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Notices of Books

Maynard Smith and Szathmary have written a popular account of a contemporary biological theory, namely that during the evolution of life on earth there have been several 'quantum leaps' in the way that information is passed from generation to generation. They propose eight major transitions as having occurred during the natural history of the earth. Essentially, at each transition, what organisms lose in the way of their independence is made up by gains in adaptability. As one illustrative transition the authors propose the example of the symbiotic union of several different kinds of independently replicating prokaryotes to form eukaryotic cells. Other transitions considered include the development from asexual to sexual reproduction and that of primate societies to human societies triggered by the development of language.