A visionary look at how novel attributes arise and become transformative innovations in nature, culture, and technology
The Origins of the New presents a revolutionary approach to evolutionary success in all realms of life. In this groundbreaking book, Douglas Erwin takes readers on a dazzling excursion across science and history to explore how evolution generates new and enduring features in biology, culture, and technology.
Erwin begins by tracing how thinkers from Darwin’s time to the present day have sought to discover the driving mechanisms of evolutionary novelty. He then lays out compelling empirical evidence for separating novelty from innovation, showing how novelty involves the emergence of unique characteristics while innovation has to do with the success of those characteristics across time. Erwin develops a unifying conceptual framework for these powerful dynamics, demonstrating how they have shaped everything from the evolution of avian feathers and flight to the creation of human language and the breathtaking advances in digital computing we’re witnessing today.
A landmark work that redefines our understanding of the changes happening all around us, The Origins of the New reveals how the forces of novelty and innovation are the same across nature and culture, continually producing new forms and refashioning the world as we know it.
Published in association with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC
eBook - ePub
The Origins of the New
Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
The Origins of the New
Novelty and Innovation in the History of Life, Culture, and Technology
About this book
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Information
Publisher
Princeton University PressYear
2026Print ISBN
9780691296098
9780691178943
eBook ISBN
9780691287539
Table of contents
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Origins: Historical Views of Evolutionary Novelty and Innovation
- 3. Novelty and Innovation
- 4. Evolutionary Spaces: The Topology of Innovation
- 5. A Conceptual Framework for Novelty and Innovation
- 6. The Origins of Novelties
- 7. Building Communities: The Dynamics of Evolutionary Innovation
- 8. Ode to Opabinia
- 9. On the Shoulders of Giants: The Dynamics of Cultural and Technological Innovation
- 10. Toward a Theory of Evolutionary Novelty and Innovation
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- References
- Index
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Yes, you can access The Origins of the New by Douglas H. Erwin in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Evolution. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.