Because it covers so many topics, many are treated very quickly (there are a handful of two-page chapters--and this is a 600+ page book). That makes it hard going. But the writing is excellent, and the plethora of fascinating and exotic organisms and difficult but intriguing ideas makes every second worth it.

It's like a trip down a river: you start on a narrow stream in a village high in the catchment and go through your community first (human evolution). By the end you are in a river several kilometres wide and the influx of major tributaries (fungi, plants) is barely noticed. It is perhaps not surprising that the best parts are the start, on the great apes, and the end, on the origin of life and Dawkins' ideas about watersheds in evolutionary "progress".

Perhaps more than any other book, this was the one that enabled me, as a lay person with broad interest in various fields of science, to "get" the essence of evolutionary biology.

I wonder if, for me, there was something about the forward timeline and clear, discretely drawn branching of family trees of traditional teaching methods of evolutionary theory that made me want to see speciation as some sort of magical, point-in-time, event.

In contrast, by working from humanity backwards in time by relating to one's recent generations' genealogy, I was better able to conceive bushiness of the evolutionary tree as well as its more general flowing nature, being discrete only genetically, only in the changes between one generation and the next.

Yes, Dawkins can't help but sceech a little with his philosophy of relegion and politics, but a wonderfully presented, human-oriented, innovative and engaging explanation of evolutionary biology. ( )

Fascinating Read: A terrific documentation of the current state of scientific discovery and understanding of evolution, particularly relating to genes. I was imparted with a greater comprehension of the workings of the "tree of life" - where it comes from and where it might go. Dawkins has a comfortable conversational writing style that is enjoyable to follow and digest.

Have not yet read, but I am re-reading Mani (Patrick Leigh Fermor) and he mentions Dawkins, then I came across this by chance in local second-hand bookshop and could not resist (one thing leads to another...)

The ancestor's tale is a fascinating story which lots of interesting details. The format is based on the Canterbury tales. We go back in time back to the origins of life. On our journey, we are met by our distant cousins who 'join' the family tree.

I have to admit my interest dropped somewhat as the cousins got more distant. I guess I'm just not that interested in flatworms and fungi as I am in nice furry creatures :-) Being a genealogist, I never would have thought that there could be someone too distantly related to be of interest to me, but there they were!

What I liked is that this book challenges the way you look at the world. It is not an easy read. Even though my English vocabulary is pretty large (especially for a non-native speaker), there were plenty of words in there I didn't know: mainly names of creatures big and small. I was able to understand the words from context though, so didn't have to go for a dictionary which I always hate. Also, some of the concepts are very abstract and can be hard to grasp. I found that I liked that, it's nice to read a book that doesn't take its readers for granted but actually challenges them.

All in all, a great read that just got a bit too slow in the end for my taste. ( )

Wonderful book about a travel back in time to the origins of live. Every encounter with another species describes amazing adaptions to fit its natural environment. ( )

A perspective on evolution that addresses evolutionary changes on a small to large scale with populations, ecosystems, and the scope of life itself. The book intertwines different species to each other by some sort of "common ancestor."

A Must-Read: The Ancestor's Tale is packed with wonderful anecdotes and fascinating details about evolution. I will give just two examples.
1 Our lungs did not evolve from the swim bladder of bony fishes, it is the other way round - lungs came first, before evolving into the swim bladder.
2 Fungi are closely related to animals.

My only criticism is that Dawkins gives less space than I would like to our most distant and unfamiliar cousins, even though they come in a huge variety of forms, but that is just a personal thing.

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Amazingly, it was the first book I had read by Dawkins. Nothing like starting with the author's magnum opus. The only issue I have with Dawkins is that I wish he would leave politics and religion out of his books unless, of course, they are one of the points of a book. ( )

As one reviewer said, the trouble is that Dawkins is a good explainer of theories and clever reasoning, not dry fact and dates and history. I liked the discussion of phylogenetics. Finished half. ( )

Dawkins is a great science writer and this is a great book. You get a bit scared when you see the size of it and the detail about all the creatures that join this pilgrimage, but it is a highly enjoyable and enlightening read. ( )

very very good book. ( )

Better known for his "The God Delusion" and his aggressive atheism, this book is actually what Dawkins does for a living: good science, well-described. But it is like no other science book. He works his way back down (up?) the tree of life, identifying each significant branching, and uses as his literary structure Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. It gives each unique change and animal character a short, sweet description, making this long book a very zippy read. ( )

Very interesting and enlightening and well written. ( )

This is a wonderful book. Evolution, in spite of the bad rap it gets from those who are afraid that is somehow invalidates their belief system, is the basis of all knowledge of the processes of life. Dawkins, in this book, has found a way to present this incredibly complex subject in such a way that even non-specialists can begin to understand its foundations. A little of this understanding is necessary if we are to comprehend what we see around us. This book will not only help you achieve this understanding but will probably leave you wishing you understood more. ( )

The story of evolution told backwards from a human-centric, common ancestor point of view interspersed with the brilliance of Dawkins taking on an evolutionary problem, amazement, structure or process at each of the stop off points. Check it out, Hippos and Whales share a common ancestor before the two of them pair up with (most of) the rest of land mammals(!)

