Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution

A major new book overturning our assumptions about how evolution works

Earth's natural history is full of fascinating instances of convergence: phenomena like eyes and wings and tree-climbing lizards that have evolved independently, multiple times. But evolutionary biologists also point out many examples of contingency, cases where the tiniest change-a random mutation or an ancient butterfly sneeze-caused evolution to take a completely different course. What role does each force really pla...