My First Book of Evolution

Eduard Altarriba is a graphic designer and illustrator. He runs Alababalà, a studio producing games, exhibitions, animation, apps and practical and fun workbooks for children. Eduard lives in Barcelona, Spain.Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferrón is a science and physics enthusiast with degrees in physics and pharmacy. Since graduation he has been teaching science to children, continuing to study physics, working in the pharmaceutical field and staring at the universe with his telescope. He now writes popular science books. Sheddad lives in Barcelona, Spain.Sheddad and Eduard Altarriba are an award-winning illustrator and author duo and have written a number of books published by GMC Publications including My First Book of Quantum Physics, My First Book of Electromagnetism, My First Book of Relativity, and My First Book of the Cosmos.

• Life 4 The Family Tree 6 The Tree of Life 7 Species 8 Evolution 10 Natural selection 12 The Voyage of the Beagle 14 Developing the theory of natural selection 16 “The Origin of Species” 17 Adaptation to the environment 18 Heredity 20 Cells 22 Mutations 24 We are not all the same 26 Genetic variability 27 The (modern) theory of evolution 28 The evolution of life 30 Speciation 32 Microevolution and macroevolution 33 The peppered moth 34  The evolution of birds 36 Coevolution 38 Artificial selection 39 Fossils 40 Improvable “designs” 42 Extinction 43 LUCA 44 Future humans 46 Extraterrestrial life 46

All life adapts to its surroundings. Fish use their gills to breathe underwater, and are the ideal shape for moving through it. The desert cactus can store large amounts of water to withstand long periods of drought. Evolution means that something changes and transforms over time to suit its environment and be able to thrive within it. Featuring chapters on natural selection, Charles Darwin, heredity, genetic variability and speciation, this is quite a deep dive on the subject of evolution. Eduard Altarriba’s illustrations are gorgeous and their vibrant graphic style, plenty of diagrams, and helpful layouts help to make the material more digestible.Sheddad Kaid-Salah Ferron and Altarriba take the reader through Darwin’s original theory and then look at how evolution has been influenced by human intervention in artificial selection, using the example of animal breeding. They also look ahead to the future of humanity and what influence technology might have on our bodies, minds and lives over the next thousands of years. As with the other books in this series, there is some rather advanced information contained in My First Book of Evolution, despite the fact that it’s a picture book - meaning that it is best suited to older primary aged children.