The Tree of Life

Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle

Max Telford

$34.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

John Murray
01 May 2025

Mathematics & Sciences; Popular science; Evolution; Zoology & animal sciences; The Earth: natural history general

Where do we come from and how did we get here?

Come time-travelling through the history of every species that has ever lived with Professor Max Telford

A four-billion-year journey through the evolution of our planet, The Tree of Life tells the fascinating story of the gigantic family tree that records the relationships between every living thing - from humans, fish and butterflies to oak trees, mushrooms and even bacteria.

Understanding how the amazing diversity of life on earth came to be is one of the greatest puzzles in biology. And this book, full of vivid and fascinating stories, takes you right inside: learn why grey wolves are more closely related to whales than to Tasmanian wolves; how geological change and environmental catastrophe left their marks on the genome; why we don't have tails but we are the only species with chins; and follow individual scientists down winding evolutionary byways and occasional dead ends in their attempts to solve this greatest of all puzzles. Along the way, we'll see how, far from being a dry representation of the dead, the tree of life is a living thing which constantly alters our perspective on the past, present and future of life on earth.

From Darwin's early sketches to the vast computer generated diagrams scientists are building today, The Tree of Life explains how we can know our family tree at all and tells the epic history of the various ways it's possible to be a living thing. This is our own very personal story that began with the tiny ancestor of all life billions of years ago and ends with you and me.

By: Max Telford
Imprint: John Murray
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 153mm,
ISBN: 9781399806381
ISBN 10: 1399806386
Pages: 320
Publication Date: 01 May 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Max Telford is an evolutionary biologist and the Jodrell Chair of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy at University College London where he founded the Centre for Life's Origins and Evolution and the Telford Lab. Max has won several awards for his research (including a visiting Fellowship at All Souls College, Oxford) and has spent the last three decades researching the shape of the tree of life, his broader aim to discover the earliest events in the evolution of the animal kingdom. He lives in London. This is his first book.

Reviews for The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle

Combining cutting-edge genetics, a dollop of history and terrifically bizarre creatures, this endlessly entertaining and exciting account is essential reading. -- Matthew Cobb Telford is one of our generation's most brilliant biologists and The Tree of Life is a wonderful and vivid guide to evolution's marvels. -- David George Haskell If you've ever wondered how all of life is related, how we came to be, and how we know, then this brilliant and beautifully written book is for you. The greatest story ever told, presented with exemplary clarity and style. -- Tim Blackburn Rich with anecdote and infectious enthusiasm, The Tree of Life should delight anyone with even a passing interest in the miracle that is life on our planet. -- Henry Gee Beautiful... a breezy and very accessible way to get readers to think like scientists, and to see the tangled branches of our near and distant relatives all at once. -- Thomas Halliday A rollicking ride through the history of the natural world and the scientists who helped unravel it. Marvellous! -- Seirian Sumner