Sign-In
Cart
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Hardcover
Sports GeneralBiologyEvolution
Publisher Price: $30.00
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 0861545273
ISBN13: 9780861545278
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: May 9 2023
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.15
Height: 1.50 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
ISBN13: 9780861545278
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: May 9 2023
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.15
Height: 1.50 Width: 5.80 Depth: 8.90
Language: English
Why do some of nature's marvels have to wait millions of years for their time in the sun? Life innovates constantly, producing perfectly adapted species - but there's a catch. A TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BEST BOOK OF 2023 'Hopeful and fascinating.' THE TIMES Many animals and plants eke out seemingly unremarkable lives. Passive, constrained, modest, threatened. Then, in a blink of evolutionary time, they flourish spectacularly. Once we start to look, these 'sleeping beauties' crop up everywhere. But why? Looking at the book of life, from apex predators to keystone crops, and informed by his own cutting-edge experiments, renowned scientist Andreas Wagner demonstrates that innovations can come frequently and cheaply to nature, well before they are needed. We have found prehistoric bacteria that harbour the remarkable ability to fight off 21st-century antibiotics. And human history fits the pattern too, as life-changing technologies are invented only to be forgotten, languishing in the shadows before they finally take off. In probing the mysteries of these sleeping beauties, Wagner reveals a crucial part of nature's rich and strange tapestry.
3 different editions
Also available
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Paperback
$18.00
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Audio Book
$39.99
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Audio Book
$45.95
Also from
Wagner, Andreas
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Paperback
$18.00
Winzige Häuser: Ein umfassender Leitfaden für Anfänger, um die Welt der Tiny Homes von A bis Z kennenzulernen
Wagner, Andreas
Paperback
$18.99
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Audio Book
$39.99
Sleeping Beauties: The Mystery of Dormant Innovations in Nature and Culture
Wagner, Andreas
Audio Book
$45.95
Tannbacher Totentanz: Der erste Fall von Hauptkommissar Korbinian Gschwendtner und Polizeiobermeisterin Jette Hansen
Wagner, Andreas
Paperback
$37.08
Also in
Evolution
Beyond Darwin: How Epigenetics, Quantum Science, and Cooperation Shape Humanity's Future
Lipton, Bruce H.
Hardcover
$25.60
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
$23.74
Togetherness: Symbiosis and the Hidden Story of Life's Greatest Collaborations
Hooper, Rowan
Hardcover
$31.50
Time's Second Arrow: Evolution, Order, and a New Law of Nature
Wong, Michael L.
Hazen, Robert M.
Hardcover
$26.09
A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, Ai, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains
Bennett, Max S.
Paperback
$18.99
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Brusatte, Steve
Paperback
$23.74
Probability Zero: The Mathematical Impossibility of the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
Day, Vox
Hardcover
$37.49
Force of Nature: Understanding Evolution's Deepest Logic-And Putting It to Use
Jones, Owen D.
Hardcover
$28.79
Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body
Shubin, Neil
Paperback
$17.10
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
Brannen, Peter
Hardcover
From $19.99
The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race
Isaacson, Walter
Paperback
From $12.99
The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life
Dunn, Rob
Hardcover
$28.80
The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World
Brannen, Peter
Paperback
$18.00
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World
Black, Riley
Paperback
$18.05
Tamed: From Wild to Domesticated, the Ten Animals and Plants That Changed Human History
Roberts, Alice
Paperback
$18.00
Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change
Hanson, Thor
Paperback
$18.99
The Origin of Politics: How Evolution and Ideology Shape the Fate of Nations
Wade, Nicholas
Hardcover
$30.40
Living on Earth: Forests, Corals, Consciousness, and the Making of the World
Godfrey-Smith, Peter
Paperback
From $11.99
The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions
Brannen, Peter
Paperback
$18.04
The Secret of Our Success: How Culture Is Driving Human Evolution, Domesticating Our Species, and Making Us Smarter
Henrich, Joseph
Paperback
$19.90
Return of the God Hypothesis: Three Scientific Discoveries That Reveal the Mind Behind the Universe
Meyer, Stephen C.
Hardcover
$30.88
Finding Darwin's God: A Scientist's Search for Common Ground Between God and Evolution
Miller, Kenneth R.
Paperback
$18.04
Human Errors: A Panorama of Our Glitches, from Pointless Bones to Broken Genes
Lents, Nathan H.
