Product Description
No other scientific theory has had as great an impact on our understanding of the world as Darwin's theory outlined in his Origin of Species.Yet the theory has been the subject of controversy from its very beginning. This book focuses on three issues of debate in Darwin's theory of evolution--the nature of selection, the nature and scope of adaptation, and the question of evolutionary progress.It traces the varying interpretations to which these issues were subjected historically through the fierce contemporary debates continuing to rage. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent survey of issues
This is an excellent, comprehensive survey of the recent debates about three crucial issues in Darwinian evolution. The work starts with Darwin's views on the topic. Following is a chapter recounting the debate in recent decades. Then there is a chapter summing up the issues from the authors' point of view. The appendix surveys Darwin's own statements on evolutionary progress during different periods of his life. Unlike many general, philosophical surveys of Darwinism that take a purely pan-adaptationist, gene-selectionist, and evolutionary progressivist position and dismiss other perspectives in asides or put-downs (as in the numerous and very readable works of Michael Ruse), Shanahan gives a fair-minded survey of the debate and state of play on such issues as group-selection,the prevalence of non-adaptations in organisms, and the case both for and against evolutionary progress. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing a balanced and comprehensive overview of the state of debate on these issues. ... Read more

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As an introduction to principles of evolution, this paperback text is ideally suited as a main text for general evolution or as a supplement for general biology, genetics, zoology, botany, anthropology or any life science course that utilizes evolution as the underlying theme. ... Read more

Product Description
The hominin fossil record documents a history of critical evolutionary events that have ultimately shaped and defined what it means to be human, including the origins of bipedalism; the emergence of our genus Homo; the first use of stone tools; increases in brain size; and the emergence of Homo sapiens, tools, and culture. The Earth's geological record suggests that some evolutionary events were coincident with substantial changes in African and Eurasian climate, raising the possibility that critical junctures in human evolution and behavioral development may have been affected by the environmental characteristics of the areas where hominins evolved. Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution explores the opportunities of using scientific research to improve our understanding of how climate may have helped shape our species.

Improved climate records for specific regions will be required before it is possible to evaluate how critical resources for hominins, especially water and vegetation, would have been distributed on the landscape during key intervals of hominin history. Existing records contain substantial temporal gaps. The book's initiatives are presented in two major research themes: first, determining the impacts of climate change and climate variability on human evolution and dispersal; and second, integrating climate modeling, environmental records, and biotic responses.

Understanding Climate's Change on Human Evolution suggests a new scientific program for international climate and human evolution studies that involve an exploration initiative to locate new fossil sites and to broaden the geographic and temporal sampling of the fossil and archeological record; a comprehensive and integrative scientific drilling program in lakes, lake bed outcrops, and ocean basins surrounding the regions where hominins evolved and a major investment in climate modeling experiments for key time intervals and regions that are critical to understanding human evolution.
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Customer Reviews (11)

A pep-rally for high-schoolers
I found this book extremely offensive and abusive.I felt that every tactic she accused the creationists of using to promote their beliefs (some of her accusations are justifiable) was used by Skybreak in this book.If you like to attend pep-rallies for your high school team, you will like this book.If you want a book filled with hyperbole and venom, you will like this book.If you want a book that really talks about the issues, find a different book.

Skybreak skims over the so-called missing link between the reptiles and birds - the Archaeopteryx.When Henry M. Morris and Gary E. Parker talks (writes) about the Archaeopteryx in "What is Creation Science," they actually state BOTH sides of the debate and convince their audience of the plausibility of their argument.Also, where are all of the other "links" she claims exists?

Skybreak doesn't present both sides of the debate as far as embryonic development, either.The creationists present a good case that there is a definite need for the gill slits, the "tail bone" and "yolk sac" for fetus development and even present the evolutionists' argument to build upon their own.She only presents the other side saying they are leftover vestiges from evolutionary change which I found a very weak argument.Also, it is common thought that the appendix and the tonsils do serve a useful purpose, even if life can continue without them, just like life can continue without a gall bladder or spleen.

She did bring up the issue of peppered moths, but fails at convincing me that is evolution.I am still convinced they are and will continue to be peppered moths, no matter what coloring the majority have.Dogs are still canines even after thousands of years of domestication and still can mate with their ancestors--wolves.I liked when she brought up the issue of sickle cell anemia and malaria but failed to name any other mutation that could be considered beneficial for the organism.Again, she skimmed over the issue of homologous features, while claiming it proved evolution as truth.

I found it interesting that Skybreak did touch upon all of the issues the creationists are talking about and appreciated seeing the other side of the argument.I just found her vitriol too much to stomach while her attempt to explore the issues rather lacking.She used most of this book to throw jabs and blows to her opponents through condescension and mockery rather than debate her beliefs.After she started espousing Marxist politics and equated belief in a divine being with belief in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy, I had enough.

I wanted an honest debate about the issues and Skybreak failed miserably in delivering this.I knew from the title it would be harsh on creationism and that was fine with me.I wanted an honest debate, but all she presented were weak, weak arguments supporting evolution and her frail subjective opinions about "the super-natural `designer.'"

Excellent but Frustrating!
Ardea Skybreak's work is one of the best books on evolution written for a lay audience that I have read (and I've read quite a few). Her detailed explanations describing the many different evidences for evolution by means of natural selection provide both the non-scientist and scientist reader a clear overview of the topic. Also, her breakdown of the many creationist groups and their methods of operation are very helpful in understanding what the fundamentalists believe despite massive evidence to the contrary and the efforts they will go to to discredit evolutionary theory. Her book is a powerful and incredibly blunt rebuttal to the creationist movement. However, this is also where the book is incredibly frustrating!

It appears Skybreak hates creationists. She seems to go out of her way to ridicule believers and virtually groups all believers as fundamentalists. This, of course, is not true and is a common tactic of militant atheists (see Richard Dawkins, another excellent science writer whose vitriol against believers is harmful to his cause). Does Skybreak not realize that the overwhelming number of people who have ever lived were/are believers of some sort? Where do militant atheists get such chutzpah? The atheist may be correct in believing that no supernatural being created the universe but he/she has no more proof of that than the religious believer who accepts Jesus Christ or Allah.

