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books tagged “Evolutionary theory”
books tagged “Evolutionary theory”
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Adaptation and Natural Selection: A Critique of Some Current Evolutionary Thoughtby George Christopher WilliamsISBN 0691026157 (0-691-02615-7)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Speciesby Steve JonesISBN 1862300259 (1-86230-025-9)
Softcover, Trafalgar Square
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species'Book summary:Containing anecdotes, facts and humour, this work uses 20th-century science to update the theories presented in Darwin's "The Origin of Species". [via]
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The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolutionby Richard Dawkins, Yan WongISBN 061861916X (0-618-61916-X)
Softcover, Mariner Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution'Book summary:Just as we trace our personal family trees from parents to grandparents and so on back in time, so in The Ancestor's Tale Richard Dawkins traces the ancestry of life. As he is at pains to point out, this is very much our human tale, our ancestry. Surprisingly, it is one that many otherwise literate people are largely unaware of. Hopefully Dawkins's name and well deserved reputation as a best selling writer will introduce them to this wonderful saga.
The Ancestor's Tale takes us from our immediate human ancestors back through what he calls concestors, those shared with the apes, monkeys and other mammals and other vertebrates and beyond to the dim and distant microbial beginnings of life some 4 billion years ago. It is a remarkable story which is still very much in the process of being uncovered. And, of course from a scientist of Dawkins stature and reputation we get an insider's knowledge of the most up-to-date science and many of those involved in the research. And, as we have come to expect of Dawkins, it is told with a passionate commitment to scientific veracity and a nose for a good story. Dawkins's knowledge of the vast and wonderful sweep of life's diversity is admirable. Not only does it encompass the most interesting living representatives of so many groups of organisms but also the important and informative fossil ones, many of which have only been found in recent years.
Dawkins sees his journey with its reverse chronology as cast in the form of an epic pilgrimage from the present to the past [and] all roads lead to the origin of life. It is, to my mind, a sensible and perfectly acceptable approach although some might complain about going against the grain of evolution. The great benefit for the general reader is that it begins with the more familiar present and the animals nearest and dearest to usour immediate human ancestors. And then it delves back into the more remote and less familiar past with its droves of lesser known and extinct fossil forms. The whole pilgrimage is divided into 40 tales, each based around a group of organisms and discusses their role in the overall story. Genetic, morphological and fossil evidence is all taken into account and illustrated with a wealth of photos and drawings of living and fossils forms, evolutionary and distributional charts and maps through time, providing a visual compliment and complement to the text. The design also allows Dawkins to make numerous running comments and characteristic asides. There are also numerous references and a good index.-- Douglas Palmer [via]
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The Blind Watchmakerby Richard DawkinsISBN 0393022161 (0-393-02216-1)
Hardcover, Norton
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Blind Watchmaker'Book summary:Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's research shows that most scientists today are not formally religious, but Dawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence.
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins's second book, refers to the Rev. William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearances to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is the blind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: he doesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out for yourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the first artificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your own Mac or PC. [via]
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Blind Watchmaker 1.2: An Evolution Simulation/Mac Versionby Richard DawkinsISBN 0393993418 (0-393-99341-8)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Designby Richard DawkinsISBN 0393315703 (0-393-31570-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design'Book summary:Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's research shows that most scientists today are not formally religious, but Dawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:
I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence.
The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins's second book, refers to the Rev. William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearances to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is the blind watchmaker."
Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: he doesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out for yourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the first artificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your own Mac or PC. [via]
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Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 039330857X (0-393-30857-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Bully for Brontosaurus: Reflections in Natural History'Book summary:Stephen Jay Gould has a wide range of interests, and for many years he has shared his enthusiasms in the pages of Natural History and the New York Review of Books, among other journals. His passions include baseball, the puzzles of evolutionary theory, and the game of scholarly detection as it applies to questions such as, "What became of dinosaurs, anyway?". He answers entertainingly, but never talks down to his readers. Gould is one of modern natural science's great popularizers, but he shuns the temptation to make the giant reptiles of prehistory the Smurfs of the 1990s, in the manner of a certain purple dinosaur. The 35 pieces gathered here make for fine browsing, full of sideways glances and digressions that eventually make sense. [via]
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Climbing Mount Improbableby Richard Dawkins, Lalla WardISBN 0393316823 (0-393-31682-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Climbing Mount Improbable'Book summary:Few scientific theories have been as influential or controversial in the past few centuries as Darwin's thoughts on natural selection; even now, laymen and scientists find fault with Darwin's argument. Richard Dawkins, the chair of the communication of science at Oxford University, has delivered a well-researched book supporting and supplementing Darwin's theories. Although not a work of Darwinian proportions, Climbing Mount Improbable is an advancement of those theories for scientists and general readers alike. [via]
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Creative Evolutionby Henri BergsonISBN 1596053097 (1-59605-309-7)
Softcover, Cosimo Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Creative Evolution'Book summary:Creative Evolution, originally published in 1911 by Henry Holt and Company, is the work which catapulted Bergson from obscurity into world-wide fame. A study of the philosophical implications of biological evolutionary theory, the impact of this book reached far beyond biology and seemed to many to herald a new age in philosophy and the sciences. [via]
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- Creative Evolution: ISBN 0486400360 (0-486-40036-0)
Softcover, Dover Pubns - Creative Evolution: ISBN 0819135534 (0-8191-3553-4)
Softcover, Univ Pr of Amer - Creative Evolution: ISBN 0837179173 (0-8371-7917-3)
Hardcover, Greenwood Press, Evesham, The - Creative Evolution: ISBN 0760765480 (0-7607-6548-0)
Softcover, Barnes & Noble Books - Creative Evolution: ISBN 1596053097 (1-59605-309-7)
Softcover, Cosimo Inc
- Creative Evolution: ISBN 0486400360 (0-486-40036-0)
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Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approachby Luigi Luca Cavalli-SforzaISBN 0691082839 (0-691-08283-9)
Softcover, Princeton Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cultural Transmission and Evolution: A Quantitative Approach'Book summary:To understand human evolution, we require, among other things, a theory describing the dynamics of culturally acquired phenotypes. In this book, cavalli-sforza and feldman present a series of theoretical models that represent an important beginning toward such a theory. (bioscience [via]
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Culture and the Evolutionary Processby Robert Boyd, Peter RichersonISBN 0226069338 (0-226-06933-8)
Softcover, Univ of Chicago Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Culture and the Evolutionary Process'Book summary:How do biological, psychological, sociological, and cultural factors combine to change societies over the long run? Boyd and Richerson explore how genetic and cultural factors interact, under the influence of evolutionary forces, to produce the diversity we see in human cultures. Using methods developed by population biologists, they propose a theory of cultural evolution that is an original and fair-minded alternative to the sociobiology debate.[via]More editions of Culture and the Evolutionary Process:
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Darwinby James Moore, Adrian DesmondISBN 0393311503 (0-393-31150-3)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Darwin'Book summary:"Unquestionably the finest [biography] ever written about Darwin. . . . Darwin has now become, and properly, the quintessentially socially embedded scientist. Desmond and Moore are brilliant in their pursuit of this truly unifying theme."-Stephen Jay GouldHailed as the definitive biography, this monumental work explains the character and paradoxes of Charles Darwin and opens up the full panorama of Victorian science, theology, and mores. The authors bring to life Darwin's reckless student days in Cambridge, his epic five-year voyage on the Beagle, and his grueling struggle to develop his theory of evolution. Adrian Desmond and James Moore's gripping narrative reveals the great personal cost to Darwin of pursuing inflammatory truths-telling the whole story of how he came to his epoch-making conclusions. [via]
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Darwinby Adrian Desmond, James R. MooreISBN 0718134303 (0-7181-3430-3)
Hardcover, Michael Joseph
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Darwin'Book summary:This biography embraces the entire scope of Victorian science, religion and society in its panoramic sweep. It puts the man and his science back into context, posing the question of how such a stickler for respectability as Charles Darwin could not only rock the scientific establishment, but construct a theory that threatened the fabric of society in the 1830s, when England teetered close to revolution? The authors explore the fiery debates during Darwin's student days in Edinburgh, his drunken revelries in prostitute-ridden Cambridge, sobering up on the "Beagle" and his clandestine work on evolution in London before fleeing to rural Kent. [via]
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Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Lifeby Daniel DennettISBN 068482471X (0-684-82471-X)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meaning of Life'Book summary:One of the best descriptions of the nature and implications of Darwinian evolution ever written, it is firmly based in biological information and appropriately extrapolated to possible applications to engineering and cultural evolution. Dennett's analyses of the objections to evolutionary theory are unsurpassed. Extremely lucid, wonderfully written, and scientifically and philosophically impeccable. Highest Recommendation! [via]
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Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updatedby Steve JonesISBN 0345422775 (0-345-42277-5)
Softcover, Ballantine Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated'Book summary:Biologists have a dirty little secret: while practically everyone knows of The Origin of Species (and owes much to it), almost nobody has read it. British geneticist Steve Jones wants to make the arguments contained in that great text accessible to modern audiences, and succeeds with the delightful Darwin's Ghost. Approximating the structure of Darwin's opus, Jones uses the original chapter headings and summaries as a scaffolding to build an up-to-date demonstration of the power of a few simple ideas. Heredity, variation, and natural selection are all you need to infer evolution over time, and now that Jones can fill in the gaps in Darwin's pre-Mendelian understanding of genetics, the case becomes airtight.
