The Everyday Darwinist: And Other Enchanting Stories of Evolution

by David Stipp

Description

"Why do cats live longer than dogs? Why do bees have yellow stripes? Why can we smell a skunk from a mile away? Such questions can be seen as puzzles about creatures' evolved traits. Besides triggering our curiosity, they focus our attention on beguiling designs that have been millions of years in the making. Indeed, looking at the living world through a Darwinian lens reveals its colossal depth in a way that's all too easy to miss in the age of endless distractions. You need only summon up show more your inner inquisitive 7-year-old to notice such puzzles, and to find yourself looking deeper while considering possible solutions. In this lively book, science writer David Stipp ponders Darwinian puzzles about nine familiar creatures and things--bumblebees, dogs, sparrows, caffeine, earthworms, and sleep, among others--to show how rewarding it can be to look at nature in a deeper way. By revealing hidden depths of the ordinary, Why Rats Laugh and Jellyfish Sleep shows not only that fascinating intricacies lie just beneath the natural world's familiar surfaces, but that noticing them lets us make connections we didn't realize existed"--Amazon. show less

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jennybeast 4,448 reviews

Entertaining book on pondering evolutionary adaptations. I like the casual writing style paired with intellectual rigor. I liked learning things about animal behaviors. I didn't always agree with his conclusions, but I like to think he wouldn't mind at all. Enjoyable.

May 14, 2026

Aardvark007 1,488 reviews

***.5

A somewhat haphazard collection of neat animal stuff, covering topics like caffeine toxicity, house sparrow proliferation, and earthworm cognition.

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raviwarrier 292 reviews

Feb 11, 2026

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