For more than a century, we were restricted to studying evolution from the outside, observing its progress only through the fossil record. No longer. We can now also read the DNA record. As well as containing the operating instructions for everyday existence and for making the next generation, DNA contains a vast and detailed history of the three-billion-year development of life on Earth. It is a living chronicle

of evolution, pinpointing the precise changes that have enabled Earth's marvelous creatures to inhabit the planet's shifting environments, from the freezing waters of the Antarctic to the lush canopy of the rainforest.

Captivating and lucid, The Making of the Fittest delves deep into the DNA record to reveal not just how the fittest survive but also how they are made.