More than a polemic, though, Darwin's Ghost is nearly as pleasurable a read as its ancestor is--one suspects that part of Jones's mission is to inspire today's readers to turn back to the grand but humble Origin of Species. While he may not be able to quite match Darwin's vast erudition or hawk's eye for detail, he still makes the theory of evolution shudder and breathe on the page. Dog breeding, mass extinctions, and weird fossils of tiny elephants all march to his drumbeat and--just when you least expect it--return to the main point that all living things share a common ancestor. Whether you're one of the elite who's had the pleasure of Darwin's literary company or you'd like a taste of what you're missing, Darwin's Ghost will bring the spirit of the great man back into your world of ideas. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Dawkins Vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittestby Kim SterelnyISBN 1840462493 (1-84046-249-3)
Softcover, Natl Book Network
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dawkins Vs. Gould: Survival of the Fittest'Book summary:Over the last twenty years, Richard Dawkins and Stephen Jay Gould have engaged in a savage battle over evolution that shows no sign of waning. Sterelny moves beyond caricature to expose the real differences between the conceptions of evolution of these two leading scientists. Australian author. [via]
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The Descent of Manby Charles Darwin, H. James BirxISBN 1573921769 (1-57392-176-9)
Softcover, Prometheus Books
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The Divine Milieuby Sion Cowell, Pierre Teilhard De ChardinISBN 1903900581 (1-903900-58-1)
Hardcover, Intl Specialized Book Service Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Divine Milieu'Book summary:Pierre Teilhard de Chardin's spiritual masterpiece, The Divine Milieu, in a newly-revised translation by Siôn Cowell, is addressed to those who have lost faith in conventional religion but who still have a sense of the divine at the heart of the cosmos. "The heavens declare the glory of God," sings the Psalmist. Teilhard would agree. "We are surrounded," he says, "by a certain sort of pessimist who tells us continually that our world is foundering in atheism. But should we not say rather that what it is suffering from is unsatisfied theism?" He sees a universe in movement where progress is the spiritualization of matter and its opposite is the materialization of spirit. Teilhard opts for progress. The Divine Milieu is the divine center and the divine circle, the divine heart and the divine sphere. The book is written for those who listen primarily to the voices of the Earth; its purpose is to provide a link to traditional Christianity (as expressed in Baptism, Cross and Eucharist) in order to demonstrate that the fears prevalent in contemporary world society as it abuses its very foundation - Mother Earth - may be better understood by the Gospel path. Teilhard's primary purpose is to show a way forward which he sees as the "Christian religious ideal". The Foreword is by Thomas M. King, S.J., Professor of Theology at Georgetown University, and author of Teilhard's Mysticism of Knowing, editor of The Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and editor of Lucile Swan. [via]
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Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0393311392 (0-393-31139-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Eight Little Piggies: Reflections in Natural History'Book summary:What story lies behind the bent tail of an ichthyosaur? How did hearing bones evolve? Is it possible that our five fingers and toes just happened to be and were not ordained? Here are Gould's thoughts on extinction and on the ecological crisis, as he proposes a Golden Rule of our Earth: we should treat all species as we would ourselves. Drawings. [via]
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El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 9871150121 (987-1150-12-1)
Softcover, Distal S R L
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The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Thinkby Robert AungerISBN 0743201507 (0-7432-0150-7)
Hardcover, Simon & Schuster
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Electric Meme: A New Theory of How We Think'Book summary:From biology to culture to the new new economy, the buzzword on everyone's lips is "meme." How do animals learn things? How does human culture evolve? How does viral marketing work? The answer to these disparate questions and even to what is the nature of thought itself is, simply, the meme. For decades researchers have been convinced that memes were The Next Big Thing for the understanding of society and ourselves. But no one has so far been able to define what they are. Until now.
Here, for the first time, Robert Aunger outlines what a meme physically is, how memes originated, how they developed, and how they have made our brains into their survival systems. They are thoughts. They are parasites. They are in control. A meme is a distinct pattern of electrical charges in a node in our brains that reproduces a thousand times faster than a bacterium. Memes have found ways to leap from one brain to another. A number of them are being replicated in your brain as you read this paragraph.
