Genesis - Edward O. Wilson

'With Genesis, Wilson inspires awe ... His message is that
selection has shaped a society that is characterized by cooperation and
division of labour' Nature

Of all species that have ever existed on earth, only one has reached
human levels of intelligence and social organisation: us. Why? In Genesis,
celebrated biologist Edward O. Wilson traces the great transitions of
evolution, from the origin of life to the invention of sexual
reproduction to the development of language itself.

The only way
for us to fully understand human behaviour, Wilson argues, is to study
the evolutionary histories of nonhuman species. Of these, he
demonstrates that at least seventeen - from the African naked mole rat
and the sponge-dwelling shrimp to one of the oldest species on earth,
the termite - have been found to have advanced societies based on
altruism, cooperation and the division of labour. These rare eusocial
species form the prehistory to our human social patterns, even,
according to Wilson, suggesting the possible biological benefits of
homosexuality and elderly grandmothers.

Whether writing about
midges who dance about like acrobats, schools of anchovies who
protectively huddle to appear like a gigantic fish or well-organised
flocks becoming potentially immortal, Genesis is a pathbreaking
work of evolutionary theory filled with lyrical observations. It will make us rethink how we became who we are.