[cheerfulgreek]

“The Tangled Tree. A Radical New History of Life” by David Quammen.

So, I’m a little under halfway through this book. He’s talking about how evolution isn’t just a straight family tree, it’s kind of like a mess of branches crossing and weaving together because of horizontal gene transfer. So like, genes can jump between completely different species, especially at the microbial level. So instead of like a clean tree of life, it’s more like a tangled network.

So real biology is really messy, lol. Parasites, bacteria, and viruses have been swapping DNA for billions of years, and we’re kind of like the product of that? So, as someone who works with parasites, it makes perfect sense to me. I mean, they’re like total masters at this. Honestly, the book reads like a detective story about how life hacked itself together, and I am SO hooked. Such an amazing book so far.

I’m such a nerd.