Books and Papers - 7 - Population Genetics, Molecular Evolution, and The Neutral Theory by Motoo Kimura

Published in 1994 in recognition of the huge influence of Motoo Kimura on the field of theoretical studies on molecular evolution. This is a collection of papers and essays published by Kimura over the period 1955 to 1986. The writing is just truly beautiful, the prose, pace and clarity in the text humbles me as a supposed native English speaker (as this blog so clearly shows!). If you're not interested in the science at all, just buy it for the masterclass of technical writing inside.

The theme of the book is around The Neutral Theory, quite a contentious issue in evolution (essentially, this states that the vast majority of observed mutations at a molecular level are not adaptive; now flame me!) This book changed the way I thought about mutation, protein sequence and structure and function. Forever.

%T Population Genetics, Molecular Evolution, and The Neutral Theory
%A Motoo Kimura
%E J.F. Crow
%D 1994
%I Chicago
%O ISBN: 0-226-43562-8

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