Abstract
Edey and Johanson trace the history of the modern development of evolutionary theory, starting with Linnaeus and others (one chapter) and continuing to the present. Darwin and Wallace receive the usual accolades for straight thinking (three chapters), but the major thrust of the book (eleven chapters) is a history of the discoveries leading to the understanding of DNA as the material of heredity. The book concludes with a discussion of Johanson's specialty, paleoanthropology (one chapter), and a warning that human intelligence seems to be creating more problems than it can solve (one chapter). Throughout the book, the reader is assured that evolution is soundly based on scientific evidence, which presumably cannot be interpreted in any other cogent manner.