Collection of ground breaking articles published over the last ten years in the world's finest science journal Nature. Each article was specially commissioned to address a theme in evolutionary biology of current interest in a form that would be accessible to readers. Taken together, the articles make a highly instructive and entertaining collection in which leading researchers in the field look critically at key problems of evolution, palaeontology, palaeoecology and phylogenetic reconstruction. Key contributors include Stephen Jay Gould, Niles Eldredge, Paul Kenrick, and William A Shear. Contents include: Introduction Part 1 - Shaping the Tree: How to Create a Tree of Life Part 2 - Geoffroy's Legacy: Development, Evolution and Paleontology Part 3 - Seeing the Tree for the Woods: The Global Context Part 4 - Shaking the Tree: Case Histories in Phylogeny Part 5 - Climbing Down: The History of Primates Afterword Index