Paperback
$17.09
Ends of the Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future
Shubin, Neil
Hardcover
$30.40
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design
Dawkins, Richard
Paperback
$18.99
Sounds Wild and Broken: Sonic Marvels, Evolution's Creativity, and the Crisis of Sensory Extinction
Haskell, David George
Paperback
$18.05
The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History, from the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Brusatte, Steve
Hardcover
$28.49
Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design
Meyer, Stephen C.
Paperback
$21.84
Everything Evolves: Why Evolution Explains More Than We Think, from Proteins to Politics
Vellend, Mark
Hardcover
$44.93
The Serengeti Rules: The Quest to Discover How Life Works and Why It Matters
Carroll, Sean B.
Paperback
$18.00
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Condemi, Silvana
Savatier, François
Hardcover
$28.50
The Language Puzzle: Piecing Together the Six-Million-Year Story of How Words Evolved
Mithen, Steven
Hardcover
$38.00
Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the New Science of the Human Past
Reich, David
Paperback
$19.00
The Social Leap: The New Evolutionary Science of Who We Are, Where We Come From, and What Makes Us Happy
Von Hippel, William
Paperback
$18.04
The Secret World of Denisovans: The Epic Story of the Ancient Cousins to Sapiens and Neanderthals
Condemi, Silvana
Savatier, François
Paperback
$18.00
The Secret Life of the Universe: An Astrobiologist's Search for the Origins and Frontiers of Life
Cabrol, Nathalie A.
Paperback
$18.99
Impossible Monsters: Dinosaurs, Darwin, and the Battle Between Science and Religion
Taylor, Michael
Paperback
$20.89
Nature's Nether Regions: What the Sex Lives of Bugs, Birds, and Beasts Tell Us About Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ourselves
Schilthuizen, Menno
Paperback
$27.00
The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal about Aliens--And Ourselves
Kershenbaum, Arik
Paperback
From $10.99
The Origins of the New: Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology
Erwin, Douglas H.
Hardcover
$67.50
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction
Gee, Henry
Hardcover
$26.10
The Primate Myth: Why the Latest Science Leads Us to a New Theory of Human Nature
Leaf, Jonathan
Paperback
$19.95
The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships
Lents, Nathan H.
Paperback
$17.09
The Evolution of Imperfection: The Science of Why We Aren't and Can't Be Perfect
Hurst, Laurence D.
Hardcover
From $17.99
Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the True Nature of the Universe
Berman, Bob
Lanza, Robert
Paperback
$16.10
The Lost World of the Dinosaurs: Uncovering the Secrets of the Prehistoric Age
Schmitt, Armin
Hardcover
$31.34
Unkind Mind: The Neuroscience of Why Women Are So Hard on Themselves--And How to Quiet Your Inner Critic for Good
Holmberg, Betsy
Paperback
$18.95
The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire: Why Our Species Is on the Edge of Extinction
Gee, Henry
Paperback
$18.05
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World
Kelly, Kevin
Paperback
$21.80
Inferior: How Science Got Women Wrong-And the New Research That's Rewriting the Story
Saini, Angela
Paperback
$17.10
Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People
Roughgarden, Joan
Paperback
$52.43
The Problem of Increasing Human Energy: With Special Reference to the Harnessing of the Sun's Energy
Tesla, Nikola
Paperback
$12.49
Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding
Lieberman, Daniel E.
Paperback
From $10.99
The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World - And Us
Prum, Richard O.
Paperback
$19.95
Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods
Staaf, Danna
Paperback
$16.10
Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind
Fortey, Richard
Paperback
$22.00
Birds, Sex and Beauty: The Extraordinary Implications of Charles Darwin's Strangest Idea
Ridley, Matt
Hardcover
From $14.99
The Fool and the Heretic: How Two Scientists Moved Beyond Labels to a Christian Dialogue about Creation and Evolution
Falk, Darrel R.
Wood, Todd Charles
Paperback
$16.99
40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, Oxycontin(r), and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania
Chapman, Matthew
Paperback
$17.99
The Earth: A Biography of Life: The Story of Life on Our Planet Through 47 Incredible Organisms
Panciroli, Elsa
Paperback
$18.04
The Origin of Species and the Voyage of the 'Beagle': Introduction by Richard Dawkins
Darwin, Charles
Hardcover
$39.90