In 1976 the biologist Richard Dawkins suggested that all animals -- including humans -- are puppets and that genes hold the strings. That is, we are robots serving as life support for the genes that control us. And all they want to do is replicate themselves. But then, we do lots of things that don't seem to help genes replicate. We decide not to have children, we waste our time doing dangerous things like mountain climbing, or boring things like reading, or stupid things like smoking that don't seem to help genes get copied into the next generation. We do all sorts of cultural things for reasons that don't seem to have anything to do with genes. Fashions in sports, books, clothes, ideas, politics, lifestyles come and go and give our lives meaning, so how can we be gene robots?
Dawkins recognized that something else was going on. We communicate with one another and we get ideas, and these ideas seem to have a life of their own. Maybe there was something called memes that were like thought genes. Maybe our bodies were gene robots and our minds were meme robots. That would mean that what we think is not the result of our own creativity, but rather the result of the evolutionary flow of memes as they wash through us.
What is the biological reality of an idea with a life of its own? What is a thought gene? It's a meme. And no one before Robert Aunger has established what it physically must be. This elegant, paradigm-shifting analysis identifies how memes replicate in our brains, how they evolved, and how they use artifacts like books and photographs and advertisements to get from one brain to another. Destined to inflame arguments about free will, open doors to new ways of sharing our thoughts, and provide a revolutionary explanation of consciousness, The Electric Meme will change the way each of us thinks about our minds, our cultures, and our daily choices. [via]
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Evolution and Learning : The Baldwin Effect Reconsideredby Bruce H. Weber, David J. DepewISBN 0262232294 (0-262-23229-4)
Hardcover, MIT Press
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Evolution and Learning : The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered'Book summary:The role of genetic inheritance dominates current evolutionary theory. At the end of the nineteenth century, however, several evolutionary theorists independently speculated that learned behaviors could also affect the direction and rate of evolutionary change. This notion was called the Baldwin effect, after the psychologist James Mark Baldwin. In recent years, philosophers and theorists of a variety of ontological and epistemological backgrounds have begun to employ the Baldwin effect in their accounts of the evolutionary emergence of mind and of how mind, through behavior, might affect evolution.
The essays in this book discuss the originally proposed Baldwin effect, how it was modified over time, and its possible contribution to contemporary empirical and theoretical evolutionary studies. The topics include the effect of the modern evolutionary synthesis on the notion of the Baldwin effect, the nature and role of niche construction in contemporary evolutionary theory, the Baldwin effect in the context of developmental systems theory, the possible role of the Baldwin effect in computational cognitive science biosemiotics, and the emergence of consciousness and language. [via]More editions of Evolution and Learning : The Baldwin Effect Reconsidered:
Evolution and Learning: The Baldwin Effect Reconsideredby David J. Depew, Bruce H. WeberISBN 0262731819 (0-262-73181-9)
Softcover, Mit Pr
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Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospectby Paul R. EhrlichISBN 155963779X (1-55963-779-X)
Hardcover, Island Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Human Natures: Genes, Cultures, and the Human Prospect'Book summary:It's common to blame "human nature" for some of the unpleasant facts of life--road rage, say, or murder, or war. The problem with this, argues the distinguished scientist Paul Ehrlich, is that there really is no single human nature. Humans, it's true, share a common genetic code with remarkably few large-scale differences (if all but native Africans disappeared from the planet, he notes, "humanity would still retain somewhat more than 90 per cent of its genetic variability"); and evolution has endowed us with capabilities shared by no other species. But for all that, he adds, our separation into haves and have-nots, weak and strong, and other such categories is more often than not a product of cultural evolution, a process far more complex than the mere mutation and adaptation of a few genes. And, in any event, those genes "do not shout commands to us about our behavior," Ehrlich says. "At the very most, they whisper suggestions."
In this wide-ranging survey of what it is that has made and that continues to make us human, Ehrlich touches on a number of themes--among them, his recurrent observation that science has taught us little about how genes influence human behaviour. (Instead, he notes wryly, "science tells us that we are creatures of accident clinging to a ball of mud hurtling aimlessly through space. This is not a notion to warm hearts or rouse multitudes.") He urges that scientists take a larger, interdisciplinary view that looks beyond mere genetics to the larger forces that shape our lives, a view for which Human Natures makes a handy, and highly accessible, primer. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Illustrated Origin of Speciesby Richard E. Leakey, Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0571114776 (0-571-11477-6)
Hardcover, Faber and Faber
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Illustrated Origin of Species'Book summary:Tan hardback with gilt titles + wrapper Pub:-Book Club Associates-1979- presents 240 pages good clean tight copy. [via]
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The Illustrated Origin of Speciesby Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0809013975 (0-8090-1397-5)
Softcover, Farrar Straus & Giroux
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An Intelligent Person's Guide to Geneticsby Adrian WoolfsonISBN 1585678104 (1-58567-810-4)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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On the Origin of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 1404322868 (1-4043-2286-8)
Hardcover, Indypublish.Com
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species'Book summary:It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable.