Skybreak's obvious disdain for President George W. Bush was very distracting and incredibly silly. This review is written in September 2009, Barack Obama is President of the United States. I can tell you, with history on my side, that the United States did not become a theocracy due to the evangelical Christian 43rd President. This idea was always a ridiculous notion of the radical left and certainly should not have been included in a book on evolution! I also wonder, when Skybreak was criticizing the "criminal" funding policies of the "current Christian fundamentalist-influenced U.S. government" in Africa why did she not mention the fact that, due to President Bush, more money was given to Africa to combat the AIDS crisis than all of the previous administrations combined! It has been estimated that as many as 10 million Africans received life saving HIV drugs. This little fact did not fit with her very slanted political ideology so it gets left out. Of course, as stated earlier, political ideology has no place in a book on evolution, which brings me to my final complaint.....

MARXISM! Are you freaking kidding me? Why is it that so many academics that have come out of the Vietnam era became Marxists? How is it possible that one so bright in one subject can be so stupid in another? Are they not aware of the tens of MILLIONS who have perished as a result of a Marxist regime and/or dictator? Do they not know that the political ideology they admire can only be imposed by a totalitarian state? Do they not recognize that the political philosophy has failed in every country that has imposed it? At most importantly....what the hell does Skybreak's twisted political ideology have to do with the Science of Evolution and why do these ideas make it into her book? At least Stephen Jay Gould (perhaps the finest populizer of science) kept his Marxist ideas to himself (for the most part).

An excellent book that is nearly ruined by the author's vitriol towards believers and her insistence on injecting her radical political views into it.

Very Useful Book
This book includes many topics that the school systems like to avoid, but are good to know.It shatters some basic misconceptions about the nature of science and the definition of a theory.It represents what american society in particular considers "unwanted knowledge." I would reccomend this book to anyone who still wonders why monkeys are stil around if evolution exists and who are apathetic about accepting scientific explinations for national phenomina. It acts as a good supplement for what textbooks leave out.

Great starter and refresher
Great book for just about anybody wanting to know about evolution and how life really works. Also tells about all the religions and how they evolved and spread and how some are attacking science especially in America. For anyone wanting to know the world around them and those who want to learn more this is well written and easy to comprehend.

A Creationist's Dream Come True
As someone passionately concerned with the direction of science education, and is bitterly opposed to creationism of any form in the classroom, I not only cannot recommend this book, but advise responsible educators to steer far clear away from it, because it's only more ammunition for the science-haters. The laudatory reviews try to pretend that the author's explicit Marxist views are subtle, but they're not: she wears them very clearly on her sleeve, and uses them to make outrageous statements and ludicrous hyperbole that ranks with the worst of Kent Hovinid or Jack Chick. She gets the science right, but she makes the mistake of using it to justify preconceived political views, something which no responsible scientist does. When she starts denying Mao's purges, she demonstrates either complete historical ignorance, or complete moral vacuity. This is the type of book the lunatic creationist fringe will embrace in order to push their idiot notion that evolution is somehow a "communist plot", Lysenko be damned. Worse yet, it will only serve to turn away those who most need to be informed about evolution and the scientific method. ... Read more

Product Description
Named a 2007 Book of Distinction by the Sir John Templeton Foundation.

The special edition of this award winning book celebrates the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin.
Since, even before, the publication of Darwin's seminal work on evolution, science and religion have often been at odds. Even today culture wars continue to rage. How can I be faithful to God and fully enjoy the progress of science? Who is Charles Darwin and what did he actually say? Can you believe in God and evolution? Does teaching evolution corrupt our social values? How can you connect science and faith? Can science be a Christian vocation? So how can we interpret the creation story in the Bible?

Authors Ted Peters and Martinez Hewlett give a balanced discussion of the impact of evolution to help church leaders understand the values at stake. They make the convincing case that Christians can connect their faith in God with a scientific understanding of evolution with integrity

Product Description
The metaphor of the adaptive landscape - that evolution via the process of natural selection can be visualized as a journey across adaptive hills and valleys, mountains and ravines - permeates both evolutionary biology and the philosophy of science. The focus of this book is to demonstrate to the reader that the adaptive landscape concept can be put into actual analytical practice through the usage of theoretical morphospaces - geometric spaces of both existent and non-existent biological form - and to demonstrate the power of the adaptive landscape concept in understanding the process of evolution. The adaptive landscape concept further allows us to take a spatial approach to the concepts of natural selection, evolutionary constraint and evolutionary development. For that reason, this book relies heavily on spatial graphics to convey the concepts developed within these pages, and less so on formal mathematics. ... Read more

Product Description
For sophomore- to junior-level courses in Evolution, with an Introductory Biology prerequisite. This text introduces biology majors to the basic concepts of the fields comprising Darwinian biology: population genetics, population ecology, community ecology, macroevolution, physiological ecology, systematics, and functional morphology. The general theme is the interconnectedness of organism, environment, and evolution. Just as biochemistry and molecular biology provide the foundation for our understanding of the cell, evolutionary biology and ecology are used to construct a foundation for understanding the organism.Using evocative language and an eye-catching magazine format, the authors aim to prepare undergraduates for more advanced specialist courses in Darwinian biology as they pursue their degrees. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great
I was very happy with how quickly I received the textbook. It is in very good condition, and I got it for half the price they wanted in my college book store. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

An enjoyable read
This is a history book -- the history of scientific thought in the Victorian age as it relates to Darwin and evolution.It isn't technical.Sumner doesn't use esoteric terms or $10 words.It would be a good primer for anyone wishing a basic understanding of Darwin's theory, and it is an enjoyable review for anyone who has studied Darwin.Sumner always has a unique insight to share, and in Evolution of Everything, he doesn't disappoint.

Darwinian Theme and Variations
The Evolution of Everything isn't so much about evolution as about the _context_ of Darwin's work and how the principles Darwin described apply outside biological evolution.It is thoroughly enjoyable and approachable, filled with the (never trivial) facts that add both texture and depth to what could be a dry topic.In the process, Sumner explains what Darwin actually said (and what has been falsely attributed to him), why it is so important to science, and why it sometimes upsets people.A nice summer reading book for science- and history-minded individuals.

Everything evolves
The author in this very well written book tries to open our eyes to the evolutionary process around us. From a business changing over time due to the forces surrounding it to a rock tumbling down a stream, everything in the universe adapts to its surroundings. Even evolutionary scientists miss Mr. Summers observations in their study of biological evolution.

