A hippopotamus is more closely related to a whale than you think! It’s all in the genes. DNA, genes and evolution can get a bit abstract, complicated and serious. Dawkins has demystified the scientific ideas and evidence that inform this territory by showcasing the insightful story of animals in their environment changing over a long time. The result is pages filled with detailed scientific information, yet presented with fascination, awe and wonder – even poetry.

The Genetic Book of the Dead is popular science grounded in evidence, nicely presented for a general, intelligent reader. However, there’s a magical, compelling tone to the many stories of creatures. Just as a geologist ‘reads a mountain’ to understand its history, a biologist ‘reads fossils’ to gain insights. However, with genetics, the changes are happening within the gene pool of the organisms, whether they be kangaroos, lobsters, nightingales, marsupial sabretooths, lions, bower birds, or King Charles III.

Freed by buoyancy in their watery environment, fish evolved an astonishing array of shapes. And long before humans, the ‘Darwinian memory of generations of fallen Madagascan leaves’ is profoundly captured in the camouflage features of the leaf-tailed gecko. The chapter about cuckoo eggs is an avian horror story featuring a curiously speckled, slightly larger egg that doesn’t belong.

It’s real and completely fascinating. The beautiful photographs and illustrations bring the often-complex ideas to life.

Reviewed by Mark Parry