To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.
Darwin's friend and "bulldog" T.H. Huxley said upon reading the Origin, "How extremely stupid of me not to have thought of that." Alfred Russel Wallace had thought of the same theory of evolution Darwin did, but it was Darwin who gathered the mass of supporting evidence--on domestic animals and plants, on variability, on sexual selection, on dispersal--that swept most scientists before it. It's hardly necessary to mention that the book is still controversial: Darwin's remark in his conclusion that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" is surely the pinnacle of British understatement. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
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On the Origin of Speciesby Joseph CarrollISBN 1551113376 (1-55111-337-6)
Softcover, Broadview Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species'Book summary:It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable.
To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.
Darwin's friend and "bulldog" T.H. Huxley said upon reading the Origin, "How extremely stupid of me not to have thought of that." Alfred Russel Wallace had thought of the same theory of evolution Darwin did, but it was Darwin who gathered the mass of supporting evidence--on domestic animals and plants, on variability, on sexual selection, on dispersal--that swept most scientists before it. It's hardly necessary to mention that the book is still controversial: Darwin's remark in his conclusion that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" is surely the pinnacle of British understatement. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
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On the Origin of Species a Facsimile of the Firstby C. DarwinISBN 0674637526 (0-674-63752-6)
Softcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species a Facsimile of the First'Book summary:It is now fully recognized that the publication of Charles Darwins Origin of Species in 1859 brought about a revolution in mans attitude toward life and his own place in the universe. This work is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever published, and a knowledge of it should be part of the intellectual equipment of every educated person. The book remains surprisingly modern in its assertions and is also remarkably accessible to the layman, much more so than recent treatises necessarily encumbered with technical language and professional jargon.
This first edition had a freshness and uncompromising directness that were considerably weakened in later editions, and yet nearly all available reprints of the work are based on the greatly modified sixth edition of 1872. In the only other modern reprinting of the first edition, the pagination was changed, so that it is impossible to give page references to significant passages in the original. Clearly this facsimile reprint of the momentous first edition fills a need for scholars and general readers alike.
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On the Origin of Species: Appendix Dawrin's Original Manuscript Pagesby Charles DarwinISBN 1592242855 (1-59224-285-5)
Softcover, Wildside Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'On the Origin of Species: Appendix Dawrin's Original Manuscript Pages'Book summary:A facsimile of the 1859 first edition of Charles Darwin's classic work, On the Origin of Species. [via]
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The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolutionby Susan OyamaISBN 0822324660 (0-8223-2466-0)
Softcover, Duke Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution'Book summary:The Ontogeny of Information is a critical intervention into the ongoing and perpetually troubling nature-nurture debates surrounding human development. Originally published in 1985, this was a foundational text in what is now the substantial field of developmental systems theory. In this revised edition Susan Oyama argues compellingly that nature and nurture are not alternative influences on human development but, rather, developmental products and the developmental processes that produce them.[via]
Information, says Oyama, is thought to reside in molecules, cells, tissues, and the environment. When something wondrous occurs in the world, we tend to question whether the information guiding the transformation was pre-encoded in the organism or installed through experience or instruction. Oyama looks beyond this either-or question to focus on the history of such developments. She shows that what developmental information does depends on what is already in place and what alternatives are available. She terms this process constructive interactionism, whereby each combination of genes and environmental influences simultaneously interacts to produce a unique result. Ontogeny, then, is the result of dynamic and complex interactions in multileveled developmental systems.
