The book's papers cover applied evolution. Where humans have aggressively used various breeding methods to turn out new generations of plants and animals better suited for our needs. Ever since agriculture was invented, this has been happening. But it is only recently that evolution has given us a deeper understanding of human efforts.



The examples covered in the book are diverse. Wheat, sugar cane, horses, cows, dogs, chickens and pigs. In the case of horses, the cited example was for war. So this petered out after the 19th century. But the other examples are ongoing. Clearly seen for chickens and pigs. The modern farming methods for these animals are really factories, that turn inputs like water and grain into meat as efficiently as possible.



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