If you want to truely understand where evolutionary science is going. Even get a better grasp on what this "evolution thing" really is without the boring, and often outdated and incorrect explanations the typical teacher or professor offers these days buy this book!

"Evolution".Missleading
Write the word "evolution" in your title at the present time, and you have a saleable book, even if the book is devoid of evolutionary parallels.Please tell me if you find any evolutionary parallels in this book.I don't think there are any.If you don't find any then the title is totally missleading.In any case from what I have read in the book, such parallels are few and far between, and the word "evolution" in the title is misleading.That word gets many of us in, and then if we are not clear on that we bought be book because we wanted to pinpoint specifically how EVOLUTION shapes everything, then we will bypass that logic and enjoy the interesting historical details that the writer gives.He still sells the book by means of the word "Evolution".Missleading.

Compulsively readable
How to describe The Evolution of Everything? Think of the entertaining biography-inflected history of science Bill Bryson did in A Short History of Nearly Everything, focus in on Charles Darwin and his theory of natural selection, and then apply that to bananas, the stock market, cars, nursery rhymes, and Mars landers...among other things. It ranges all over the place, leaving you always wondering what's around the corner, but it's consistently focused and coherent.

Beware, though: If you have a favorite urban myth, this book might puncture it. On the other hand, the book will offer you at least one true story as entertaining as the myth as a replacement. ... Read more

Product Description
Everyone wonders what tomorrow holds, but what will the real future look like? Not decades or even hundreds of years from now, but thousands or millions of years into the future.Will our species change radically?Or will we become builders of the next dominant intelligence on Earth- the machine?

These and other seemingly fantastic scenarios are the very possible realities explored in Peter Ward's Future Evolution, a penetrating look at what might come next in the history of the planet.Looking to the past forclues about the future, Ward describes how the main catalyst for evolutionary change has historically been mass extinction.While many scientist direly predict that humanity will eventually create such a situation, Ward argues that one is already well underway--the extinction of large mammals--and that a new Age of Humanity is coming that will radically revise the diversity of life on Earth.Finally, Ward examines the question of human extinction and reaches the startling conclusion that the likeliest scenario is not our imminent demise but long term survival--perhaps reaching as far as the death of the Sun!

Full of Alexis Rockman's breathtaking color images of what animals, plants and other organisms might look like thousands and millions of years from now, Future Evolution takes readers on an incredible journey through time from the deep past into the far future.
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Customer Reviews (23)

On the extinction of species
Those familiar with "The Future is Wild" series based on the Dougal Dixon book of the same name will find a starkly different version of future evolution here.

Whereas Dixon's Future is Wild posits a future voluntarily abdictated by man leaving other creatures to fill the evolutionary void, Ward's future is one of desolation where man cotinues to reign, albeit with a diminishing small number of species left to join him.

The reason for such global catastrophie?Man's own abuse of his environment says Ward who notes that some eighty percent of megammamals worldwide have been brought to extinction in the past 20000 years owing to man's plunder.

Aside from domesticated animals Ward sees rats, snakes and weeds as the likely beneficiaries of a world dominated by man.Interestingly Ward and his artist collaborator Alexis Rockman draw out family trees of these creatures showing the various ways in which they may come to differentiate to occupy their various ecological niches.

Throuh it all he sees a mankind, safe from extinction owing to his sheer numbers and mastery of the environment around him.On the one hand the picture is optimistic in that it posits long years of survival by mankkind.On the other hand, the picture is bleak, basically of a species forced to live the consequences of its misdeeds and lay in its own bed for a very long time.

While obviously the future itself will alone ultimately reveal its secrets Ward's book is terrifying glimpse of would could be.

Powered by Pessimism and Lack of Imagination
This book is not The Future is Wild, although it certainly looks as if it was marketed to be a similar account of the future's inhabitants. Instead, it's more like an editorial where Ward waxes long-winded about how humanity could never go extinct and how the biosphere of the future will be extremely impoverished until the end. That thesis is dubious at best, but the book manages to be informative and interesting anyway. Three stars worth of interestingness, anyway.

Bleak yet convincing
This book is very depressing. It paints a picture nobody wants to view. Some of the prose in this book is poorly written, and there are some minor factual errors. It also makes a convincing case that an extinction level event is taking place around us. I don't feel that all of the reviews of this book are being fair.

The supporting artwork for the book is stunning. Alexis Rockman uses delicate lines and bright colors to bring the prose to life. Oddly, the majority of the artwork is not illustrations of future species. Instead the pictures diagram and explore life history and human influence.

Many parts of the book had me second-guessing the author's conclusions, or looking up things on the web. That's the sign of a great popular science book. This is not written for biologists, but it's significantly more scientifically grounded than most books on future evolution.

interesting, readable, and quite convincing
I really liked this book.It's very easy to read for a non-scientist like myself.Ward is not nice or gentle in his look at the future.His reasoning for the predictions he makes are convincing to me, although unpleasant.This is not mere sci-fi like The Future Is Wild tv series.Rockman's artwork is a great addition to the work, as well.I learned a lot about past life on earth and mass extinctions and about the curent ecological situation reading this book.I highly recommend it.

Future De-evolution
I am not fully sure where to begin. I have never really felt compelled to write a review but this book did indeed compel me to, and not to discuss how much I liked it. This one book has made me decide that I will not leave any good reviews for good books because people will take care of that. However, I do not think enough people leave reviews telling just how horrible some books are.

After getting through the second paragraph of the preface I knew I was probably not going to like this book. The only reason I read it all the way through was that I have a personal feeling that any book started should be finished. This book challenged that feeling with every page I progressed into it.

Since it was the preface that first gave me doubts then it is with the preface that I will begin. This book begins with _Professor_ Ward (and I address him as such because he seems to place so much value on being addressed in the proper manner) telling a story that sets the stage for the rest of the book. It also, though I do not think it was intentional, serves to show that Ward fully believes that his vision of the future of evolution is the one true version and that all others, who have put forth more "radical" futures to evolution (i.e. Dixon), are doing nothing more than playing at fantasy and are fools for behaving thus.

