Translated by Linda Asher
Unprecedented in its approach, the number and diversity of the species presented, and the quality of the photographs, Evolution is the book on how we came to be what we are. Spectacular, mysterious, elegant, or grotesque, the vertebrate skeletons of Earth's fossil record carry within them the traces of several billion years of evolution. Evolution, a resounding success on its initial publication in 2007, is a unique and beautiful attempt to provide a map of those billion years in time.
Here is a powerful pairing: two hundred stark black-and-white photographs produced by Patrick Gries in collaboration with the Museum of Natural History in Paris are accompanied by text from scientist and documentarian Jean-Baptiste de Panafieu. The result is a revealing collection that profoundly illustrates the key themes of evolution—homology, convergence, adaptation, polymorphism, and more. Now updated and presented in a smaller format with fifteen new gorgeous photographs, Evolution steps beyond the debate and presents the undeniable truth of Darwin's theory, showing through skeletons both obscure and commonplace, but always intriguing, the process by which life has transformed itself, again and again.
JEAN-BAPTISTE DE PANAFIEU is a professor of natural sciences and a doctor of biological oceanography, as well as a documentarian and author of numerous books including Evolution.
PATRICK GRIES has photographed over two thousand artworks for the Quai Branly Museum and collaborated with the Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art. He is the co-author of Evolution.