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Evolution as seen by an alien

Evolution: The story of life on Earth is an ingenious comic book that puts Darwin's theory in a new perspective – that of fictional extraterrestrials

IT IS not often that the books I am asked to review go missing. After hours of searching, I found the errant item, with the spine cracked, in my teenage son’s room – an otherwise book-free zone. I can offer no higher recommendation.

This superb comic book tells the story of terrestrial evolution from the perspective of creatures from a planet called Glargal. The development of life on Earth, from primitive cellular organisms to Homo sapiens, is presented by the alien scientist Bloort-183 via an interactive hologram to the king of Glargal and his son. They urgently need to understand evolutionary adaptation, as their own planet faces an unspecified “genetic crisis�, and Earth may offer some clues on how to avert it.

I am not sure why comic books make words like alpha-proteobacteria less daunting, but they do. Every classroom should have this book.

Evolution: The story of life on Earth

Jay Hosler, illustrated by Kevin Cannon and Zander Cannon

Hill and Wang

Topics: Books and art