As I continued to read I began to wonder just how it was the Ward was able to hold a professorship given the absolute lack of education he seemed to have. There are numerous portions of this book that give me the impression that Ward has not read any serious scientific literature in at least 20 years. As a simple example, page 29, "...The dominant form of the Mesozoic, exemplified by... iguanodons and duck-billed dinosaurs, was bipedal." If you were to open any modern day dinosaur book you would find that iguanodons and the duck-billed dinosaurs are portrayed as quadrupeds. This has been the standing belief for at least 15 years. I first read about it in Robert Bakker's book (1986) and it was considered fairly common knowledge even then.

Ward's ignorance of modern science continued throughout the book. Page 104, "...scientists and doctors waged a campaign of eradication against bacterial illness, using the then newly developed antibiotic drugs. The result was a mass extinction of bacteria... Smallpox, rabies, typhoid, rubella, cholera: the ancient scourges of humankind were wiped out." For the record, only cholera is a bacterium, the rest are all viruses and as such they are treated against using vaccines and not by administering antibiotics. It is also worth noting that none of these was ever "wiped out" though smallpox might have been considered such at one point. Another display of ignorance, page 164, "...what if a 100% fatal disease such as HIV..." HIV is not 100% fatal; no recorded disease is 100% fatal, at least a single organism in the population will have an immunity that is the whole point of evolution. In fact HIV in and of itself is not fatal at all, it is the secondary infections that can establish once HIV infects a person that are the cause of death in AIDS patients.

I could go on in this manner but the amount of space it would take up and the amount of time it would take me are unacceptable. However I must cite one more "mistake" to move on. If all of Ward's "mistakes" were related to fields that he was not familiar with (though as a scientist I would assume he would have at least passing familiarity with many sciences) then it might be understand able. However, his "mistakes" extend even into basic understandings of math. Page 134, "There are over 4700 species of mammals... the smallest... have an adult weight of 2.5 grams, whereas the largest... weighs about 1.6 x 10^8 grams - a difference of twenty orders of magnitude." Anyone with even a high school level education in math knows that one order of magnitude is equal to one power of ten. So the difference between the weights is only eight orders of magnitude. There is no reasonable way the numbers can be fudged to "accidentally" come up with an additional 12 orders of magnitude. There are only 2 possibilities I can see for Ward adding in those 12 orders of magnitude. The first is that Ward really is completely ignorant of basic math (which I doubt, though it could explain the similar math error I have heard about in _Rare Earth_). The second is that Ward knows full well that his statement is wrong but he actually believes he is significantly more intelligent than his readers and that, as such, they will be too stupid to catch him if he puts something in writing that is just blatantly false. While I can not prove it I am convinced that the second of these statements is the truth.

After I came to this conclusion I began to notice other things that support it. Throughout the book, Ward refers to the works of other people, however, if one were to check the bibliography they would find that only about 40% of those people are actually cited. This is actually a rather old trick that many (unethical in my opinion) scientists resort to when they do not want the reader to learn that the un-cited material has arguments that destroy those of the author. I also found that the vast majority of the material in the book had no follow through. Ward would talk about how new selective pressures would effect human parasites but then not actually discuss either the selective pressures or the effects. Ward proposed that snakes would become one of the best fit species for continued evolution in a human dominated world while totally ignoring his own earlier argument that any animal that man found to be a threat would not be allowed to evolve up. And considering how many people would just as soon kill a snake as look at it I would have to group them into the group that could not evolve because of the (perceived) threat that pose. Again I could go on and on with examples like this.

In all this book is nothing more that Ward going on and on about how great his ideas are and how stupid every one else is. I found this particularly annoying, especially given how critical he is of those who delve into "fantasy" by imagining a world without humans while he himself spouts off so many fantasies of his own in the book. This book is an insult to any educated person or any person that wants an educated view on evolution. There is no real basis for his conclusions and his logic could be picked apart by anyone who has ever taken a basic logic course. If you are totally devoted to Ward or just like being talked down to then go ahead and pick up this book. Otherwise steer clear.

One final thing before closing. I abhor plagiarism. The painting on page 31 of this book is a blatant plagiarism of the Troodon on page 399 of Gregory S. Paul's book _Predatory Dinosaurs_(1989). That Rockman tries to hide this and deny Paul credit by calling it a Velociraptor is reprehensible.
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Product Description
The Evolution Wars draws on history, science, and philosophy to examine the development of evolutionary thought through the past two and a half centuries. It focuses on the debates that have engaged, divided, and ultimately provoked scientists to ponder the origins of life--including humankind--paying regard to the nineteenth-century clash over the nature of classification and debates about the fossil record, genetics, and human nature. Much attention is paid to external factors and they underlying motives of scientists. In these pages you will meet Charles Darwin's ebullient grandfather Erasmus, the contentious Frenchmen Georges Cuvier and Etienne Geoffroy Sainte Hillaire, new creationist Phillip Johnson, the brilliant J.B.S. Haldane, outspoken Richard Dawkins, and many other stars of the debates. The Evolution Wars is intellectually rewarding not only for evolutionists but also for opponents of evolution theory, and for anyone who wants to see how one of the great ideas of Western civilization resonates through time, both within and beyond the scientific community. Michael Ruse is the Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He is the author of many books including The Darwinian Revolution: Science Red in Tooth and Claw; Monad to Man: The Concept of Progress in Evolutionary Biology; and Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?: The Relationship Between Science and Religion. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Debates?
The facinating debate occurred between the Marxist biologists Stephen Jay Gould and R. C. Lewontin versus the progenitor of Sociobiology E. O. Wilson, thoroughly and scrupulously documented by sociologist Ullica Segerstrale in "Defenders of the Truth: The Sociobiology Debate," (Oxford University Press, 2000) is the place to begin.

If ever (and it has repeatedly been "ever') science is the handmaid of ideology (the "social Darwinists," eugenicists, Lysenko, Boaz, Mead, the Harvard Marxists, almost ad infinitum), science typically serves ideological purposes. Whoever doubts that science is the "means" of ideological "ends," this recent debate illustrates it clearly.

The "non-debate" between creationists and Darwinians is precisely that: NO debate. Evolution is an incontrovertible fact, even if Darwin's "five" evolutionary theories remain "theories." But, so does the "theory of gravity" remain a theory, so let's keep our eye on the "debate." It should be noted that Darwin's 1859 theories, by Karl Popper's "falsifiable" criterion, have not been falsified. Indeed, genetics, embryology, molecular biology, paleontology, etc. have repeatedly vindicated Darwin's original theories. The creationists' petard does not register in the real world.

