Evolution: A View from the 21st Century. Fortified.

This book is James Shapiro’s magnum opus, a triumph of 50 years of intense scholarship - from the man who discovered that bacteria can restructure their own DNA.If you’re brand new to evolution, or not scientifically adept, feel free to skip this book. But for intermediate or advanced students, it’s a feast. The intended audience ranges from the general reader who is somewhat familiar with evolution, to the most rigorous molecular biologist.This new volume contains:-A complete reproduction of his out-of-print 2011 book, which is not even slightly obsolete. In fact the 2011 book was somewhat short and incredibly dense with a remarkable amount of information on each page. The science textbook equivalent of a thick slab of pecan pie.This is accompanied by:-An introduction that explains, with zero hyperbole, the absolutely CRUCIAL nature of getting evolutionary science back on the right track. For 100 years the field of evolutionary biology has been built on quicksand. All the major assumptions of the “Modern Synthesis” have been disproven. The five most popular books on evolution by Dawkins, Coyne and Futuyma omit nearly all the most important discoveries.The Modern Synthesis aka Neo-Darwinism has wrought devastating consequences on the human race in failure to solve cancer, viruses and infectious diseases. The implications of this run for miles in all directions.This book describes:*”Natural Genetic Engineering" refers to cells' innate ability to re-organize their genomes in response to hundreds of kinds of inputs. This is the star of the show. Not natural selection.*Horizontal Gene Transfer, cells exchanging segments of DNA to instantly gain new features;*Inter-species hybridization - new species form when unlikely mates cross from two different species;*Symbiogenesis, when separate organisms physically merge to form a new species;*Epigenetics, shaping heredity without altering the DNA sequence;*Whole Genome Duplication - DNA doubling to expand "hard drive space" and make room for novel features.In most books, the introductions are filler. The introduction of this book is by itself worth the price of admission.-A dozen or so Huffington Post articles written by Shapiro, aimed at general readers, including helpful added commentary and dialogue from the blog discussions. Topics range from unsung heroes of evolutionary biology such as Evelyn Within to the now-thoroughly-discredited “Junk DNA” theory, to outdated concepts of the gene.-Papers on the Read-Write genome, a concept which all by itself turns biology upside down and inside out. Traditional evolutionary theory is rooted in a misinterpretation of Crick’s “Central Dogma,” which insists that information can only flow one way. It has been demonstrated far beyond dispute that organisms not only read instructions from their DNA, they also write instructions TO their DNA, because the genome and organism are engaged in a dance. Without this, evolution would not be possible.-In my opinion the most important and deepest paper is “All Living Cells are Cognitive” (page 541). Where does Natural Genetic Engineering come from? How do cells get their ability to engineer their way through any imaginable situation? No one knows for sure, but one thing all life forms have in common is they are smart. They don’t just ‘act smart’ on certain occasions. They ARE smart.“Cognition” is a technical term that encompasses cellular intelligence and this paper makes an unassailable case that all life forms are a lot smarter than most people think they are.In my opinion cognition is THE central question in biology, and like the related concept of consciousness, it is unsolved. But what is unmistakably clear is that it is there and the mystery is staring us in the face.I believe if you begin with the understanding that this is the #1 issue in evolution, everything else you discover in Shapiro’s work will make sense. As Barbara McClintock said, “A goal for the future would be to determine the extent of knowledge the cell has of itself, and how it utilizes this knowledge in a “thoughtful” manner when challenged.” (McClintock 1984).When she made this statement, I don’t believe the world was ready to grapple with this question. Today, with the “hard problem of consciousness” now being at the forefront of biology, philosophy and psychology, perhaps we are ready to confront the magnitude of this mystery.-An extensive glossary-A bulwark of scholarly references distributed throughout the book. I estimate 2,000 to 3,000. His original 2011 book had over 1100. This book is a solid foundation for a lifetime of scholarship for future students of evolution.The book is justifiably endorsed by some of the finest evolutionary thinkers of our time, including Lynn Margulis, Carl Woese, Denis Noble and Sydney Altman. It poses decades of future research questions and avenues of exploration. It points to dozens of mysteries and unanswered questions, and answers to any of them could merit multiple Nobel prizes.Considering that many of these papers are paywalled and cost $40 each to download, the price of the printed book is a bargain; the Kindle edition is a triple bargain.Shapiro has had his share of detractors, both on the Intelligent Design side (some of whom insist that such problems are scientifically unsolvable) and on the reductionist / Darwinist side (who have vastly underestimated and under-reported nature’s ingenuity for a century).There are three things to say about this:1) I’ve been following Shapiro’s work for 15 years and I’ve never seen anyone mounting criticisms come to the table with anything even approaching Shapiro’s level of scholarship and rigor. If there is one thing to be learned from James Shapiro, it is: Never bring a knife to a gunfight. He showed up to this fight with tanks and aircraft carriers.2) Since the 2016 Royal Society “New Trends in Biological Evolution” conference at the Royal Society in London, which Shapiro helped organize, the old-school Neo-Darwinists have gone silent. This is because Neo-Darwinism is utterly impossible to defend. These men should frankly be ashamed at their overt efforts to obstruct the process of science, especially during the last 30 years. I attended the Royal Society meeting in person, and it was a remarkable de-throning of what prior to that time was an unassailable cabal of bullies. The present task is now to disseminate accurate information.3) Despite his detractors, Shapiro remains a perfect gentleman at all times. Evolution debates can be as rancorous as any field you’ve ever seen, but throughout his career he has insisted on civilized dialogue. His delivery is calm, peaceable, factual and never polemical.It is difficult to overstate how inhospitable the field was to “Third Way” ideas especially 20-30 years ago. Like his mentor Barbara McClintock, he was ridiculed. For decades it was nearly impossible to get funding for such concept and for a very long time, despite his accomplishments, Shapiro was an outlier.Yet he has over time literally silenced his critics, and in some circles (such as the American Association of Cancer Research’s Cancer and Evolution Working Group), he is revered. He co-founded the group.It is beautifully packaged and scrupulously edited. Shapiro does not indulge in “techno-latin” or bandy about buzzwords just to sound smart. To the greatest extent possible he delivers his message in plain English.There are very few books that are both understandable to lay people and rigorous enough for the most demanding geneticist or molecular biologist. “Evolution: A View from the 21st Century - Fortified” is nothing less than THE definitive book on biological evolution. It will shape the field for many decades to come.

