stories: the life of Darwin and his trip to the Galapagos; Wallace's expeditions in South America; Walcott's discovery of the Burgess Shale; the discovery that birds are descendants of dinosaurs and that many dinosaurs were more birdlike than we thought with Archaeopteryx and Deinonychus; Shubin's discovery of Tiktaalik; Louis Leakey's entire life. Most of these stories are heavily edited, perhaps unconsciously, to make the people involved look more significant and generally much nicer than they actually are (Wallace really wasn't that relevant; Leakey was by all accounts a twathead, but you'd never know it from Carroll's retelling), but I guess that's to be expected from a book that sets out to inspire at least as much as to inform.
So what Carroll does is focus on stories: the life of Darwin and his trip to the Galapagos; Wallace's expeditions in South America; Walcott's discovery of the Burgess Shale; the discovery that birds are descendants of dinosaurs and that many dinosaurs were more birdlike than we thought with Archaeopteryx and Deinonychus; Shubin's discovery of Tiktaalik; Louis Leakey's entire life. Most of these stories are heavily edited, perhaps unconsciously, to make the people involved look more significant and generally much nicer than they actually are (Wallace really wasn't that relevant; Leakey was by all accounts a twathead, but you'd never know it from Carroll's retelling), but I guess that's to be expected from a book that sets out to inspire at least as much as to inform.
July 13, 2013
Surprisingly engaging read (my track record with nonfiction is not that good -- I tend to pick up books that I read about / heard about somewhere else that has engaging summaries and find them incredibly dull and long winded once I actually start reading them). It's kind of a...dramatized serial biography of people who are involved in studies of evolution. FAST read, which I definitely appreciate. Note that it IS written by a male Caucasian professor though and so the stories are, with very few exceptions, centered around male Caucasian scientists. There are a few lines where it seems like the author was going the lines of "oh those silly natives don't know what TREASURES they have", while discussing paleontology that makes me uncomfortable. It is however, a much lesser degree of problematic than Darwin's depiction of natives. So that's good. Shows we've come somewhere since 1800s.
Would recommend for people interested in evolution. Note I didn't say scientists because one thing this book does really well is making the research accessible to a generalized audience (I think so, anyway, but I'm a scientist so I'm obviously biased) (but I really do think the author did this particularly well.).
Would recommend for people interested in evolution. Note I didn't say scientists because one thing this book does really well is making the research accessible to a generalized audience (I think so, anyway, but I'm a scientist so I'm obviously biased) (but I really do think the author did this particularly well.).
January 31, 2012
Carroll's earlier book about evolutionary biology, "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" was an amazing book that takes the reader me deep inside the science underlying evolution and explained in ways comprehensible to the nonscientist how a limited number of genes go about building the myriad forms our bodies take. Given how great that book was, my expectations were high for this one.
Unfortunately, for me at least, this book turns out to be a very lightweight survey of several explorer/scientists whose explorations provided raw material from which theories of evolution were developed. The reading level is suitable for Junior High School students, the science rudimentary, and the stories Carroll tells will already be very familiar to anyone who keeps up with the history of science.
That doesn't make it a bad book. It would be a fine introduction for a young person with an interest in science or an adult whose knowledge of pioneers like Darwin was limited to what he'd seen on TV documentaries.
But there is little here for the adult reader who keeps up with the history of science.
Unfortunately, for me at least, this book turns out to be a very lightweight survey of several explorer/scientists whose explorations provided raw material from which theories of evolution were developed. The reading level is suitable for Junior High School students, the science rudimentary, and the stories Carroll tells will already be very familiar to anyone who keeps up with the history of science.
That doesn't make it a bad book. It would be a fine introduction for a young person with an interest in science or an adult whose knowledge of pioneers like Darwin was limited to what he'd seen on TV documentaries.
But there is little here for the adult reader who keeps up with the history of science.