A detailed look at evolution and the history of animal life of Earth. The style is modelled on Chaucer's Canterbury tales. For reasons's that become clear Dawkins, retraces the ancestors of the human specis through a series of "Concestors" - a species that was alive and whose descendants evolved into different branches of "the tree of life" the style is very clear, without use of overly complicated termiology - resulting in at times a simplistic overview, though this is usually acknowledged.

Because the initial lineage chosen is human, the drawback to this journey is that several major groups diverged from us so long ago, that entire interesting groups are given only a page or two's treatment. The entire plant kingdom gets only a chapter.

Various nominated species are chosen at each concester point to give Tale - and like Chaucer's original work - each tale has a point, not necessarily on evolution, some worthy commentary on the accompanying science, assumptions etc are made. Unfortunetly the science of dating the various records is left until the Redwood's tale, more than 3/4 of the way through the book.

Some of the personal commentary from dawkins is more belivable, and given more evidence, than others. Sometimes he states his opinion is contentious, but in my view, there is room for more doubt than he sometimes credits.

Overall it is a worthy tour through the history of the animal kingdom, back to the origin of single celled entities at the dawn of time - but missing much detail that could be covered. A useful reference rather than a detailed guide. ( )

Amazing. One of the first things that comes to mind when reflecting on this book as a whole is that Darwin must have been a genius the order of Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci, Newton, whatever brainiac you call to mind. A mind-boggling subject brilliantly brought to life. If there's an arrogance to Dawkins' style, I'm inclined to believe he's entitled to some, if not all, of it; the sheer joy of reason explaining what seems impossibly grand ... it's a testament to the power of the grey stuff we carry around at the top of our spinal columns. ( )

I chose this book as a way to learn about evolution - I was not dissappointed. The structure of the book - a backwards walk through evolution, provided ample opportunity to visit the wonders of the animal kingdom. Small complaint - I find Dawkins highly padantic - on topics that you don't understand, you will grasp the basic concepts by reading this book. On ideas you already understand, you are left almost frustrated by the length of the descriptions. I appreciated the areas where he delve into the history of the theories behind the concepts, particularly the growing use of molecular methods. Definately worth the girth. ( )

This is what high school biology *should* be like! Biology is really not taught as a science at that level, with theories, and hypotheses, and the underlying theme of evolution. Instead, we spent years memorising and regurgitating useless facts about various animals, some more interesting than others; but there was always something missing - it was always just facts, without a guiding theme or overall connection.

Dawkins gives us the facts, alright - but he does so with a purpose, around the central theme of evolution, showing how life on earth is all interconnected, and that's what really makes the subject fascinating. Suddenly, biology *makes sense*! There's a story to go with the facts, and that story makes the previously meaningless collection of data seem absolutely amazing, revolutionary and eye-opening! It certainly helped me for the first time really appreciate both the complexity and interconnectedness as well as the pure awesomeness of life on earth.

Obviuosly, what with Professor Dawkins being a zoologist, the book is heavily focused on animals, and as the "journey" starts with humans, a lot of the book is devoted to vertebrates. I would happily read another book that size about exciting things like insects, invertebrates and plants! ( )

The library insisted on taking this back before I was finished with it.

I was expecting more emphasis on genetics, but this turns out to be a survey of Zoology, structured around evolutionary divergences. It starts with the modern creatures most closely related to humans and proceeds to more distant relatives. In addition to the overall survey, Dawkins introduces short "Tales" about related topics that a particular organism exemplifies. These are filled with interesting facts about Anthropology, Zoology, and Genetics. At each stage, Dawkins talks about what common ancestors of the relatives might have been like. I got as far as the insects before I had to return it.

I found The Selfish Gene more compelling because it made a very coherent argument, rather than surveying a broad territory, but there's a lot of fascinating trivia and some interesting ideas in this as well. I will probably attempt to reclaim it from the library in a few months. ( )

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/3... ( )

Dawkins tries a different, and in my opinion most successful, approach to explaining evolutionary theory in The Ancestor's Tale. In order to avoid what he terms the "conceit of hindsight" we begin our journey not at the beginning of time and ending with humans, but instead here and now, journeying back through time as we "join up" with other species to arrive at the dawn of evolution. (Or the dawn of life, as the UK version was titled).

The Canterbury Tales theme works; Dawkins lets various species tell a tale of life illustrating an evolutionary development or way of life.

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One book that everyone who wants to understand evolution ought to read... ( )