Table of Contents

List of Tables
Preface
1: Introduction
2: What is Life?
3: Chemical evolution
4: The evolution of templates
5: The chicken and egg problem
6: The origin of translation and the genetic code
7: The origin of protocells
8: The origin of eukaryotes
9: The origin of sex and the nature of species
10: Intragenomic conflict
11: Symbiosis
12: Development in simple organisms
13: Gene regulation and cell heredity
14: The development of spatial patterns
15: Development and evolution
16: The origins of societies
17: The origins of language
References
Index

About the Author

John Maynard Smith (1920-2004) was Emeritus Professor of Biology in the University of Sussex. Eors Szathmáry is at the Institute for Advanced Study, Budapest.

Reviews

"It spans the major transitions in evolution, starting with a prebiotic mix of free molecules and ending with the evolution of human language . . . . A splendid and rewarding tour de force."--Nature