Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea

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Summary: Of fish antifreeze and whale feet
Review: Learning about walking whales is just one reason to buy this book. As Carl Zimmer so concisely points out in Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, no scientific theory can ever be directly proven. But a theory generates hypotheses that make predictions, and these can be tested. Zimmer, delivering the most up-to-date information on the scientific consensus, shows that evolution has amassed over a century's worth of such testable predictions. He explains evolution's global journey, extracting the most important points and illuminating with representative examples along the way.

In one chapter of the book, Zimmer delivers a brilliant knockout punch to Intelligent Design, exposing it as repackaging of the irreducible complexity argument. It used to be thought that the eye was far too complex to have developed in a step-by-step (i.e. evolutionary) process. Take away any part of the eye and, like taking a cog out of a clock, it becomes useless, therefore must have been created whole, right? As it turns out, there are many examples of "partial" eyes in nature. I love how the editors have boldly used this icon of creationism on the cover of the book. Contrary to what a reviewer below claims about the book (which makes me skeptical that the person actually read it), Zimmer does indeed give examples of how complex biochemical reactions evolved - like blood clots, which depend on a cascade of different interactions, any one step of which, if missing, will cause the process to fail. It seems proponents of irreducible complexity must keep reducing the area defined as "too complex."

All in all, this is an excellent book to get an overview of the most current research on evolution. It's a great starting point for further reading into the finer points of evolution theory. Oh, and fish antifreeze? You'll just have to read the book.

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Summary: Darwinism is dead
Review: Like other pro-evolution books, this book is short on details and long on generalities. Evolution assumes life came about accidentally from "primordial soup", but proteins could not have organized themselves into life forms without the supervision of DNA, which would have been necessary to have been in place at the start. Also, there are no step by step transitions in the fossil record between even one species. Gould, who was involved in this book, has written this. Whales and many other large animals appeared suddenly during the "Cambrian Explosion", fully formed, with no prior transitional forms.If transitions do exist, they are only in the minds of the paleontologists, with many frauds, i.e., Java Man, Peking Man, etc. Evolution cannot explain the unique ability of man to appreciate beauty, the arts, etc. How could plant life have started if plant life needed to be present on land before land animals could inhabit the land, when plants need soil that contains organic remains from deceased animals? This book is more propoganda than an unbiased look at the complete story of evolution. I suggest Nyborg's "The Case Against Evolution" for an easy to read summary of the major problems with evolution. Gets into the details well.

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Summary: So you know what the scientists are talking about
Review: See, the creationists don't want you to know that what they call evolution is something science doesn't even claim exists. This book tells you what it's really all about -- the most obvious changes in anatomy (for example, fins to legs in amphibians and the other way around in whales) to the most arcane tweaks of biochemistry. It tells who Darwin was and the context of the world he lived in, connects his theories to those of Gregor Mendel, and then goes on to describe the "modern synthesis" that combined observed evolution and the theories that sought to explain it with the nascent science of genetics, and explains everything in such a way as to leave no doubt as to what's going on. The "other side" is given short shrift -- not because of scientific pressure, but simply because by and large the ideas of "intelligent design" and "scientific creationism" are largely irrelevant to biological research and belong more to the realm of politics and metaphysics than science.

A scientist might object that the book is a bit light on theory; this is perhaps true, but it's a popular book, written for a lay audience. That's okay. Such a book is necessary in an age where scientific ignorance is not only common but seemingly enforced by societal pressure; best to get good science in any way possible. Highly recommended.

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Summary: Evolution triumphed?
Review: That's news to me. The latest stats I read say that about 45 percent of Americans take the Genesis account more or less literally, while another 45 percent believe in some variant of "intelligent design," or "theistic evolution." The latter group includes many scientists, not the least of them the head of the Human Genome Project.

Zimmer may feel that evolution (in the atheistic sense) deserves to triumph, but so far, it's come up flat. It won't gain any adherents by treading out the same old tired arguments that have been refuted again and again, the way Zimmer does.

