Tangled Tree: A Radical New History of Life | 
so-soI love me a good science book, especially biological sciences, but this is SO DRY. Additionally, it‘s about genes that can move laterally from cell to cell, but it takes forever to even talk about these. If I hadn‘t had the audio to go to, I never would have gotten through this. (And a note to the audio reader: cocci is pronounced cox-i, not cotch-ee. Unless maybe you‘re from Queens.)
pickDidn‘t realize how much college biology I remembered, and how much I forgot. A compellingly informative read.
pickWhile this was an absolute pick for me, I can see where this book may have been a dud for others. I have a degree in microbiology/biotechnology so I wasn‘t bothered when the book wandered off into the weeds at times. I found it fascinating and it gave me some further reading in the notes. If you‘re a big ol‘ evolutionary biology nerd like me, you may enjoy this one.
pickI'm not gonna lie, there were some parts I had a hard time understanding fully but all in all this was a very readable and interesting science book :)
Yay my books arrived! Or some of them. I seem to be having some trouble with my usually reliable seller and two books are still stuck at the warehouse. And what is worse, they suddenly did a huge increase in their prices.. So boo. 🤨
pickI finished this intriguing #audiobook on the first leg of my travels. It‘s all about the horizontal transfer of genes—a smooching process!—& arguments why the history of life can‘t accurately be shown as a tree. Darwin‘s theory of evolution seems not to apply to the first 2 billion years. Very readable. I.e. the author compares the domestication of dogs to the domestication of mitochondrial bacteria in human cells. (We contain multitudes.) 🤓
My suitcase is packed for an early departure to Japan tomorrow. Listening to a science audiobook is helping to calm my somewhat frazzled nerves.
Genetic evidence suggests that Rotiferos deltoides have gone without sex for 25 million years.
(Internet image. This type of rotifer can survive for up to 9 years in a dehydrated state. There are only females, and they reproduce by parthenogenesis.)
The words “enabling meiosis” may sound dull, so let me rephrase that. What we‘re talking about is the invention of sex.
(Internet image)
Am enjoying this book, and wish everyone a happy New year!
Unfortunately, I don't have time to spend here, so will not be posting often.
I admit I get a little thrill every time the University of Illinois, my alma mater, is mentioned. 🧡💙👩🏻🎓
Had to kill some time yesterday, so I went to the bookstore and was a wee bit naughty. The spouse doesn‘t need to know. 🤣 Biology. Evolution. Darwin. New discoveries. I‘m here for it all.
bailedI tried, honestly. I made it about halfway on audiobook but when he read an entire RNA sequence of letters, I just called it quits after about 60 letters. Really interesting material, but just too scientific for me.
Fantastic interview about this book on today‘s Science Friday. May be worth checking out if you like to read about science as much as I do. Here‘s the link to Science Friday if interested: https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/how-a-humble-microbe-shook-the-evolutiona...
