Eternal ephemera

All organisms and species are transitory, yet life endures. The origin, extinction, and evolution of species - interconnected in the web of life as "eternal ephemera" - are the concern of evolutionary biology. In this riveting work, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge follows leading thinkers as they have sought, for more than two hundred years, to understand this paradox, revitalizing evolutionary science with their own, more resilient findings. Eldgredge begins in France with the naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who in 1801 first framed the overarching question about the emergence of…