Why evolution is like a network, not a family tree—and why it matters for understanding the health of all living things
In The Network of Life, David Mindell explains why the conventional narrative of evolution needs to evolve. Ever since Darwin, evolution has largely been thought to work like a family tree in which species are related through a series of branching events. But, today, a growing knowledge of the ways species share genetic materials in a process known as horizontal evolution has revealed that evolution is actually a network of shared genealogy in which species are more interconnected than previously thought. In this book, Mindell presents this new narrative of life’s evolution and its profound implications for all life on Earth.
The Network of Life describes the drivers of horizontal evolution—interbreeding and genetic recombination, the merger of species, horizontal gene transfer, and coevolution. The n
