Books by Subject
Books by Subject
Evolution
Animal Signals (Oxford Series in Ecology and Evolution)Hardcover: 256 pages
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
From one of the great iconoclasts of modern biology,
an original, accessible work that sets out, for lay and scientific readers alike,
a new theory of how species begin.
In this groundbreaking book, Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan present an answer to one of the enduring mysteries of evolution--the source of inherited variation that gives rise to new species. Random genetic mutation, long believed to be the main source of variation, is only a marginal factor. As the authors demonstrate in this book, the more important source of speciation, by far, is the acquisition of new genomes by symbiotic merger.
The result of thirty years of delving into a vast, mostly
arcane literature, this is the first book to go beyond--and reveal the severe
limitations of--the "Modern Synthesis" that has dominated evolutionary
biology for almost three generations. Lynn Margulis, whom E. O. Wilson called
"one of the most successful synthetic thinkers in modern biology,"
and her co-author Dorion Sagan have written a comprehensive and scientifically
supported presentation of a theory that directly challenges the assumptions
we hold about the variety of the living world.
About the Author
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor in the
Department of Geosciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is a member
of the National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the 1999 Presidential
Medal of Science. She lives in Amherst, Massachusetts. Dorion Sagan is the author
of Biospheres and, with Dr. Eric Schneider, Into the Cool: The New
Thermodynamics of Life. He lives in New York City.
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
While its opponents may sneer that "it's just a theory,"
evolution has transcended that label to take its place as one of the most
important ideas in human history. Science journalist Carl Zimmer explores its
history and future in Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, a companion
piece to the epic PBS series of the same name. The book, lavishly illustrated
with photos of our distant cousins, anatomical diagrams, and timelines, is as
beautiful as it is enlightening. While those closely following the field will
find little more here than a well-written summation of the state of the art in
2001, readers who have watched the evolutionary debates from a distance will
quickly catch up with the details of the principal arguments.
Zimmer's text is fresh and expansive, explaining both the minutiae of comparative anatomy and the grand scale of geological time with verve and clarity. Following the trend of turn-of-the-century evolution writers, he treats the religious beliefs of creationists with respect, while firmly insisting that the scientific evidence against their position is too compelling to ignore. Touching on biology, philosophy, theology, politics, and nearly every other field of human thought, Evolution will inspire its readers with the elegance and importance of Darwin's simple theory. --Rob Lightner
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial
Reviews
Book
Description
A major new textbook.
A concise and clear introduction to evolutionary biology.
This book introduces what is essential and exciting in evolutionary biology. It covers whole field and emphasises the important concepts for the student. Care has been taken to express complex and stimulating ideas in simple language, while the frequent examples and running summaries make reading fun. Its logical structure means that it can be read straight through, one chapter per sitting.
* Concise, clear, and states what is important
* Concentrates on the central concepts and illustrates them with telling examples
* Running summaries in the margins make navigation easy
* Suitable for a one-year or one-semester course in evolution
* Summaries at chapter ends
* Each chapter's links to neighbouring chapters are explained
Evolution: an introduction takes a fresh approach to classical topics such as population genetics and natural selection, and gives an overview of recent advances in hot areas such as sexual selection, genetic conflict, life history evolution, and phenotypic plasticity.
Detail of contents
The Prologue is unique and uniquely motivating. It makes four central points about evolution in the form of four case studies told as brief stories.
Chapters 1-3 describe natural selection and the essential difference between adaptive and neutral evolution with unmatched clarity and simplicity.
Chapter 4 emphasizes the essential message of population genetics without burdening the students with any of the unessential details and places unique emphasis on the role of the genetic system in constraining the response to selection.
Chapter 6 is not found in any other evolution textbook, although there are a number of recent books on the subject, and it therefore provides an introductory overview of a topic that has been the object of much recent interest and promises to generate much more insight: the expression of genetic variation analysed with the concept of reaction norms.
Chapters 7-9 cover sex, life histories, and sexual selection in greater depth than they are dealt with in any other introductory textbook but without introducing advanced technical language and analysis.
Chapters 6-9 thus give unprecedented coverage to phenotypic evolution in an introductory text.
Chapter 10 on multilevel selection and genetic conflict is unique in introductory textbooks. Rolf Hoekstra has achieved a wonder of clarity and concision on the essentials of this exciting topic.
Chapters 11 and 12 on speciation and systematics are, by comparison, pretty standard, but they continue the policy of clarity and concision with the focus on essentials.
Chapter 13 on the history of the planet and of life is a completely new approach unabashedly designed to motivate students to think about deep time, geology, paleontology, and fossils.
Chapter 14 on the major transitions in evolution is also not found in any other introductory textbook. It documents the conceptual issues raised in the history of life briefly and in a form that will stimulate the gifted.
Chapter 15 profiles the chief insights made possible by molecular systematics in the form of four case studies ranging from deep time to recent European history. It has standard content but unique structure. A strong point is the way mitochondrial Eve is contrasted with transpecies polymorphism to show students how to think about inferences with molecular evidence.
