Deep Time: Cladistics, the Revolution in Evolution

In Deep Time, Henry Gee, assistant editor of Nature, shows us that everything we think we know about evolution is wrong. For a long time, popular scientists have told us that by looking at a fossilised bone we could tell whether it belonged to our ancestors or not. This is not true. In Deep Time, Henry Gee, introduces for the first time in the popular science market a new way of thinking that has revolutionised the way that scientists are approaching the past – Cladistics. Cladistics ignores story-telling and authority and proposes a method based on shared characteristics, rather than ancestry and descent. As a result of using this new method Henry Gee is able to show us the wealth of new ideas that is radically altering our notions of the past: Dinosaurs with feathers; why fish developed fingers; what it means to be human.

About the Author :
Henry Gee is the chief science writer and assistant editor of Nature. He holds a PhD from Cambridge in Zoology and has previously been Regent’s Professor at UCLA. He also contributes to Le Monde, El Pais, Die Zeit and has previously written Before the Backbone: Views on the Origin of the Vertebrates (1996).

Review :
This book will surprise, outrage and delight you -- and make you think.' Jared Diamond 'Gee takes the reader inside contemporary palaeontology, from the excitement of a fossil dig with Maeve Leakey to the thousands of carefully stored and catalogued specimens at the Natural History Museum.' New Scientist 'As Gee's brilliant analysis shows, viewed afresh, evolution proves a more interesting and exciting -- if more complex -- story than we ever thought.' Scotsman ' A classic piece of reportage! Gee deserve high praise for these stimulating additions to the popular science canon.' Independent 'Henry Gee's fascinating book explains how a relatively new method of classifying life revolutionises our picture of the world! In the process of setting out his argument Gee gives us a fascinating introduction to Palaeontological biology.' A C Grayling, Literary Review 'In Deep Time, Henry Gee eloquently and entertainingly explains exactly why this revolution in evolution is both interesting and important to our understanding of the past.' Herald 'Deep Time will change the way you think about the history of life. In this passionately argued book, Gee shows how scientific rigour has replaced story-telling in evolutionary history, that takes us on a tour of the field's latest research from Neanderthal genes to feathered dinosaurs and fingered fish. A book whose time is long overdue.' Carl Zimmer, author of At the Water's Edge 'In Deep Time, Henry Gee eloquently and entertainingly explains exactly why this revolution in evolution is both interesting and important to our understanding of the past.' Herald 'A welcome-indeed essential-antidote to media hype and oversimplified stories about evolution, genetics, and the fossil record. If you want to get a glimpse of how evolutionary science really works, this is the book to buy.' Ian Stewart, author of The Collapse of Chaos and Nature's Numbers 'This is a subversive book. Read it only if you want to know how scientists actually do their work, as opposed to the mythology of textbooks and documentaries.' Kevin Padian, University of California