Evolution in Four Dimensions, revised edition

Now updated with the latest research, this pioneering, accessible study argues for a more complex view of evolution—proposing there is more to heredity than just genes.

In this revised edition the widely read Evolution in Four Dimensions, Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb propose that there are four “dimensions” in heredity. These four inheritance systems play a role in evolution which, they argue, can all provide variations upon which natural selection can act:

• Genetic
• Epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits)
• Behavioral
• Symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication)

Jablonka and Lamb present a richer, more complex view of evolution than that offered by the gene-based Modern Synthesis, arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role. Their lucid and accessible text is accompanied by lively drawings, and each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors refine their arguments against the vigorous skepticism of the fictional “I.M.” (for Ipcha Mistabra—Aramaic for “the opposite conjecture”).

This revised edition reflects the spate of new discoveries in biology since the book was first published, offering corrections, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new chapter on each of the four dimensions—with special attention to the epigenetic, where there has been an explosion of new research.