The Ancestor's Tale

De: Richard Dawkins

Narrado por: Richard Dawkins, Lalla Ward

The Ancestor's Tale is a pilgrimage back through time - a journey on which we meet up with fellow pilgrims as we and they converge on our common ancestors. Chimpanzees join us at about six million years in the past, gorillas at seven million years, orangutans at 14 million years, as we stride on together, a growing band.

The journey provides the setting for a collection of some 40 tales. Each explores an aspect of evolutionary biology through the stories of characters met along the way or glimpsed from afar: the Elephant Bird's Tale, the Marsupial Mole's Tale, the Lungfish's Tale. Together they give a deep understanding of the processes that have shaped life on Earth: convergent evolution, the isolation of populations, continental drift, and the great extinctions.

©2004 Richard Dawkins; (P)2004 Orion Publishing Group Ltd

If all audio books were this good .....

I've read the book and listened to the audio book.
Although the audio is an abridged version, I enjoyed it more.
Dawkins is as brilliant a speaker as he is a writer and Lalla Ward is the perfect complement.
One plus one = three.
Together they make the understanding of a complex subject effortless and pleasurable.

For the converted

For those who accept Darwin's ideas this is a an entertaining and interesting book. Mr Dawkins does like to preach sometimes but he has a pleasant and engaging style and these passages are not uniteresting.

A pity that it is abridged.

For those (Americans) who don't accept Darwin, Dawkins's erudition will leave you seething. So best give it a miss.

student of biological sciences

a brilliant text on evolution.
very entertaining, with appropriate focus given to the most significant historical diversions.
a pleasure to have listened to

Not-so-common perspective on evolution

Which character – as performed by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward – was your favorite?

Both were good readers. Obviously Dawkins is an experienced lecturer and reads his own book as well as anyone could. However, the constant change between the two readers (one might read the main text while the other reads quotations, and then this is reversed in next chapter) was annoying interruption in the flow of the narration.

Like a slug of brain tonic

Would you consider the audio edition of The Ancestor's Tale to be better than the print version?

Yes, second best only to attending a Dawkins lecture at Oxford.

What did you like best about this story?

Like all of Richard Dawkins' books, listening to The Ancestor's Tale feels like downing a brain tonic - an exhilarating joy ride through time. Only criticism is that is leaves you thirsty for more!

What about Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward ’s performance did you like?

Thoroughly enjoyed the duet-style narration by the author and Lalla Ward.