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davidsteinsaltz's review against another edition
5.0
This book takes on some of the biggest questions -- how predictable is evolution, how inevitable is the existence of humanity -- in a mostly small-bore way, talking about the details of particular experiments that add up to some real insights. The book is not perfect, the philosophical speculation doesn't have a real philosopher's careful touch, the writing is good but not impressive, but it does a rare job of showing how science works to break down vast problems into small, manageable pieces, where the temptation might be to just throw up your hands at the impossible gulf between the ambition and the available tools, and how those pieces do accumulate to advance the understanding in profound ways.
bookslifeandeverythingnice's review against another edition
3.0
Improbable Destinies is very informative about evolution, especially the genetics of it. I found the sections about the similarities between cross continental evolution very interesting. I appreciated that the experiments were explained in a fairly easy to understand manner. It makes scientific studies more accessible to someone not working in the field. Certain sections were more interesting than others. And some sections were boring and redundant. There were pages and pages of experiments with lizards and guppies in detail. Informative, yes. A little dry, also yes. I learned new information from this book, but wished it was a bit more captivating.
irohnic's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
A good read for anyone interested in evolutionary biology at all. It was really fun to read until I got to the micro-biology sections. They felt very repetitive and drawn out to me
imacocoageek's review against another edition
challenging
funny
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
mpan's review against another edition
Need to come back to it, haven't been in the mood for NF