Besides the "sociobiology" debate (which Wilson won), evolutionary insights are now reorienting medicine, psychiatry, psychology, literary theory, philosophy, and despite ideological entrenchment and resistance, even some of the "soft sciences" like political theory, sociology, anthropology, religion, etc. Whatever "wars" may seem to appear, they are confined to the ideologues defending their turf, not with respect to either evolution or Darwinism. The State of Kansas and the Dover School District and the Scopes' Trial do not constitute a "debate" other than a debate over intelligibility and science (vs. Revelation). Using Gertrude Stein's phrase, "there's no there."

"Debate" exists only in some people's imagination in hopes of defending the indefensible. Outside the "resistance," a paradigm shift is occurring, which, I suspect, is why the obstinate resistance insists on "debating" an already-established fact, and why biologists have decided not to "bother." Like the "false beliefs" of Marxism, Platonism, Freudianism, Christianity, postmodernism, someone's "ideology" has already been gored, and the defeated want to insist a "debate" still exists, if only to preserve their ideology against the facts.

Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao, biblical fundamentalists, and GWB insist a "debate" still exists. Ideologues are like that, but it does not mean it is true. Ideology is always the rascal rogue that finds "facts" at best inconvenient, worse, detrimental. But keeping the "debate" alive is itself further evidence of an adaptive strategy to survive, when they are no longer "fit." Selection, natural and artifical, eliminate the weak and unfit, but like all selection, time is its principal factor, while "debate" is the only impediment to inevitability.

A Superbly Researched and Referenced Overview
Michael Ruse, a Professor of Philosophy at FSU, and a veteran of the evolution-vs.-creation tug-of-war for the hearts and minds of the American public provides an excellent overview for the layman of the intellectual debates that have raged between supporters and opponents of Charles Darwin and his theory of descent with modification, commonly referred to as evolution.

Ruse also highlights and elucidates the points of view of the various types of evolutionary scholars, including the classicists, neo-Darwinists, sociobiologists, etc., and offers his own perspective regarding the relative merits of each of these approaches.

The book is meticulously referenced, and each chapter includes comprehesive lists of additional reading material for those interested in more in-depth study of the particular chapter's subject matter.

Overall, this book is an invaluable resource to those interested in understanding the current status of evolutionary thought among scientists, and how that thought (pardon the pun) "evolved" over the past two and a half centuries.

Still no theory of evolution?
This series of snapshots of the Great Darwin debate (which actually begins in the generation before Darwin) proceeds from the period of Cuvier/Lamarck to Gould/Dawkins, and episodically covers the key incidents of the development of Darwinism. Less detailed than the author's older, but still useful, The Darwinian Revolution, this account poses the question of why there is such a long debate. The reason must be the weakness of the theory proposed by Darwin. To that we should add the misleading scientism of the Synthesis appearing from Dobzhansky et al, and the book gives a revealing glimpse of paradigm formation in action. The problem is the public cannot see behind the math to the limits of population genetics, hence the limits of the theory itself. It seems that Gould is consciously or not trying to overthrow illusions here, yet still remains mired in the basic assumptions of the basic belief system.

Excellent book for its purpose which is...
...to provide an INTRODUCTION to the multiple debates spawned by the introduction of Darwinian theory...it is clear, concise, and interesting...more to the point it provides excellent references to allow readers to further pursue those debates and controversies which they find most interesting.

Wide-ranging, informative and readable
This book does a wonderful job of presenting a wide variety of debates that have surrounded evolutionary theory from the time of Darwin to the present.Ruse makes his own positions known, but tries to present all sides fairly, and for the most part does it well.He is especially interesting in his dissection of the underlying philosophical concerns that have driven the discussion of evolution.

In spots the writing rambles somewhat and can become unclear.After going to great lengths to define what is meant by "evolution," Ruse makes no such effort to define his term, "secular religion," which recurs frequently throughout his discussions.In other places, the author veers off in a new direction before finishing his point.For example, while addressing Philip Johnson's criticism of the "methodological naturalism" of science, Ruse slides off into the question whether one can be a methodological naturalist and still believe in God.It's a fascinating and worthwhile discussion, but it leaves out what seems to me to be the more important question in response to Johnson:can one do science at all without assuming that physical events have predictable physical causes?

For serious students of the subject, this book will not be the last word. For general readers it opens up a window on the rich field of evolutionary science and the debates that have surrounded it.The suggested additional reading at the end of each chapter should help anyone who is interested in pursuing a topic further.

It helps to have some basic background in biology to understand this book, but no extensive knowledge is necessary. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A white seal on the cover page of "New" book
The book status was "New", although a sticker or seal (2 x 7 cm) was pasted on the cover page, which can not be removed.I hope that such a condition was described on the book status. ... Read more

Product Description
This book presents a collection of linked essays written by one of the leading philosophers of biology, Kim Sterelny, on the topic of biological evolution. The first half of the book explores most of the main theoretical controversies about evolution and selection, while the second half applies some of these ideas in considering cognitive evolution. These essays, some never before published, form a coherent whole that defends not just an overall conception of evolution, but also a distinctive take on cognitive evolution. ... Read more

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The study of life in our universe has been given the name 'astrobiology'. It is a relatively new subject, but not a new discipline since it brings together several mature fields of science including astronomy, geology, biology, and climatology. An understanding of the singular conditions that allowed the only example of life that we know exists to emerge and survive on our turbulent planet is essential if we are to seek answers to two fundamental questions facing humanity: will life (and especially human life) continue on Earth, and does life exist elsewhere in the universe?

Astrobiology of Earth adopts a unique approach that differs from most texts in the field which focus on the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In contrast, the central theme of this book is the fortuitous combination of numerous cosmic factors that together produced the special environment which enabled the emergence, persistence and evolution of life on our own planet, culminating in humanity. This environment has been subject to constant and chaotic change during life's 3.6 billion year history. The geologically very recent appearance of humans and their effect on the biosphere is discussed in relation to its deterioration as well as climate change. The search for extraterrestrial life is considered with a view to the suggestion that humans may escape a depleted Earth by colonizing the universe.

