About The Author

Andy head

About Andy Dyer

I am  a professor at the University of South Carolina Aiken (since 2000) where I teach botany, ecology and evolution, environmental science, restoration ecology, and research methods.  I have degrees in zoology and wildlife biology (BA, MA, from California State University, Fresno), and plant ecology (PhD from University of California, Davis). Later I spent two years working in the Negev Desert in Israel (for University of Michigan).  My research focus is plant ecology and evolutionary biology but, in general, I study how disruptions to natural systems affect the integrity and functioning of those systems.

In Chasing the Red Queen: The Evolutionary Race Between Agricultural Pests and Poisons (2014, Island Press), I used basic concepts from ecology and evolutionary biology to explain how the process of food production in modern agriculture has changed, how it adheres less and less to natural biological principles, and how technological interventions with pesticides and genetic modification will ultimately fail. The goal of the book was to raise awareness of the hazards inherent in ignoring the rules of evolutionary biology when it comes to food production and health. Essentially, that is also the focus of this second book.

My goal in writing is to inform the general public about science, particularly the basic principles of evolutionary biology, and how science can be applied to understanding everyday life. I believe people want to know more science, particularly with regard to their health and well-being. As a writer, I want to explain the important concepts in an understandable way, but it’s more important to me that readers have enough understanding to actually make decisions on their own rather than depending one other people to make decisions. Most readers do not have the time or desire to get a PhD, so it’s up to writers to provide that understanding.