Some Assembly Required

Decoding Four Billion Years of Life, from Ancient Fossils to DNA

De: Neil Shubin

Narrado por: Marc Cashman

An exciting and accessible new view of the evolution of human and animal life on Earth. From the author of national bestseller, Your Inner Fish, this extraordinary journey of discovery spans centuries, as explorers and scientists seek to understand the origins of life's immense diversity.

“Fossils, DNA, scientists with a penchant for suits of armor - what’s not to love?” (BBC Wildlife Magazine)

Over billions of years, ancient fish evolved to walk on land, reptiles transformed into birds that fly, and apelike primates evolved into humans that walk on two legs, talk, and write. For more than a century, paleontologists have traveled the globe to find fossils that show how such changes have happened.

We have now arrived at a remarkable moment - prehistoric fossils coupled with new DNA technology have given us the tools to answer some of the basic questions of our existence: How do big changes in evolution happen? Is our presence on Earth the product of mere chance? This new science reveals a multibillion-year evolutionary history filled with twists and turns, trial and error, accident and invention.

In Some Assembly Required, Neil Shubin takes listeners on a journey of discovery spanning centuries, as explorers and scientists seek to understand the origins of life's immense diversity.

©2020 Neil Shubin (P)2020 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"An engaging, must-read for anyone with an interest in evolution." (Library Journal starred review)

"A rollicking ride.... It’s light of touch, anecdote-rich and funny...satisfyingly informative.... Fossils, DNA, scientists with a penchant for suits of armour - what’s not to love?" (BBC Wildlife Magazine)

"Another winner from Dr. Shubin, who skillfully and thoughtfully steers us through the incredibly fascinating world of DNA and fossils. Dr. Shubin’s clear and engaging writing rewards us with a deeper understanding of how all life on our planet is interconnected. Steeped in the paradigm of evolutionary theory, he inspires us to think more deeply about our connectedness with the natural world. Charles Darwin would applaud Dr. Shubin’s clear explanations and insightful rendering of the incontrovertible evidence for the evolution of all life on planet Earth." (Donald Johanson, director, Institute of Human Origins; discoverer of "Lucy")

Excellent and engaging

This is my favorite type of book. It imparts scientific knowledge while telling the stories of the researchers behind it. It's specifically about the genetic mechanics of evolution. I've read a lot of books about evolution, this is the first I've read that shows us the toolbox. Very entertaining, and well worth the read.

Great insights about evolutionary biology

As a physician, I use the principles of evolutionary medicine in my daily practice. I consider that this book is a must-read for all professionals who are interested in evolutionary biology.
By the way, Dr. Shubin still upholds the prevailing understanding of the origin of cancer cells, which attributes them to random DNA mutations. However, based on the compelling arguments presented in his book, it might be worth considering the perspectives of Dr. Thomas Seyfred (author of "Cancer as a Metabolic Disease") and Dr. Jason Fung (author of "The Cancer Code"). They argue that cancer cells result from mitochondrial dysfunction or damage caused by metabolic challenges such as poor diet, lack of exercise, and pollution. In this state, the cells behave like prokaryotic cells, relying on fermentative glycolysis to survive. This uncontrolled multiplication, evasion of the immune system, metastasis, and resistance to antitumoral drugs lead to similarities between the behavior of cancer cells and bacteria. It's fascinating to consider the idea that our cells possess genetic codes that enable them to mimic bacteria and become cancer cells, as suggested by the ideas of Shubin.

very good book about how life evolved

sometimes dry but generally engaging. informative and thorough treatment of how life evolves and how scientists study that evolution

Outstanding like his first book

If your a southern Baptist. It my be beyond your grasp. It’s a very well organized history up to where we are now. It also covers in depth where we at now. A small amount of 100 level biology will help you move along well with the author. Enjoy I certainly did.

intuitive prospective of development

I was aware of many of the concepts presented here but did get a new perspective on genetics which made this book very worthwhile. This book goes very fast and very worth your time to give you the up-to-date perspectives as everything is changing so fast in this field.

an absolute must-read

So good I had to listen to it more than once. An informative review of the history of developmental biology.

A good listen

Liked the tone of the narration and easy story to follow. Learned a few things along the way.

the great DNA programming language

This book provides an up to date view of where evolution and DNA science is at the moment. It describes the history of the scientists, and the theories and science that got us here. Neil Shubin gives us all the details, and doesn’t shy away from the technical terms, which is a good thing. I’ll probably have to re-listen to it, and do supplemental research, just to understand it all.

The book describes DNA and the genes as these intricate building blocks that have randomly (with the help of environment and survival of the fittest) changed over millions and billions of years to eventually create us humans. He describes how fish evolved into amphibians, which evolved into reptiles, which evolved into birds and mammals.

Current scientists are just at the beginning of understanding how all our genes work, and how that affects our brains. As our scientists continue to understand how DNA and genes work, we may eventually find out how to fully utilize the DNA programming language to create amazing biological enhancements.

The book doesn’t talk much about how DNA came into being. But that is where the debate begins between intelligent design and random series of events. The book does talk about what if the dinosaurs hadn’t had a mass extinction, and uses the analogy of “It’s a Wonderful Life” movie, where God via his angel, Clarence, shows George Bailey what life would be like if George hadn’t existed.

For me, this book explains very well what DNA is, and how genes can change to form new life. We will need more genetic research scientists to keep improving our knowledge in this area. No matter if this DNA programming language was created from a stew of chemicals and elements, or an intelligent designer created it, this DNA language is what we have now, and need to continue to do the deep fundamental research. This will help humanity the most!! (ie. Finding out how to stop cancer and viruses before they kill us, ect).

Great

Really like Neil Shubin books. I’ve ready read ‘Inner Fish’ and it’s even better through audio book. Narrator Marc Cashman is terrific for this type of content as it feels like the author is reading it. Great content he really knows how to communicate a difficult subject for a laywoman to understand. Highly recommend if you like science.

As Good as "Your Inner Fish"

Fascinating from beginning to end. Many books continue longer than necessary but I would have enjoyed if this one just kept going!