The purpose of the book is to show that to preserve life and culture we need not only calls to live better, we also need a new theory of evolution. In recent years, statements about an approach from an “evolutionary” position to problems of cosmology, ecology, economics and technology, to the development of the nervous system and cancer have become common. The terms “nervous Darwinism”, “economic Darwinism” and even “literary Darwinism” appeared. There are no references to evolutionary works - the authors have a vague school memory that evolution proceeds “according to Darwin.” In fact, all 4 main theses of Darwinism (continuity and non-directionality of change, natural selection and divergence from a single ancestor) turned out to be not general laws, but either particular rules with exceptions, or do not apply at all. And, most importantly, they provide only variability within close species, but not evolution.

The book talks about the emergence and development of life, about the development of scientists’ views on this process. If necessary, parallels are given with the ideas of evolution in other sciences (cosmology, geology, linguistics, economics, etc.) and in various religions. The author proceeds from the idea that a new theory can be useful for practice not by explaining what happened or predicting the future course of evolution (this is of little importance to anyone), but by specific recommendations - for example, on the protection of nature and culture, on medicine and taxonomy.

The reader is required to have knowledge of a school biology course and, in addition, any popular book on immunology. The book is intended for senior students and graduate students of biological specialties, but a number of places (especially paragraphs 5-2 and chapter 11) require some skill in reading theoretical literature. The book may be useful to teachers and high school students of biology schools, but it should also be of interest to all specialists who, due to their occupation, need to know new evolutionary ideas - biologists, doctors, psychologists, ecologists, engineers, economists and social scientists.