Chapter 16 briefly presents the principle comparative methods and the kinds of insights that can be achieved with them. It is not unique - Ridley covers this ground well - but the examples used are new and the essential features of the methods - including potential pitfalls - are quite clearly described.
Chapter 17 places evolutionary thought into the context both of the
natural sciences and of society at large.
Click
here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial
Reviews
Book
Description
Introduced in 1859, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution generated hot
debate and controversy. Today, nearly all reputable scientists agree: evolution
did happen and natural selection was its main driving force. And yet, a century
and a half after Darwin, the theory of evolution is still being fought over with
a ferocity that has rarely been equaled in the annals of science. What are
scientists arguing about? And why are their exchanges sometimes so bitter?
In THE EVOLUTIONISTS, Richard Morris vividly portrays the controversies that rage today in the field of evolutionary biology. With a clear and unbiased eye, he explores the fundamental questions about the evolutionary process that have provoked such vehement disagreement among some of the world's most prominent scientists, including Stephen Jay Gould, fellow paleontologist Niles Eldredge, geneticist John Maynard Smith, and zoologist Richard Dawkins.
As he elucidates the issues of contention, Morris also positions them within the broader context of evolutionary thought as a whole. He explains the theory of evolution in detail, reviews the main trends of evolutionary science since Darwin, and assesses how the field is changing today--from ground-breaking new research to the emergence of scientific disciplines like complexity theory and evolutionary psychology.
A vibrant account of contemporary evolutionary biology, THE EVOLUTIONISTS is a fascinating look at how controversy and debate shape the scientific process.
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazom.com
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
Can you create life with just a taser and a bowl of soup? Most likely
not, unless you give yourself a few hundred million years to experiment.
Biologist Christopher Wills and marine chemist Jeffrey Bada show off the fruits
of research looking for signs of life elsewhere and clues to the origin of
terrestrial organisms in The Spark of Life. The writing is clear and
every concept is explained well--Wills's reputation for translating scientific
understanding into plain English is well-deserved, and Bada's insider status
with NASA provides insight not found elsewhere. They examine the field of
theories, from extraterrestrial origin to life spilling out of hydrothermal
vents to deep-crust genesis, and find strengths and weaknesses in them all.
Their own partisan stance has it that life began on the surface of our planet
through Darwinian-like processes operating on primitive self-replicating
chemicals. Though their arguments are fairly compelling, the jury is still out,
and will probably remain out indefinitely; science often balks at providing
explanations for unique events, preferring to stick to general principles.
Still, we can see that the problem is valuable because the search for an answer
turns up all sorts of unexpected scientific finds: RNA-catalyzed reactions,
Martian environmental problems, and natural selection of nonliving chemicals all
showed up amid these debates. While it won't settle the issues, we can be glad
that The Spark of Life explains them so clearly and primes us for the
research still to come. --Rob Lightner --This text refers to the hardcover
edition of this title
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
The first thing that Harvard University biology professor Stephen Palumbi
wants you to know is that evolution is a fact, not a theory. The second is this:
evolution does not require eons and eons to make its effects manifest. By
tinkering with genes and rewriting the laws of natural selection, we humans have
lately been "accelerating the evolutionary game, especially among the
species that live with us most intimately"--not our pets, that is to say,
but the food we eat, the pests that share that food, and the diseases that visit
us.
Almost all of this accelerated evolution--which, as in the pointed case of the human immunodeficiency virus, occurs faster than we can track it--is an unintended, accidental consequence of some well-intentioned effort to improve human life by sidestepping nature. One such consequence is the growing incidence of drug-resistant bacteria and viruses, which have mutated to survive antibiotic treatments to the point that postoperative infections from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus now pose a major threat to hospitals. Another is the arrival of pests that have evolved to survive pesticides of many kinds, pests that threaten crops around the world in a time of ever-increasing scarcity. All this, Palumbi writes, is "evolution with teeth," and such responses to our hapless prompting make humans the most potent evolutionary form the planet has ever known. Whether we can survive our own power to reshape the earth remains a question. But, Palumbi concludes, ideas evolve, too, so that we can hope against hope to think our way back to more or less normal cycles of evolutionary change. Well-written and provocative, his book makes for a useful start. --Gregory McNamee
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial
Reviews
Book
Description
This book attempts a broad theoretical synthesis within the field of
sociology and its closely allied sister discipline of anthropology. It draws
together what the author considers the best of these disciplines' theoretical
approaches into a synthesized theory called Darwinian conflict theory. This
theory, in the most general sense, is a synthesis of the tradition of economic
and ecological materialism and conflict theory stemming from Marx, Marvin
Harris, and the tradition of biological materialism deriving from Darwin. The
first half of the book is taken up with critiques of existing theoretical
approaches; this then leads to the full elaboration, in formal propositional
form, of synthetic theory. The second half of the book lays out the large amount
of evidence, both qualitative and quantitative, that supports the synthesized
theory.