This book contributes to our understanding of astrobiology from the perspective of life on Earth and especially human welfare and survival. Astronomical and geological phenomena are related in turn to their biological relevance and impact. This introductory text assumes little or no prior knowledge of more specialized scientific fields and is designed for undergraduate and graduate level students taking related courses in departments of biology, earth science/geology, and environmental science. It will also serve as a useful biology primer for astronomy majors. ... Read more

Product Description
Evolution is not merely the process that ruled the rise and fall of the dinosaurs over hundreds of millions of years. It also happens rapidly, so quickly and so frequently that it changes how all of us live our lives. Drugs fail because diseases like HIV and tuberculosis evolve in a matter of months, neatly sidestepping pharmacology. Insects adapt and render harmless the most powerful pesticides in a matter of years, not centuries. While the ecological impact of human technology has been well publicized, the evolutionary consequences of antibiotic and antiviral use, insecticide applications, and herbicide bioengineering have been largely unexplored. In The Evolution Explosion, Stephen R. Palumbi examines these practical and critical aspects of modern evolution with a simple, yet forceful style that contains both an urgent message and a sense of humor.Amazon.com Review
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 effectsmanifest. By tinkering with genes and rewriting the laws of naturalselection, we humans have lately been "accelerating the evolutionary game,especially among the species that live with us most intimately"--not ourpets, 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 ofthe human immunodeficiency virus, occurs faster than we can track it--is anunintended, accidental consequence of some well-intentioned effort toimprove human life by sidestepping nature. One such consequence is thegrowing incidence of drug-resistant bacteria and viruses, which havemutated to survive antibiotic treatments to the point that postoperativeinfections from methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus now posea major threat to hospitals. Another is the arrival of pests that haveevolved to survive pesticides of many kinds, pests that threaten cropsaround the world in a time of ever-increasing scarcity. All this, Palumbiwrites, is "evolution with teeth," and such responses to our haplessprompting make humans the most potent evolutionary form the planet has everknown. Whether we can survive our own power to reshape the earth remains aquestion. But, Palumbi concludes, ideas evolve, too, so that we can hopeagainst hope to think our way back to more or less normal cycles ofevolutionary change. Well-written and provocative, his book makes for auseful start. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Poor science or just poor thinking?
One of the stones around the neck of Darwinist evolutionary theory is that it hasn't been observed to happen.Thousands of years of intensive breeding of dogs (not even the undirected evolution Darwin described) hasn't produced a new species of non-dogs. Same with cats and other living things.

The way around the problem is to avoid defining what evolution is or broaden it to simply mean "change" so that anything that changes is said to evolve. Defined that way, evolution can be trumpeted every time a rock rolls down the hill.

It's sort of like AIDS in Africa. First you had to be tested and found to have HIV to be counted as an AIDS case. Well, it was hard to test, so instead AIDS was redefined to be a class of symptoms. If you had the symptoms, you were counted. Immediately after the redefinition of AIDS, the reports started about an explosion of AIDS in Africa.Now whenever the stats need to be cranked up, a commission meets to add new symptoms to the list and expand the pool of what can be called AIDS.

These are also the author's primary methods, used in the hope no one looks too closely at all the semantic shell games being played. At times evolution is used in a context which implies "change". Then there is a shift and the idea is blended without warning to mean speciation (Darwinism). Word meanings flip back and forth without distinction so credibility can clandestinely be transferred from what everyone knows to be true (genetic variation) to that which is unproven (Darwinian speciation).

The organisms that develop resistance to antibiotics are the same type of bacteria as before they developed resistance. They have not become a different kind of bacteria. Exposure to the solvent DMSO has made resistant bacteria again susceptible to the old antibiotics. The reason isn't certain, but it appears as if it might have something to do with an external coating rather than genetic coding. Inheriting a useful slime coat from a pool of bacteria (that reproduce by splitting) is now being trumpeted as evolution without evidence, just like AIDS is exploding in Africa without testing. An artifact of definition.

It's like how one might persistently catch colds until beginningto take vitamin C supplements. If I no longer catch colds, have I biologically evolved?The author would have you think so.

The actual criticism of Darwinism is directed at the claim new information (new species) can be developed by undirected natural selection. It just has not been observed to happen.

Now if you want to falsely represent the critics of Darwinism, you can define evolution to simply mean "change". Then every time there is change in a biological system -- bingo -- you can say it "evolved". And critics of Darwinism then can be made to appear foolish and ignorant by ignoring all the "evidence of evolution (change)" exploding around them. Deeply dishonest. Lousy thinking, lousy science.

Everyone is aware of genetic variation. Blonde and black-haired spouses may have brown-haired children; tall and short may produce children in-between, etc., etc. This is the biological equivalent of painting-between-the-lines; radically different from the production of new species and the origin of life.

The subject of antibiotic resistance is a serious and interesting one, but using it falsely to wrap around evolution as a disguising cover is disingenous; an act of propaganda, not science.

It is completely true that accepting genetic variation but not speciation is a failure of imagination. Imagination is simply not enough to do the job.

Speciation by natural selection is claimed to be a science, yethasn't been observed,isn't repeatable and can't predict results. It's not science, but a philosophy of rationalization; it allows little stories to be constructed to explain why things are without regard to reality.

Darwinist start with the question "How do I want the universe to be?" and then determine truth to fit the answer. Actual science reverses the questions: "What is truth?" THEN "How shall we live?"

Science writing that will make creationists cringe.
This excellently-done book explores the human tendency to cause explosive evolution in our environments. Don't believe in evolution? Note how effectively we've caused many disease organisms to evolve resistance to our best antibiotics, in the course of less than 100 years. Or the fact that all of our food and pets have been selectively bred to exacting standards for more than 10,000 years. If we hadn't accelerated the evolution of maize, we'd still be eating cobs less than an inch long, you know. So there. And to counter your arguments: yes, selective breeding is too evolution. It's evolution by artificial selection, which is a perfectly valid mechanism. So there again.

Palumbi is both a colorful and informative writer. He spends a lot of time discussing HIV, and why it's so hard to beat (it mutates constantly, overwhelming the immune system). I would have liked a more in-depth discussion about whether humans are still evolving or not -- I think we are -- but he only touched on that subject.Nonetheless, highly recommended.

