Evolution for Dummies tracks an Evolution course or a class in which Evolution is taught and gives an objective scientific view of the subject. It explores the history and future of this theory of human creation from a scientific point of view. It explains the concepts and science behind evolution, as well as the theories and case studies that support and oppose it. It also explores how evolution effects the reader's life and the world.
Introduction
Part I: What Evolution Is
Chapter 1: What Evolution Is and Why You Need to Know
Chapter 2: The Science - Past and Present - of Evolution
Chapter 3: Getting into Your Genes: (Very) Basic Genetics
Part II: How Evolution Works
Chapter 4: Variation: A Key Requirement for Evolution
Chapter 5: Natural Selection and Adaptations in Action
Chapter 6: Random Evolution and Genetic Drift: Sometimes It's All about Chance
Chapter 7: Quantitative Genetics: When Many Genes Act at Once
Chapter 8: Species and Speciation
Chapter 9: Phylogenetics: Reconstructing the Tree of Life
Part III: What Evolution Does
Chapter 10: The Evolution of Life History
Chapter 11: Units of Selection and the Evolution of Social Behavior
Chapter 12: Evolution and Sex
Chapter 13: Co-evolution: The Evolution of Interacting Species
Chapter 14: Evo-Devo: The Evolution of Development
Chapter 15: Molecular Evolution
Part IV: Evolution and Your World
Chapter 16: Human Evolution
Chapter 17: The Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance
Chapter 18: HIV: The Origin and Evolution of a Virus
Chapter 19: Influenza: One Flu, Two Flu, Your Flu, Bird Flu
Part of Tens
Chapter 20: Ten Fascinating Fossil Finds
Chapter 21: Ten Amazing Adaptations
Chapter 22: Ten Arguments against Evolution and Why They're Wrong
Index
Dr. Greg Kukonis has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD from the University of Arizona, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has been a postdoctoral researcher at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Stanford University. He is currently an adjunct assistant professor of biology at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon.
Tracy Barr is a professional writer and editor who has authored or co-authored several other books for Wiley, including Adoption For Dummies, Cast-Iron Cooking For Dummies, Yorkshire Terriers For Dummies, and Latin For Dummies. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband and four children.