James A. Shapiro’s Evolution: A view from the 21st century. Fortified. Is the 2nd edition of his 2011 book on what makes evolution work as well as it does. This new edition proposes a paradigm shift in biological evolution based on molecular biology’s discoveries of recent decades. His arguments employ a complex systems approach integrating ecology, symbiogenesis, epigenetics, functional repetitive DNA, inter-kingdom horizontal gene transfer, interspecific hybridization, and mobile DNA as major forces for wiring and rewiring genomic networks. Together, these processes constitute what Shapiro calls the Natural Genetics Engineering (NGE) toolbox, which is triggered by interspecific hybridization to form new species. Cell cognition regulates cell sensing, decision making and genome expression. Prolific evidence for these processes is presented by his recent genome evolution reviews in the new edition. Shapiro had already anticipated in 2005 the 2012 dramatic ENCODE (Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) discovery that over 85% of the genome is transcriptionally active, challenging the hypothesis that most of the genome is “selfish” or “junk” DNA. The capacity of living organisms to alter their own heredity due to ecological stresses is a basic fact of life. Genomes evolve dynamically and adaptively by an active read-write (RW) process rather than by a read only memory (ROM) system subject to accidental changes and neutral evolution. Living cells acquire, process, and transmit information to substantiate their complex adaptive systems as evidenced by nonrandom adaptive evolution locally, regionally, and globally during 4 billion years of gradual to rapid innovative biological evolution. This wonderful book provides exciting evidence on how evolution works and proceeds despite the massive extinctions of biodiversity throughout the tumultuous history of life on earth.

This book is unquestionably one of the greatest works of modern science in existence. It's 100% based on investigation and observation. And this is in regards to a field that has for far too long been plagued with guesswork and agendas that would have virtually ruined authentic evolutionary biology, if not for real scientists like Shapiro who are both willing to put in the mammoth effort required to truly master the vast literature of this topic, and who have the courage to let the evidence take them wherever it takes them.It's very telling that those who gave a 1- or 2-star rating didn't write a word of explanation justifying the grounds for doing so. And I know why they didn't. Because this book is fundamentally unassailable. There's nothing to ask when you're dealing with a presentation that's completely based on empirical evidence. Those unscientific individuals who gave these low ratings clearly did so out of fondness for the out-of-date Neo-Darwinian theory that supports their philosophical views, and their attendant attempt to water down the five-star rating which this book was given by all the initial reviewers.Fortunately, in science, the real observation-based truth eventually prevails. And I'm sure the day will come when this will also be true of evolutionary biology. And when that day arrives, it will certainly be recognized that Shapiro's book was one of the most significant stepping stones to getting there.

It has more pages devoted to REFERENCES in the entire Book than may be the TEXT MATTER provided. Who is going to be interested thousands of References in One book with 666 pages

Riemann became 1854 „Privatdozent“ in Göttingen.He understood physical objects as mathematical spaces.Complex numbers with real and imaginary parts became the foundation of „Riemannian spaces“.Hilbert, Göttingen, moved forward on this project, his vision was called „Hilbert spaces“.Complex, compact, projective.1925 the ideas of Quantummechanic (QM) blossomed in Göttingen.Von Neumann set the QM into the mathematical field of the „Hilbert spaces“.„Unbegrenzt“, without limit, everything is in interaction with everything.Shapiro follows the line of these scientists.He understands physical objects as mathematical spaces.He is able to show the complex, compact and projective field of life.His story is unbelievable but pure truth.Real complex mathematics of life with an imaginary part, that nobody can understand.I am sure, that his work will prevail like that of Riemann and Hilbert.Although it sounds really unbelievable.

My headline my seem hyperbolic, but I don't really know where to start in stressing the importance of this work. It is unusual for the second edition of a book to be over three times the size of the original one. Shapiro has not only included the full text of the first edition but added two entire new sections. The first section consists of reprints of a number of articles he published during the last decade in the Huffington Post, which are accessible to the educated general reader. The other one is a collection of papers authored or co-authored by Shapiro which have been published in various academic journals. These provide detailed accounts of scientific research in genetics and molecular biology supporting the central theses of the book.It is a comprehensive review of mechanisms of genetic change that have been investigated by numerous scientists over the last eighty years, but which have not come to the notice of the general public. It demonstrates conclusively that the widely held view that evolution is driven by 'random copying errors' of the genome is a complete misconception.