Why evolution Matters and why you should care.
This isa great read.Steven Palumbi shows everyone why evolution matters today in real and meaning ful ways.
Two quotes from the book
".. the best education is the one that bites back, the one that shows with clarity of glacial ice that the facts and principles of the scientific world are of crucial importance to every day life.... not through eclectic recourse to scientific theory or historical anecdote.Instead, I need to do it through examples about how evolution in the world around us matters."

And why does it matter: " And if antibiotic resistance just happens, then we have no notion of how it comes to be, and no real chance to block the rise of some of the world's deadliest forms of life.But if something evolves, then the science of evolution can chart the answer to why, and perhaps prevent or change it."

Colorful take on how we cause unwanted evolutionary change
It has become clear over the last few decades that evolution can take place much more rapidly than Darwin ever imagined.The evolution of the AIDS virus is a particularly compelling case in point, and one of the focal points of this engaging book about how our efforts to control our world can bring about unwanted evolutionary change over time periods measured not in millennia, but in weeks and months.Mostly it is microbial evolution that Harvard Professor of Biology Stephen Palumbi writes about, the AIDS virus, the bacteria that cause tuberculosis, staph and other infections, but also insects and plants, particularly the insects that eat crops and the plants we call weeds, and even fish.At the center of change is the "evolutionary engine" that is continually at work adjusting organisms to their environments.Change the environment of a creature and the creature changes to keep its fit, a never-ending phenomenon that frustrates our efforts to eradicate harmful pests and deadly diseases.

Palumbi shows how it is not enough to spray our fields of amber grain with pesticides because the pests will inevitably evolve to flourish in the new pesticide-filled environment.It is not enough to throw antibiotics at the bacteria that invade our bodies because they too will evolve to flourish.Our efforts to combat the scourges of field and body are now seen as just one half of the prey/predator, parasite/host phenomenon of co-evolution.As Palumbi phrases it, "The disease dance continues, turning to the evolutionary tune, and both players must step smartly."(p. 90)We must take the power of life forms to evolve rapidly into account, and realize that they will react to our efforts.This is the evolutionary arms race, the "Red Queen" hypothesis, that keeps us (if we "step smartly"enough) and our enemies in the same place even though we are both running at full speed.This may be seen as a kind of cosmic joke at those who would find "progress" in evolution.

En route on bringing us up to speed on rapid evolutionary change, Palumbi sets some sort of record for the use of colorful language.There is some distraction as metaphors and analogies fly about like confetti at a wedding , but he is so clever that we forgive him.Some examples:

p 16: "...as unknown as the dreams of a sleeping infant."

p. 56: a trait (a recessive gene) is said to lie "dormant like thoughts on a Saturday morning."

p. 102:a virus is compared to a credit card.

p. 107: a typical viral attack on the immune system "has more plot twists than a soap opera."

p. 137: expressing the too-optimistic hopes of a five-year malaria eradication program: "...by then, surely malaria would be gone like the world's last car payment."

p. 240: "bad ideas" are compared to "anchovy daiquiris" that "live on only in a few people with fishy breath."

In short, this book colorfully illuminates one of the most significant conundrums of our time: despite our best pesticides, our most powerful antibiotics, our most clever and hopeful chemical cocktails, we are not winning the war against pests and disease.We are at best holding our own.The message of this book is perhaps we can do more if we take into account the power of the evolutionary engine, and finds ways to use it to our advantage.

Humans impact evolution
"The Evolution Explosion" by Stephen R. Palumbi, New York:W.W. Norton & Co., Inc., 2001.

By David Liscio

Anyone seeking an eloquent explanation of recent evolution as it relates to human impact -- from the use of herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics to AIDS treatment and genetic manipulation -- should find "The Evolution Explosion" a worthwhile read.

Harvard University biology professor Dr. Stephen R. Palumbi has written what is essentially a text on fast-paced evolution, in a style more akin to travel and adventure books, yet packed with scientific detail.

From the start, he explains that the task is "to bring home the equally common impact of evolution on daily life - and not through eclectic recourse to scientific theory or historical anecdote.Instead, I need to do it through examples about how evolution in the world around us matters."To make his point, Palumbi refers to the fertile soils of Kansas that "are part of the everyday life of millions of people - and billions of insects and weeds.And evolution lives among the fields and stalks the checkbooks of struggling farmers - here, like everywhere else, living in the many weed and insect species that have evolved resistance to pesticides."Palumbi notes that as long ago as 1954, a young Paul Ehrlich studied the impact of DDT and evolution of flies that would survive and resist the deadly chemical.As the author explains, Ehrlich's famous work, "The Population Bomb," is partially a result of "the DDT dustings (Ehrlich) and his future wife endured at drive-in movie theaters during Kansas' aborted attempt at mosquito eradication."

Consider this: American troops during WWII dusted themselves and civilians with a white powder.In 1944, entire neighborhoods of Italian villages were coated to keep typhus-bearing lice in check.The epidemic was soon declared dead. "But complete victory was short-lived, and only a year later, DDT-resistant insects were reported," Palumbi writes. "By 1946, houseflies in Sweden were resistant, and by 1951, mosquitoes and flies in Italy were resistant not only to DDT but also to a wide range of the new pesticidal chemicals like chlordane, methoxychlor, and heptachlor."

The author adds that both Egypt and the U.S. used DDT to control mosquito-borne malaria from 1947-52, even though the disease was already on the decline because of extensive dredging.It is yet another example of attempts by human to intervene and, ultimately, speed up the natural evolutionary process.

Palumbi, 44, who in 1996 relocated his laboratory after 11 years from the University of Hawaii to Harvard, articulately lays out the issues surrounding AIDS treatment, the use of antibiotics, and the genetic "tinkering" linked to the fight against crop-destroying diseases, all framed in terms of evolutionary speed.

The researcher most recently caused a stir in the scientific community by using molecular genetics to show that the meat of a certain whale species was contained in fish products sold by Japanese commercial markets.Although the product was marked as containing whale, Palumbi's technique showed that the specific whale was a member of an endangered species.

The book publicist quotes Harvard University's Edward O. Wilson as commenting that Palumbi "has hit upon and clearly explains one of the most important but widely neglected issues of our time in biology, medicine and agriculture: the potential for the swift evolution of our organisms when accelerated by human activity."