May 23, 2016
Excellent overview of the search to explain how species evolved, as told through the stories of the individual scientists/explorers - from Humboldt (who I didn't really know anything about other than that they named a Squid and a Current after him) through Pauling and Wilson and the latest genetic advances. Would have been 5 stars except for the last two chapters - DNA/RNA, chemistry, etc - which I found a slog and ended up skimming; but I'm sure other readers probably liked that part best - everyone has their own preferences.
For me, the earlier the better - I loved the first section on Humboldt, Darwin, Wallace and Bates, (and it was nice to find out that Darwin wasn't quite the schmuck he appears to be if you only focus on how he screwed over Wallace - long story). The next section on "the dinosaur guys" was also excellent - I'm already a huge fan of Andrews, but Walcott was a welcome surprise.
Anyway - strongly recommended for anyone who enjoys natural history, and the stories of the natural historians who discovered it all.
For me, the earlier the better - I loved the first section on Humboldt, Darwin, Wallace and Bates, (and it was nice to find out that Darwin wasn't quite the schmuck he appears to be if you only focus on how he screwed over Wallace - long story). The next section on "the dinosaur guys" was also excellent - I'm already a huge fan of Andrews, but Walcott was a welcome surprise.
Anyway - strongly recommended for anyone who enjoys natural history, and the stories of the natural historians who discovered it all.
April 30, 2013
This was just absolutely brilliant! It was extraordinarily interesting and informative, exceptionally well written, beautifully researched, marvelously accessible and exciting, and wonderfully cohesive!
So many times I found myself shaking my head with awe and wonder at the discoveries made by the scientists profiled in this book. It was just marvelous--I loved it! It made me wish that I had stopped flirting with the idea of majoring in biology, and just gone ahead and done it. Remarkable, indeed!
Oh, and Jim Bond's narration of the audiobook was excellent, too! Very well done! I understand there are pictures in this book, which I missed by listening to it rather than reading it, but Wikipedia took care of me when I wanted visuals.
So many times I found myself shaking my head with awe and wonder at the discoveries made by the scientists profiled in this book. It was just marvelous--I loved it! It made me wish that I had stopped flirting with the idea of majoring in biology, and just gone ahead and done it. Remarkable, indeed!
Oh, and Jim Bond's narration of the audiobook was excellent, too! Very well done! I understand there are pictures in this book, which I missed by listening to it rather than reading it, but Wikipedia took care of me when I wanted visuals.
December 9, 2016
Sean Carroll writes a book about exciting advances in evolutionary biology by introducing many of the groundbreaking surprises and people who progressed the profession. Many of the early paleontologists had to keep quiet for fear of profound public disapproval. Darwin suffered through pressure to become a doctor or a theologian which he attempted and rejected only to eventually throw the beliefs of both professions into disarray. Louis and Mary Leaky suggested that humans originated in Africa, upsetting many and Charles Walcott became aware of Precambrian life in the Grand Canyon upsetting the idea the world was created in seven days. I found it all interesting and exciting.
April 15, 2012
How can a history of natural historians be unputdownable you ask? I don't know, but it is! Holy crap this a REALLY good book! This author draws up just the right amount of detail and interesting facts around the lives of the men and women who have made the pivotal advances in the sciences of natural history, evolutionary biology, paleontology, anthropology, and evolutionary genetics. I have been taking brief notes on each chapter and once I've finished them I plan on updating this review.
February 20, 2017
If you liked those little vignettes in Cosmos where a scientist's achievements were laid out fully and beautifully, you'll like this book.
July 21, 2009
Another junket book from my local NPR station (support public radio!) - not a story of the origin of species...but about the people and EVENTS surrounding the actual search itself.
Starts - sorta - with Darwin. But then goes into his contemporaries, students...and inheritors.
Simple, lovely stuff. Can be devored in an afternoon.
Starts - sorta - with Darwin. But then goes into his contemporaries, students...and inheritors.
Simple, lovely stuff. Can be devored in an afternoon.
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