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About this book
If we start with the presumption that evolution is a constantly improving process, some aspects of our evolution just do not make sense. We have a high rate of genetic diseases, for example, and much of our DNA seems to be pointless. In The Evolution of Imperfection, Laurence Hurst explores our apparently rotten genetic luck.
Hurst, a leading authority on evolution and genetics, argues that our evolutionary imperfections proceed directly from two features: the difficulties of pregnancy and the fact that historically there are relatively few of us. In pregnancy, natural selection can favour chromosomes that kill embryos in species (including ours) that continuously receive resources from the mother. Most fertilised eggs don't make it, and incompatibilities between the fetus and mother can lead to lethal disorders of pregnancy. The historically small population size enhances the role of chance, which in turn leads to both accumulation of unnecessary DNA and more mutation.
So what can save us? One answer may lie in genetic medicine, which has given us therapies that make killer conditions preventable and even curable.
Hurst suggests that our seeming imperfections could be the key to a new way to understand evolution itself. Looking at circumstances that seem to defy explanation, we might come to a richer understanding of how evolution really works, and what it means to be human.
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Biography
Laurence D. Hurst is professor of evolutionary genetics in the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath. His research on how genetic systems evolve, and the application of this knowledge to medicine, has been recognized with national and international prizes and fellowships.
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By: Laurence D Hurst(Author)
265 pages, 12 b/w illustrations, 1 table
"[The Evolution of Imperfection] is accessible for interested lay readers, offering a nice round-up of the history of and current scientific understandings of evolution."
– Library Journal
"Stimulating [...] Hurst excels at teasing out the counterintuitive implications of natural selection."
– Publishers Weekly
"[Hurst] does a nearly perfect job of showing how and why, as his subtitle indicates, 'we aren't and can't be perfect.' [...] He is contagiously enthusiastic about the simple yet stunning reality of our very existence."
– David P. Barash, Wall Street Journal
"A richly detailed exploration of the genetic mechanisms that influence everything from our individual chances of existence and subsequent health to the evolution of life on this planet, bursting with metaphors and examples that help to unpack the complexity of this fascinating topic."
– Kat Arney, author of Rebel Cell: Cancer, Evolution, and the New Science of Life's Oldest Betrayal
"A profound yet accessible synthesis of evolutionary thinking in the molecular era. I unreservedly recommend this book!"
– Joanna Masel, author of Bypass Wall Street: A Biologist's Guide to the Rat Race
"A very interesting and useful book that covers many ideas and discoveries with clear and accessible writing."
– Russell Bonduriansky, coauthor of Extended Heredity: A New Understanding of Inheritance and Evolution