Bottom line: evolution is generally thought of as slow, with significant change requiring millions of years, yet human intervention can dramatically speed up the process through efforts to improve the quality of life.The benefits and risks of such intervention must not be ignored.... ... Read more

Product Description
This is a masterly theoretical treatment of one of the central problems in evolutionary biology, the evolution of social cooperation and conflict. Steven Frank tackles the problem with a highly original combination of approaches: game theory, classical models of natural selection, quantitative genetics, and kin selection. He unites these with the best of economic thought: a clear theory of model formation and comparative statics, the development of simple methods for analyzing complex problems, and notions of information and rationality. Using this unique, multidisciplinary approach, Frank makes major advances in understanding the foundations of social evolution.

Frank begins by developing the three measures of value used in biology--marginal value, reproductive value, and kin selection. He then combines these measures into a coherent framework, providing the first unified analysis of social evolution in its full ecological and demographic context. Frank also extends the theory of kin selection by showing that relatedness has two distinct meanings. The first is a measure of information about social partners, with close affinity to theories of correlated equilibrium and Bayesian rationality in economic game theory. The second is a measure of the fidelity by which characters are transmitted to future generations--an extended notion of heritability.

Throughout, Frank illustrates his methods with many examples, including a complete reformulation of the theory of sex allocation. The book also provides a unique "how-to" guide for constructing models of social behavior. It is essential reading for evolutionary biologists and for economists, mathematicians, and others interested in natural selection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A Book for the Specialist
This is a book for mathematically-inclined population and evolutionary biologists and other behavioral scientists. It is not for the layperson. The book is an extended exegesis on Price's equation---like variations andthemes. The exposition is a bit rough, but some of the formulations aremarvelous.

Price's equation is great for dealing with the interaction ofstructured populations, but there are other important approaches, includingdeveloping Markov processes and/or sets of differential equations tocapture the dynamics of interacting social groups.

Not for the non specialist!
This book may well be everything its poblisher says it is, but it still will be of little use to readers unused to reading mathematical tracts. I was disappointed.With all the contention in this crucial field, somebodyneeds to go back to the beginning and carefully review the issues --without bias and animus -- in a way that any attentive reader canunderstand. ... Read more

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Over the past twenty years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.

The fossil record is now one of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution. In this engaging and richly illustrated book, Donald R. Prothero weaves an entertaining though intellectually rigorous history out of the transitional forms and series that dot the fossil record. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the "monkey business of creationism," Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution. He covers the ingredients of the primordial soup, the effects of communal living, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, the mammalian explosion, and the leap from chimpanzee to human. Prothero pays particular attention to the recent discovery of "missing links" that complete the fossil timeline and details the debate between biologists over the mechanisms driving the evolutionary process.

Evolution is an absorbing combination of firsthand observation, scientific discovery, and trenchant analysis. With the teaching of evolution still an issue, there couldn't be a better moment for a book clarifying the nature and value of fossil evidence. Widely recognized as a leading expert in his field, Prothero demonstrates that the transformation of life on this planet is far more awe inspiring than the narrow view of extremists.

Customer Reviews (55)

What This Reviewer Thinks And Why It Matters
If you are looking for a good overview of the history of life on this planet, you will love this book.In terms of understanding evolution, both how it works and the evidence to support it, this is one of the best, if not the best books I have read on the topic.It's filled with excellent photos and diagrams and it doesn't just tell you about evolution, it *shows* you.I used to be a young earth creationist myself, and while I encountered this book after I'd already accepted the evidence for evolution, I think this book would have certainly given me much pause had I encountered it earlier in my life.

Absolutely superb
This is by far and away one of the very best books I have ever read on the topic of evolution. Prothero has a lively and engaging writing style and he does and outstanding job of laying out the facts regarding the fossil evidence of evolution. He also does a good job of highlighting the dishonesty and hypocrisy of creationists. This book is an absolute must for anybody with an interest in evolution.

Nice book
This book arrived in very good conditions.The content is very good and very understandable even for people who don't study biology.

Best Resource Through College Level on Evolution, Loaded with New Facts, Engaging to Read
The book will not disappoint, a great writer talking about a topic of which he has intimate familiarity, and for which he has a passionate concern to get across to the reader and public in general. Filled with up to date information clearly explained with copious charts and illustrations. A must have resource for those writing on the creationist/evolution controversy, with abundant jabs at the know-nothing purveyors of ID at the Creation Research Institute (where in fact, studies have shown, no scientific research is done).

Selective evidence is not evidence at all.
It's getting more and more frustrating explaining the obvious to evolutionists.Yet, they insist on being blind to the facts.This book is a case in point.First of all, there are no life forms in the strata below the Cambrian, which proves that the fossils in the Cambrian appeared all at once without any transitional states.The author ignores this fact.Moreover, there are plenty of fossils of creatures in rock allegedly dating to 50 millions of years that we see today, such as turtles, crocodiles, insects of all kinds, horses, elephants which look just like the turtles, crocodiles, insects of all kinds, horses, elephants we see today.Apparently, they haven't changed a bit over that millions and millions of years time span.We also have fossiled human skulls (Peru), fingers and footprints (Paluxy Texas).We also have plenty of unfossiled dinosaur bones such as the ones of the Hadrosauridae and of the T-Rex bone examined by Mary Schweitzer who found fresh tissue and fresh blood in it.The author doesn't mention any of this.Dead silence on these contravening facts.The author thinks that it is absurd to think all the dogs in the world came from two dogs on Noah's ark yet he has no difficulty believing that all dogs came from a rock.If he can believe that, he should have no difficulty believing all the dogs in the world came from the two on Noah's ark.The author believes trilobites are over 500 million years old yet he ignores the fact of the fossil of the trilobite from Antelope Springs that was crushed by a human foot, with a child's foot print nearby that spot in the same Cambrian stone.The author connects unrelated species, such as birds and reptiles, and claims a lineage between the two as evidence of transitional forms.Yet, he ignores that every single one of these socalled transitional forms has been found in the same geological strata as the species they allegedly morphed from.Picking and choosing your facts is not scientific.It is chicanery.Why can't he admit that evolution is bunk and needs to be thrown in the trash can? ... Read more