Welcome
This is the website of author and biologist Sean B. Carroll. Here you will find information about his books, upcoming talks, radio and TV appearances including his newest book The Making of the Fittest.
News
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New 2009 NOVA special to mark Darwin's anniversary, based on "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" and "The Making of the Fittest"
WGBH NOVA is developing a two-hour special program to mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species and the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The program will explore the new evolutionary science that is revealing how evolution works at the most fundamental level, and will be based on Sean Carroll's two books "Endless Forms Most Beautiful" and "The Making of the Fittest". Sean is serving as scientific consulting producer, John Rubin is the producer.
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New book in 2009: "Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species"
Sean's new book will be published in early 2009 in both North America (Harcourt) and the UK (Quercus). Here is a short description:
Remarkable Creatures tells the stories of the most dramatic expeditions and important discoveries in two centuries of natural history — from the epic journeys of pioneering naturalists to the breakthroughs making headlines today — and how they inspired and have expanded one of the greatest ideas of modern science: evolution. We will encounter many amazing creatures of the past and present — giant sloths, gaudy butterflies, dinosaurs, ape-men, and much more — but the most remarkable creatures in these stories are the men and women. They are, without exception, remarkable people who have experienced and accomplished extraordinary things. Leading biologist and award-winning author Sean B. Carroll chronicles the exploits of a group of explorers who walked where no one had walked, saw what no one had seen, and thought what no one else had thought. Their achievements sparked a revolution that changed, profoundly and forever, our perception of the living world and our place within it.
The Making of the Fittest
DNA is the genetic blueprint of all creatures — it contains the operating instructions for everyday life and for making the next generation. Very recently, an important new dimension of DNA has been revealed — it contains a vast and detailed record of how species adapt and change. That is, DNA is a living chronicle of Evolution. We can now pinpoint the precise changes in DNA that have enabled the marvelous creatures that inhabit our planet to adapt to its many shifting and sometimes extreme environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rain forest. We finally understand not just how the fittest survive, but how they are made.
In the pages of this book, leading biologist and writer Sean Carroll takes readers on an exhilarating tour of this exquisite new record.
Read an excerpt from the preface of The Making of the Fittest »
Advance praise for The Making of the Fittest
“Crime-scene investigators love DNA evidence. It can close a case that couldn’t be solved any other way. This fascinating book presents the DNA evidence for evolution, and anyone who reads it should agree that it’s an open-and-shut case. I hope The Making of the Fittest will make a difference in the one and only place where Darwin’s case is still seriously debated--the court of public opinion.”
Jonathan Weiner
Pulitzer-prize- winning author of The Beak of the Finch
“Sean Carroll is our plain-spoken emissary from the next great revolution in biology. His earlier book, Endless Forms Most Beautiful, provides a fine introduction to the amazing field called Evo Devo. Now in The Making of the Fittest he offers something even more fundamental--glimpses of what molecular genetics is revealing about the process and course of evolution. This book is fascinating, lucid, surprising, and (in the truest sense) essential.”
David Quammen
Author of The Reluctant Mr. Darwin and The Song of the Dodo
“Sean Carroll's gift as a writer is the way in which he invites his readers to see science from the inside and the ease with which he explains the scientific wonders of cutting-edge research in biology. Always captivating, always accessible, The Making of the Fittest is a book for all readers, and one that fulfills Darwin's promise that the science of evolution would ultimately illuminate every aspect of the study of life itself. In Carroll's hands, it surely does.”
Kenneth R. Miller
Author of Finding Darwin’s God