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Editorial
Reviews
Amazon.com
When Europeans first explored the Galapagos Islands, a rugged
archipelago 650 miles off the coast of Ecuador, they were astounded by the
forbidding landscape and the odd behavior of the animals and plants they found
there. "The place is like a new creation," wrote ship captain George
Anson, a nephew of the poet Lord Byron. "The birds and beasts do not get
out of our way; the pelicans and sea-lions look in our faces as if we had no
right to intrude on their solitude; the small birds are so tame that they hop
upon our feet; and all this amidst volcanoes which are burning around us on
either hand."
Others who followed, like the onetime sailor and writer Herman Melville, took a dimmer view, calling the place "evilly enchanted ground." Whatever the sentiment, the Galapagos attracted generations of scientists, who, following the example of Charles Darwin, traveled there to test theories of speciation, adaptation, migration, and selection. Their work in the field helped overturn the prevailing orthodoxies of special creation, writes Edward J. Larson in his vigorous history of the islands and their role in the development of modern biological science. Their work also changed the face of the islands themselves, as hundreds and thousands of plants and animals were killed or removed for collections far afield, with a single expedition taking more than 10,000 birds and skins.
Today, the islands face other threats, as tens of thousands of ecotourists travel there each year, disturbing sensitive environments, and as alien plant and animal species are introduced. Still, Larson notes at the close of his fine book, "the archipelago's ecosystem has proved surprisingly resilient in the past," and conservation measures may yet be found to preserve the islands' "age-old solitude." --Gregory McNamee
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
The Ghosts of Evolution
by Connie Barlow, Paul Martin
Hardcover - 224 pages (April
3, 2001)
Basic Books; ISBN: 0465005519
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.98 x 9.57 x 6.55
Book
Description
A fresh voice in science and nature writing presents an engaging first-person
account of a revolution in ecological thinking A new vision is sweeping through
ecological science: The dense web of dependencies that makes up an ecosystem
has gained an added dimension-the dimension of time. Every field, forest, and
park is full of living organisms adapted for relationships with creatures that
are now extinct. In a vivid narrative, Connie Barlow shows how the idea of "missing
partners" in nature evolved from isolated, curious examples into an idea
that is transforming how ecologists understand the entire flora and fauna of
the Americas. This fascinating book will enrich and deepen the experience of
anyone who enjoys a stroll through the woods or even down an urban sidewalk.
But this knowledge has a dark side too: Barlow's "ghost stories" teach
us that the ripples of biodiversity loss around us now are just the leading
edge of what may well become perilous cascades of extinction.
Click
here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
The Imitation Factor: Evolution
Beyond the Gate
by Lee Alan Dugatkin
Hardcover - 243 pages
1st edition (January 2001)
Free Press; ISBN: 0684864533
; Dimensions (in inches): 1.05 x 8.76 x 5.78
Editorial Reviews
Book
Description
Is imitation really the best compliment? As Lee Alan Dugatkin's powerful
work of cutting-edge science reveals, imitation is the most profound compliment
you can give anyone. It might last for millions of years.
An acclaimed biologist, Dugatkin has identified and mapped the effects of a powerful, overlooked, and deceptively simple factor in evolutionary history. He shows how the imitation of one individual by another, in any species, is an essential and fundamental natural force that has enabled the growth of animal and human societies. Previously inexplicable animal behaviors become comprehensible in the light of Dugatkin's research: How can one group of monkeys all learn to use a new tool in one generation? There is no time for genetic evolution to achieve this, but the social system enabled by imitation manages it easily. Dugatkin also investigates the way we, and other species, select mates. Why do tiny sailfin molly fish have sex with another species? The somewhat disturbing truth is, simply, to impress the ladies. There can be no purely genetic, standard Darwinian explanation for it. Such fishy sex isn't all in the genes. Humans and animals alike do things because they see others doing them; in this way fashions, traditions, and customs eventually emerge. Indeed, Dugatkin's astonishing point is that the imitation factor has led to the development in animals of education and culture. This fact has changed the course of evolutionary history.
Dugatkin draws on a wide range of his own and others' research into the behavior of fish, birds, whales, and humans to reveal the failure of genetic determination to explain mating behavior and the fundamental process of learning. As we watch people become popular and find ourselves attracted to them, we are doing nothing more than what animals have been doing for eons. Dugatkin follows the course of imitation as it leads to teaching and reveals that the mechanics of "animal education" built the species-wide phenomenon known in our own society as civilization. An original, brilliant, and lucid presentation of a profound new idea in evolutionary science, The Imitation Factor will have an enduring impact on the way we understand life on earth, and ourselves.
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com
Introducing Evolution
by Dylan Evans, Howard Selina
(Illustrator)
Paperback - 176 pages (December
2001)
Totem Books; ISBN: 1840462655
; Dimensions (in inches): 0.47 x 8.30 x 5.64
Click here to learn more or purchase from Amazon.com