An Introduction to Evolution

Book Review: The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution by Carl Zimmer

Price: US$43:16
Hardcover: 394 pages
Publisher: Roberts and Company Publishers; 1 edition (October 15, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0981519474
ISBN-13: 978-0981519470

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this topic

This Tuesday is the 150^th anniversary of the first publication of Charles Darwin’s book “On the Origin of Species“. And earlier this year we celebrated the 200^th anniversary of his birth.

These anniversaries have been marked by publication of books about Darwin’s life, his ideas and various aspects of evolutionary science. Most of these are aimed at the adult reader. But here is one which will appeal to school children and young adults – an important section of readers.

The Tangled Bank is an introductory text book. It will be ideal for introductory classes on evolution and biology. But it is also going to appeal to many adults, and especially to families.

Missing fossils? From water to land

Those of us interested in science are being a bit spoilt at the moment – at least in the biological area. With the 150th Anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species (24 November) and the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth (12 February) this year there are plenty of evolutionary science resources coming on line.

One example for the scientific journal are the 15 Evolutionary Gems from Nature. This downloadable publication includes  gems from the fossil record, from habitats and from molecular processes. Another useful resource are the Year of Darwin series of videos from Case Western University.

Here I have combined these two resources with a short description of the discovery of intermediate fossils between fish and tetrapods as presented in the Nature publication and in Neil Shubins presentation in the Year of Darwin Lectures.