The Ontogeny of Information challenges specialists in the fields of developmental biology, philosophy of biology, psychology, and sociology, and even nonspecialists, to reexamine the existing nature-nurture dichotomy as it relates to the history and formation of organisms.More editions of The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution:
- The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution: ISBN 0822324318 (0-8223-2431-8)
Hardcover, Duke Univ Pr - The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution: ISBN 0521312574 (0-521-31257-4)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr - The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution: ISBN 0822324660 (0-8223-2466-0)
Softcover, Duke Univ Pr
- The Ontogeny of Information: Developmental Systems and Evolution: ISBN 0822324318 (0-8223-2431-8)
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The Origin of Humankindby Richard LeakeyISBN 0465053130 (0-465-05313-0)
Softcover, Basic Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Humankind'Book summary:he world's foremost fossil hunter tells the story of the first humans and explains how and why modern humans developed social organization. [via]
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The Origin of Species: Library Editionby Charles Robert Darwin, George LevineISBN 1593080778 (1-59308-077-8)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species: Library Edition'Book summary:This book was originally published prior to 1923, and represents a reproduction of an important historical work, maintaining the same format as the original work. While some publishers have opted to apply OCR (optical character recognition) technology to the process, we believe this leads to sub-optimal results (frequent typographical errors, strange characters and confusing formatting) and does not adequately preserve the historical character of the original artifact. We believe this work is culturally important in its original archival form. While we strive to adequately clean and digitally enhance the original work, there are occasionally instances where imperfections such as blurred or missing pages, poor pictures or errant marks may have been introduced due to either the quality of the original work or the scanning process itself. Despite these occasional imperfections, we have brought it back into print as part of our ongoing global book preservation commitment, providing customers with access to the best possible historical reprints. We appreciate your understanding of these occasional imperfections, and sincerely hope you enjoy seeing the book in a format as close as possible to that intended by the original publisher. [via]
More editions of The Origin of Species: Library Edition:
- The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1594620989 (1-59462-098-9)
Softcover, Standard Pubns Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1853267805 (1-85326-780-5)
Softcover, Lb May & Assoc Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0140432051 (0-14-043205-1)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 019283438X (0-19-283438-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0393978672 (0-393-97867-2)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0451529065 (0-451-52906-5)
Softcover, New Amer Library Classics - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0553214632 (0-553-21463-2)
Softcover, Bantam Classic & Loveswept - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0812219546 (0-8122-1954-6)
Softcover, Univ of Pennsylvania Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0874716632 (0-87471-663-2)
Softcover, J M Dent & Sons Ltd - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0879756756 (0-87975-675-6)
Softcover, Prometheus Books - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0517123207 (0-517-12320-7)
Hardcover, Random House Value Pub - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0679600701 (0-679-60070-1)
Hardcover, Random House Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0020921209 (0-02-092120-9)
Softcover, Simon & Schuster - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0393092194 (0-393-09219-4)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0451627768 (0-451-62776-8)
Softcover, New Amer Library - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0521282764 (0-521-28276-4)
Softcover, Cambridge Univ Pr - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0679749551 (0-679-74955-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 0785819118 (0-7858-1911-8)
Hardcover, Castle Books Inc - The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1593080778 (1-59308-077-8)
Softcover, Sterling Pub Co Inc
- The Origin of Species: Library Edition: ISBN 1594620989 (1-59462-098-9)
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The Origin of Species: Library Editionby Gillian Beer, Charles Robert DarwinISBN 0192817833 (0-19-281783-3)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species: Library Edition'Book summary:In The Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply-held beliefs of the Western world. Arguing for a material, not divine, origin of species, he showed that new species are achieved by "natural selection." The Origin communicates the enthusiasm of original thinking in an open, descriptive style, and Darwin's emphasis on the value of diversity speaks more strongly now than ever. As well as a stimulating introduction and detailed notes, this edition offers a register of the many writers referred to by Darwin in the text. [via]
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Lifeby Charles DarwinISBN 0375751467 (0-375-75146-7)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life'Book summary:Published amid a firestorm of controversy in 1859, this is a book that changed the world. Reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, it offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that form the foundation of evolutionary theory.[via]More editions of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life:
- On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of FAvoured RAces in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0486450066 (0-486-45006-6)
Softcover, Dover Pubns - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0404084044 (0-404-08404-4)
Hardcover, Ams Pr Inc - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0517309777 (0-517-30977-7)
Hardcover - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0517309785 (0-517-30978-5)
Hardcover - The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0375751467 (0-375-75146-7)
Softcover, Modern Library
- On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of FAvoured RAces in the Struggle for Life: ISBN 0486450066 (0-486-45006-6)
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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Lifeby Charles Robert DarwinISBN 014040001X (0-14-040001-X)
Softcover, Penguin Group USA
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Life'More editions of The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or, the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggled for Life:
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River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Lifeby Richard Dawkins, Lalla WardISBN 0465069908 (0-465-06990-8)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life'Book summary:Nearly a century and a half after Charles Darwin formulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed-- witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. In River Out of Eden he introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, "The genes that survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of the species.") Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that "we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realize, and we have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest." [via]
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The Scars of Evolutionby Elaine MorganISBN 0285629964 (0-285-62996-4)
Softcover, Souvenir Pr Ltd
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Scars of Evolution'More editions of The Scars of Evolution:
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The Scars of Evolution: What Our Bodies Tell Us About Human Originsby Elaine MorganISBN 019509431X (0-19-509431-X)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Scars of Evolution: What Our Bodies Tell Us About Human Origins'Book summary:When Elaine Morgan wrote The Descent of Woman in 1972, it sent shock waves around the world, and is now widely regarded as a key work on human evolution, and essential to any discussion of women's place in society. Now, with The Scars of Evolution, Morgan offers a pioneering look just where it was our earliest ancestors came from, and the legacy--not always advantageous--that they left us. As she sets out to solve one of the enduring riddles of our origins--to discover the evolutionary path that separated us from the rest of the animals--Morgan shows that many of the theories currently accepted by scientists cannot explain our unique features: they leave too many questions unanswered.
Millions of years ago, something happened to our ape ancestors that did not happen to the forebears of gorillas and chimpanzees, something that made them walk on two legs, lose their fur, sweat, develop larger brains, and learn to speak. While scientists have visited many a dig and studied many a fossil for clues, Elaine Morgan argues that all of the facts about our mysterious origins are right in front of us--in the form of fundamental flaws in the human design. Our propensity to suffer from lower back pain, obesity, varicose veins, acne, even infant death syndrome, is essentially the result of a cataclysmic event in our distant past.
Scientists have long observed that our spines were not made for upright walking. Yet natural selection--the basic tenet of evolutionary theory--dictates that enduring changes to a species occur because of the need to adapt to changes in the environment. While thousands of working hours are lost each year to "bad backs," at some point long ago it must have been an advantage to walk on two legs. The most common theory is that we became bipedal while hunting on the African savannah, needing our arms free for weapons, using an upright stance to see enemies from afar. But as Morgan points out, animals need more speed on the savannah, both for pursuit and flight, than two legs can offer. Her explanation: bipedalism emerged from life in an aquatic environment due to the flooding of the African rift valley millennia ago. The apes that suddenly found themselves stranded in swamp land (a swamp that remained for thousands of years) had to walk upright to keep from drowning. The human tendency toward obesity was once not an unsightly health problem, but rather a lifesaving form of insulation, one present in all aquatic mammals. And as Morgan carefully considers all of our other uniquely human traits--our relative hairlessness, our ability to control our breathing, our inability to maintain proper salt levels--a compelling case emerges for our human origins in a watery environment.
Lively, controversial, and presented with a brilliant logic, The Scars of Evolution will change the way you think about the world--and our place in it. [via]More editions of The Scars of Evolution: What Our Bodies Tell Us About Human Origins:
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The Selfish Geneby Richard DawkinsISBN 0199291152 (0-19-929115-2)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Selfish Gene'Book summary:Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary biologist from Darwin, Watson, and Crick, Richard Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves and the world with the publication of The Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years, and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the perspective of molecules competing for limited space and resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly) use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets, he says, at least we can try to understand our strings. --Rob Lightner [via]
More editions of The Selfish Gene:
- The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0192860925 (0-19-286092-5)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0192177737 (0-19-217773-7)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0195200004 (0-19-520000-4)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press - The Selfish Gene: ISBN 019857519X (0-19-857519-X)
Hardcover, Oxford University Press - The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0199291144 (0-19-929114-4)
Hardcover, Oxford Univ Pr - The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0199291152 (0-19-929115-2)
Softcover, Oxford Univ Pr
- The Selfish Gene: ISBN 0192860925 (0-19-286092-5)
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The Structure of Evolutionary Theoryby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 0674006135 (0-674-00613-5)
Hardcover, Harvard Univ Pr
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Structure of Evolutionary Theory'Book summary:The theory of evolution is regarded as one of the greatest glimmerings of understanding humans have ever had. It is an idea of science, not of belief, and therefore undergoes constant scrutiny and testing by argumentative evolutionary biologists. But while Darwinists may disagree on a great many things, they all operate within a (thus far) successful framework of thought first set down in The Origin of Species in 1859.
In The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, a monumental labor of academic love, Stephen Jay Gould attempts to define and revise that framework. Using the clear metaphors and personable style he is so well known for, Gould outlines the foundation of the theory and attempts to use it to show that modern evolutionary biology has lost its way. He then offers his own system for reconciling Darwin's "basic logical commitments" with the critiques of modern scientists.
Gould's massive opus begs a new look at natural selection with the full weight of history behind it. His opponents will find much to criticize, and orthodox, reductionist Darwinists might feel that Gould has given them short shrift. But as an opening monologue for the new century's biological debates, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory sets a mountainous precedent in exhaustive scholarship, careful logic, and sheer reading pleasure. --Therese Littleton [via]
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What Evolution Isby Ernst MayrISBN 0465044263 (0-465-04426-3)
Softcover, Perseus Books Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'What Evolution Is'Book summary:Gathering insights from his seven-decade career, the renowned biologist Ernst Mayr argues that evolution is now to be considered not a theory but a fact--and that "there is not a single Why? question in biology that can be answered adequately without a consideration of evolution."
Mayr, emeritus professor of zoology at Harvard University, has long been one of the world's foremost researchers in genetic and evolutionary theory. In this overview of past and current scientific thought, he discusses key concepts and terms, among them the origin of species, the (somewhat metaphorical) "struggle for existence," and agents of micro- and macroevolution. Somewhat against the grain, he argues against reduction and for the study of evolution at the phenotypic, not genetic, level. In his concluding pages, Mayr offers a careful overview of human evolution, adding his view that humankind is indeed unique--though "it has not yet completed the transition from quadrupedal to bipedal life in all of its structures."
Advanced students of the life sciences, as well as readers looking for a survey of current evolutionary theory, will find Mayr's book a useful companion. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of Historyby Stephen Jay GouldISBN 039330700X (0-393-30700-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History'Book summary:The Burgess Shale of British Columbia "is the most precious and important of all fossil localities," writes Stephen Jay Gould. These 600-million-year-old rocks preserve the soft parts of a collection of animals unlike any other. Just how unlike is the subject of Gould's book.
Gould describes how the Burgess Shale fauna was discovered, reassembled, and analyzed in detail so clear that the reader actually gets some feeling for what paleobiologists do, in the field and in the lab. The many line drawings are unusually beautiful, and now can be compared to a wonderful collection of photographs in Fossils of the Burgess Shale by Derek Briggs, one of Gould's students.
Burgess Shale animals have been called a "paleontological Rorschach test," and not every geologist by any means agrees with Gould's thesis that they represent a "road not taken" in the history of life. Simon Conway Morris, one of the subjects of Wonderful Life, has expressed his disagreement in Crucible of Creation. Wonderful Life was published in 1989, and there has been an explosion of scientific interest in the pre-Cambrian and Cambrian periods, with radical new ideas fighting for dominance. But even though many scientists disagree with Gould about the radical oddity of the Burgess Shale animals, his argument that the history of life is profoundly contingent--as in the movie It's a Wonderful Life, from which this book takes its title--has become more accepted, in theories such as Ward and Brownlee's Rare Earth hypothesis. And Gould's loving, detailed exposition of the labor it took to understand the Burgess Shale remains one of the best explanations of scientific work around. --Mary Ellen Curtin [via]
More editions of Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History:
- Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0735100314 (0-7351-0031-4)
Hardcover, Replica Books - Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0393027058 (0-393-02705-8)
Hardcover, W W Norton & Co Inc - Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 039330700X (0-393-30700-X)
Softcover, W W Norton & Co Inc
- Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History: ISBN 0735100314 (0-7351-0031-4)
The Works of Charles Darwin: The Origin of Speciesby Charles Darwin, Paul H. Barrett, R.B. Freeman, Pete GautreyISBN 0814718051 (0-8147-1805-1)
Hardcover, New York Univ Pr
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Escalando El Monte Improbableby Richard DawkinsISBN 8483105837 (84-8310-583-7)
Softcover, Ediciones Urano
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El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Speciesby Charles DarwinISBN 1583487778 (1-58348-777-8)
Softcover, Iuniverse Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'El Origen De Las Especies/the Origin Of Species'Book summary:Las teorías y pruebas que Darwin expuso en 'El origen de las especies' son definitivas en la comprensión de la naturaleza y en el sustento de los estudios biológicos. Desde su publicación, los conceptos de evolución, adaptación y selección natural se han incorporado a todos los estudios científicos. La resonancia de la obra de Darwin ha impregnado todos los campos del saber, incluidos los de filosofía y religión. [via]
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Dom Oba II D'Africa, O Principe Do Povo: Vida, Tempo E Pensamento De Um Homem Livre De Corby Eduardo da SilvaISBN 8571647232 (85-7164-723-2)
Hardcover, Companhia das Letras
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Dom Oba II D'Africa, O Principe Do Povo: Vida, Tempo E Pensamento De Um Homem Livre De Cor'More editions of Dom Oba II D'Africa, O Principe Do Povo: Vida, Tempo E Pensamento De Um Homem Livre De Cor:
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