The Tangled Tree

A Radical New History of Life

By: David Quammen

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

Nonpareil science writer David Quammen explains how recent discoveries in molecular biology can change our understanding of evolution and life’s history, with powerful implications for human health and even our own human nature.

In the mid-1970s, scientists began using DNA sequences to reexamine the history of all life. Perhaps the most startling discovery to come out of this new field - the study of life’s diversity and relatedness at the molecular level - is horizontal gene transfer (HGT), or the movement of genes across species lines. It turns out that HGT has been widespread and important. For instance, we now know that roughly eight percent of the human genome arrived not through traditional inheritance from directly ancestral forms, but sideways by viral infection - a type of HGT.

In The Tangled Tree David Quammen, “one of that rare breed of science journalists who blends exploration with a talent for synthesis and storytelling” (Nature), chronicles these discoveries through the lives of the researchers who made them - such as Carl Woese, the most important little-known biologist of the 20th century; Lynn Margulis, the notorious maverick whose wild ideas about “mosaic” creatures proved to be true; and Tsutomu Wantanabe, who discovered that the scourge of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is a direct result of horizontal gene transfer, bringing the deep study of genome histories to bear on a global crisis in public health.

“Quammen is no ordinary writer. He is simply astonishing, one of that rare class of writer gifted with verve, ingenuity, humor, guts, and great heart” (Elle). Now, in The Tangled Tree, he explains how molecular studies of evolution have brought startling recognitions about the tangled tree of life - including where we humans fit upon it. Thanks to new technologies such as CRISPR, we now have the ability to alter even our genetic composition - through sideways insertions, as nature has long been doing. The Tangled Tree is a brilliant guide to our transformed understanding of evolution, of life’s history, and of our own human nature.

©2018 David Quammen (P)2018 Simon & Schuster

great balance for scientist or anyone

lots of context that would be hard to get without tons of reading. lots of details that tell you about the nuance of science and success

for those who love biology

there are two stories in this book: one about Carl Woese and a second about genetics. I enjoyed them both.

wow! best audio book ever made.

a wonderfully well written science story read perfectly. Mr. Roy brings so much to the writing that I expect he'll get an Audie at some point. Mr. Quammen takes us on a marvelous tour that starts with a carefully crafted escalator rise to a comprehensive vantage point. He then hands us thrilling understanding with ease. this is a feat of science writing to set a new bar and it is read so well that I can't think of an appropriate comparison.

exceptional

exceptional. i am a researcher in the field and the science here is exceptional. much appreciation.
and i also loved the acting.

More a history of personalities than a treatise on Horizontal gene transfer

Horizontal gene transfer is exciting field. David Quammen clearly understands the material but felt inclined to heavily focus on the scientists involved in the field. He also sketches a history of how our knowledge of general evolution evolved. Understandably, HGT would be too dry without weaving in the personalities of the scientists involved. But the book would be a lot shorter and more focused.
Jacques Roy does the book justice and utilizes an array of accents to portray quotes from English, French and German scientists. He narrates flawlessly but with a somewhat whispering voice as if sharing a secret.

Evolutionary Science revisited

This a great review of current evolutionary thought. I was captivated by the many new avenues of study under the large umbrella of Evolutionary Science...

Fine book on a complex topic

David Quammen is skillful and engaging as he helps curious non-sceintists grasp what would otherwise be impenetrably complex matters in biology and evolution. Here he starts with the familiar Tree of Life, proposed by Darwin as a helpful metaphor for his theory of how plants and animals change over time and produce new and ever more varied species that diverge and branch from the ancestral trunk. He then shows how recent generations of researchers have complicated this way of representing biological change. They have discovered life forms that defy existing categories. They have found evidence that symbiosis plays a larger role in the creation of new species than was previously understood. And they have discovered mechanisms of gene transfer among species that are direct, horizontal and, since they bypass reproduction, non-Darwinian. Indeed these discoveries complicate the very concept of discrete species and of discrete individuals within a species. It's dizzying and disorienting, but in a good way.

One minor complaint about Jacques Roy's generally good reading of the book: He, or perhaps his producer, decided to render quotations from the writings of German, French and British scientists in foreign accents. The accents aren't at all convincing, but even if they were, such characterizations are unnecessary and distracting in a work of this kind.

Entertaining and facenating.

Loved every minute of it. I was entertained while being educated on a subject that I was surprised to learn I knew so little about.

evolution revisited

having last studied evolution 30 years ago... this refresher was a delight. particularly entertaining as a view into the personal foibles of the brilliant people who pushed this science forward.

Enjoyable tracing of development of genetics

Could have been a "Darwin creation" basher but avoided the trap - traces the development of ideas and hypotheses in genetics accepting the failing of some scientists to use "faith" when techniques were not available to prove or disprove their theories at that time - easy to listen to and follow arguments