Restless Creatures

A billion-year history of movement,

from bacteria to Olympic athletes.

'Packed with revelations, scholarly but clear, Restless Creatures carries

you from the kinetics of the amoeba to that of the blue whale, from the

swim-cycle of spermatozoa, to why skipping works best on the moon. A

pop-science treat.' Gavin Francis, author of Adventures in Human Being

Despite the overwhelming diversity of life on earth, one theme has

dominated its evolution: the apparently simple act of moving from one place to

another. Restless Creatures is the first book for a general

audience telling the incredible story of locomotion in human and animal

evolution.

Evolutionary biologist Matt Wilkinson traces this 4-billion-year

history, showing why our ancestors became two-legged, how movement explains why

we have opposable thumbs and a backbone, how fish fins became limbs, how even

trees are locomotion-obsessed, and how movement has shaped our minds as well as

our bodies. He explains why there are no flying monkeys or biological wheels,

how dinosaurs took to the air, how Mexican waves were the making of the animal

kingdom, and why moving can make us feel good.

Restless Creatures opens up an astonishing new perspective –

that little in evolution makes sense unless in the light of movement.