M. : Astrel: Corpus, 2010. 552 s. — ISBN 978-5-271-24663-0 . How did life on our planet develop and according to what laws? What led to the formation of multicellular organisms? How do mutations arise and what are caused by , leading to changes in life forms? Sociological studies show, that in search of answers to these fundamental questions people today are less and less turning to the data of science, preferring to be content with superficial and often incorrect explanations, TV and Yellow Press. The book of Doctor of Biological Sciences, famous paleontologist and popularizer of science Alexander Markov is an attempt to overcome the barrier of mutual misunderstanding between serious researchers and a wide reader. The Birth of Complexity is both an exciting account of what is happening at the forefront of biological science today, and a serious attempt to generalize and systematize the knowledge accumulated by mankind in this field. The fascinating and popular book by Alexander Markov at the same time contains information that may be of interest not only to the general reader, but also to specialists.