Contents // Preface vii // Acknowledgements x // 1 • The Perennial Question 1 // 2 • The Nature of Biological Information: Information, // Complexity and Entropy 20 // 3 • DNA: The Molecule 53 // 4 • The Evolution of Biological Complexity 93 // 5 • Cooperating Genomes 128 // 6 • DNA, Information and Complexity 143 // 7 • Origins of Complexity 154 // 8 • The Complexity of Societies 171 // 9 • Why DNA: and Not RNA? 182 // General Reading and Bibliography 192 // Index 209 // Colour plates can be found between pages 52 and 53