《进化动力学:探索生命的方程》一书阐释了生命进化所遵循的数学原理。进化动力学主要涉及复制、突变、选择、随机漂变和空间运动等过程。《进化动力学:探索生命的方程》结合生物学理论和数学语言对这些问题进行了论述。开篇简要介绍了与进化相关的基本概念、种群动力学基本模型以及准种理论；然后介绍进化动力学基本研究方法及其应用，分别就合作行为、HIV、病原体、癌症以及人类语言的进化机制展开讨论，其中所涉及的研究方法主要有进化博弈理论、囚徒困境模型、进化图论、网络博弈等。
《进化动力学:探索生命的方程》语言简洁有力，论述生动有趣。虽然书中涉及大量的数学方法，但是，读者只需具备一定的数学基础，就不会感到晦涩枯燥。该书适合于具有生物学、数学以及具有其他相关学科背景的读者阅读。

At a time of unprecedented expansion in the life sciences, evolution is the one theory that transcends all of biology. Any observation of a living system must ultimately be interpreted in the context of its evolution. Evolutionary change is the consequence of mutation and natural selection, which are two concepts that can be described by mathematical equations.Evolutionary Dynamics is concerned with these equations of life. In this book, Martin Nowak draws on the languages of biology and mathematics to outline the mathematical principles according to which life evolves. His work introduces readers to the powerful yet simple laws that govern the evolution of living systems, no matter how complicated they might seem.
Evolution has become a mathematical theory, Nowak suggests, and any idea of an evolutionary process or mechanism should be studied in the context of the mathematical equations of evolutionary dynamics. His book presents a range of analytical tools that can be used to this end: fitness landscapes, mutation matrices, genomic sequence space, random drift, quasispecies, replicators, the Prisoner's Dilemma, games in finite and infinite populations, evolutionary graph theory, games on grids, evolutionary kaleidoscopes, fractals, and spatial chaos. Nowak then shows how evolutionary dynamics applies to critical real-world problems, including the progression of viral diseases such as AIDS, the virulence of infectious agents, the unpredictable mutations that lead to cancer, the evolution of altruism, and even the evolution of human language. His book makes a clear and compelling case for understanding every living system--and everything that arises as a consequence of living systems--in terms of evolutionary dynamics.