Reintroduces the author's work about the theory of evolution with over three hundred fifty illustrations and photographs, accompanied by excerpts from his diaries, letters, and other writings.

"The author of the best-selling Your Inner Fish, now gives us a lively and accessible account of the great transformations in the history of life, that enable us to further understand whether our presence on this planet is an accident or inevitable. The great transformations in the history of life brought about whole scale shifts in how animals live and how their bodies are organized: the evolution of fish to land-living creature, the origin of birds,...

In this revised edition of his classic, Richard Dawkins demonstrates how cooperation can evolve even in a basically selfish world. Contains two new chapters and a wealth of new insights into the biological world.--From publisher description.

"Over the past four billion years of Earth's history, three organisms-cyanobacteria, plants, and humans--have altered the planet in profound ways by harnessing the availability of five key elements. Hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus are the most common elements in all forms of life on Earth, and all five circulate between the biotic and abiotic world in biogeochemical cycles. When organisms tap into stores of these elements and change...

Sifting through rich layers of scientific evidence, Dawkins' "The Greatest Show on Earth" is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design, " explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument."