Evolution: The View from the Cottage - Softcover

Literary Nonfiction. Natural History. Translated from the French by Nigel Spencer. With all the attention given to "creationism" in the news these days, Jean-Pierre Rogel felt it was important to show how Darwin's concept of natural selection can be seen in action in everyday situations. Beginning with a familiar cottage scene that includes squirrels, loons, salmon and bears, Rogel expands his scope to explore the emerging field of evolutionary developmental biology, showing how genes play a role in the extraordinary diversity of the plant and animal kingdom. Readers may be surprised to discover which animal is most closely related to whales, how nature makes a fin into a paw, how salmon have adapted to gaps in fishing nets, and what really sets humans apart from chimpanzees.

Jean-Pierre Rogel is a reporter for DZcouverte, a popular science program on Radio-Canada, the French-language counterpart to CBC-TV. He also writes for QuZbec Science magazine. Born and educated in France, he immigrated to Canada in the mid-1970s and has been living in Montreal since. It is his fourth book. Nigel Spencer, the translator, has won two GovernorGeneral Awards for his translations of Marie-Claire Blais.