Animals and Evolution Books

A very useful book for essentially all the genera of mammals in the groups listed in the title. The two things that kept me from giving it 5 stars are; it is VERY overpriced, aside from libraries, few can afford it, also the listings of localities are done a bit ackwardly. Overall a very useful resource.

This book is not for sissies. It's a serious textbook for those who are studying avian genetics. It is not for the faint of heart, or those without a background in basic genetic terms and science. All that being said, it's an invaluable book if you're seeking to understand how chicken genetics work, and apply them to your breeding processes.

Chapters in this book include:

1. The history and evolution of the domestic fowl
2. The cellular organisation of genetic material
3. The transmission of inherited characters
4. Sex determination and sex-linked inheritance in the domestic fowl
5. Linkage and chromosome mapping
6. Genes controlling feathering and plumage color
7. Muscle, nerve, and skeleton
8. Lethal genes in domestic fowl
9. Quantitative genetics
10. Protein evolution and polymorphism
11. Immunogenetics of the domestic fowl
12. Gene cloning, sequencing and transfer in the domestic fowl

There are also five appendices, a glossary, and an index. The appendices include:

I. Linage groups and the chromosome map in the domestic fowl
II. Oncogenes
III. The Chi squared test
IV. One letter amino acid code
V. The genetic code

All in all this book is more then the average fancier would want to spend, but if you are a scientist or high-end hobbyist desiring to expand your knowledge of poultry genetics, then go for it!

This is a fascinating, eclectic collection of observations by a wide range of interests. From the purely academic, to the impassioned researcher, to the perspective of zoos and medical laboratories... Their observations will stretch your mind in all directions.

I have to admit that there were paragraphs that went so deeply into Latin terms that I had to skip over them. But that was rare -- mostly, I appreciated the fact that the authors didn't take their readers for idiots, and totally engaged us in their thinking and their arguments.

The reader is left with the impression that people may have different ideas about what the great apes need to thrive, but all of us are trying our best to give our primate relatives the respect and rights they deserve.

One can't help but be left with an uneasy feeling, however... With all of these great minds, doubtedlessly representing colleagues the world over --WHY CAN'T WE COMBINE OUR EFFORTS TO SAVE THE GREAT APES FROM THEIR COMING DESTRUCTION?

As Dr. David Wake put it in a review of this book, homology is a concept that serves too many masters. Choose your favorite definition and run with it, but read this book first to shop around for different definitions. They're all in there, from Roth to Goodwin to Rieppel or Shubin. Many different perspectives, little agreement or hope for resolution.

As a big fan of Stephen Jay Gould and Richard Dawkins, I was eager to see what "how we got to be HUMAN" would add to the general evolutionary dialogue. I didn't agree with all the chapters, but I found each to be lively and challenging. The author covers a prodigious amount of ground, but if you're prepared to move quickly, you'll enjoy the walk.

I teach physical anthropology at a community college and have twice used this book as a text. Physical anthropology can be a difficult subject to teach, especially at an introductory level, because you have to go over so many necessary basics (biology lite, geology lite, anatomy lite, taxonomy lite, evolutionary history lite, intellectual history lite) before getting into the real substance of the field. Many community college students (and I suspect many 4 year college students as well) have virtually no high school background in Mendelian genetics or Darwinian evolutionary theories. Presenting the material in a sophisticated but non-technical fashion is a real challenge.

I chose this book because it skimmed over much of this material relatively quickly without getting as technical as many of the other books I looked at. Unfortunately, I then had to add basic material that wasn't in the book. The latest edition, with a totally rewritten chapter on genetics is somewhat better. The newest editon also incorporates material on recent discoveries in human paleontology.

My students have had mixed reactions to this text. Some semesters, they found its presentation of the material unclear and the writing style too digressive. At other times, their reactions were more positive. I'll probably use this book again the next time I teach the course. Whatever the book's failings, this is a textbook that has a place, and it has many good points--including its less technical presentation.

Moore's introduction is brief, but informative. Structured in the standard format for a zoology textbook, she covers the basics quickly and well, and then raises interesting questions that pertain to whatever phylum is in question.
Having already done coursework in invertebrates, I found this a good refresher and still full of things I did not know (or had completely forgotten).

This provides a very well done, thorough review of the literature on island biogeography, species area relationships, and patterns of evolution on islands. The sections on island evolution are especially good. The book deals mainly with "true islands" (rather than "habitat islands"), and I would highly recommend it for anyone studying island ecosystems.

This book is about the beginnings of technology, an almost exclusively human trait. The idea of using materials in such a way as to benefit daily life or perform task that we, as individuals, are unable to do is a giant step into the unknown. The author discusses tool-making in all its many facets. It is now considered very possible that tool-making contributed to an exapansion of brain possibilities but in fact made us into something different that the surrounding creatures with whom we fought and lived.

The idea of artificial means toward an end catapulted mankind and gave us control of our surroundings. No longer were large beasts from out of our grasp. The type and variation of the various stone blades is mind-boggling but the interpretation is just about as creative. The sharing of this technology with other humans started a process of spreading knowledge that has continued up to this day.

The author's hands-on experience was also an additional aid to her findings. She is in no sense an "ivory towered" scholar but actively explores and examines the subjects in her book. Best of all are her conjectures concerning the origins and more importantly, the "why" of technology.

Great book at giving the readers dynamic information not just about marine mammals, but also their systematic relationships. It is inclusive of both fossil and extant taxa. Covers most aspects of pinniped, cetacea, and sirenian biology. It is highly understandable to the novice of phylogenetic systematics.