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Summary: Evolution
Review: The emphasis must remain on the key "of an idea" Does anyone question the viability of a theory which has so little basis. I certainly do not have all the answers, however all of this theoretical rhetoric is simplly mind boggling. This is a well written book, however it lacks the same ingredients as do all books regarding evolution. "facts" This theory will one day fade into the sunset, only to be replaced by another theory in the not so distant future. Evolution will be nothing more than a word in history books are grandchildren will read and laugh at because so many smart people believed such a dumb idea. "Evolution can have not future because it has no past"!

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Summary: Beautifully Done
Review: There are more technical books out there but this one makes the workings of evolution accessible to everyone. It presents the overwhelming evidence for evolution in simple well written language and is well illustrated. I especially enjoyed the cover photo showing the variety of eyes found in nature, from the simplest to the most complex. The recent discovery of even more transitional whale fossils, adds to those presented in this book and shows how little by little the evidence has amassed over the century. It's tragic that so many people have no idea how well supported evolution is. I hope this book finds its way into every school and helps everyone see the beauty of it and of science.

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Summary: Great Information, Great Book
Review: This book is just packed with the basics on evolution. I did not see the PBS series, but the book is just great. It is spelled out in laymen's terms...so for the non-scientist, it is easy to understand and read. I would not say this about most books or textbooks of this nature, but I sat down just to "glance" through it, and found myself 2 hours later still reading it. The theories of coevolution, origin of AIDS and even "where is God in all this" in contained within this book. It is great. I recommend it, even for the non-scientist!

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Summary: 10 stars - Read this even if you have read all of Dawkins'
Review: This book started out slow - very very slow ( I have to admit though - I am not keen in reading yet another biography of Darwin). I would have almost stopped before reading part II.
I was pleasantly surprised with the change in pace in chapter 4 and it never slows down! The illustrations neatly complement the explanations. Simply WOW!
I enjoyed reading this more than "Selfish Gene" by Dawkins ( Selfish gene is one of my top ten favorite books ).

Also recommended - "The Origins of Life: From the Birth of Life to the Origin of Language" by John Maynard Smith & Eors Szathmary.

P.S.
Why I didn't say anything on "creationism" ? - It is not even wrong!

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Summary: Comprehensize, Beautiful, Informative
Review: This is a beautiful book if one were to judge only by literary measure; the structure, style, prose, approach and illustrations are just superb. But when one includes the scientific qualities what emerges is a real gem. When your dinner party conversation is lagging, place this on the coffee table for some provocative discussions.

The subject of evolution, it seems, is destined to stir up deep emotions on both sides. And that is a pity because the essense of evolution is that over long periods of time, living entities adapt and change according to the environment and the living conditions. As a corollary, evolution also posits that some of these organisms successfully change (sometimes into something else entirely) while others fail to adjust and become extinct.

Evolution is the clearest explanation of why life on Earth is so interconnected, why reptiles, birds, mammals and fish share many of the same genes and why the Earth is dominated by helpless mammals. The approach to the subject was almost gentle, starting with old ideas, looking at how the first stirrings came about and following the debate up to the present. Most of us never stop to think that evolution has probably been more radical at the cellular level than any other platform.

The illustrations are both beautiful and enlightening. This book is such an excellent one for raising discussion points that one could only with every child be allowed to take a course for six weeks with this as their only guide.

The book makes an effort not only at informing us about the many misunderstood points but dealing with the sticky ones - how new ideas are adding more depth to the theory, the relationship between religion and science, the future of evolution. All in all this is an excellent companion guide to the PBS series.

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Summary: A very High Five
Review: This is an excellent introductory book on evolution - a first step to the multi-layered and diverse literature on this pivotal principle of modern sciences. I am not surprised that creationists have chosen to attack the theory of evolution as it holds not just biological science together but all of modern science. To compare this book with pseudoscience from Dembski, Wells, Behe etc is to disservice to evolution. The pseudoscientific babble that goes by the name of creation science/ID has only these flimsy facades of books to show for its work. While Carl Zimmer's book is the first step into the vast corpus of evolution research and scholarship. It is not a fair contest. But then pseudoscientists haven't been ever known for scholarship have they. Dembski proudly claims that his work as well as Behe's haven't been refuted only objected to. That's indeed funny because if the leading lights of ID were to sit thru a beginner's course in evolution they would not even merit an F!

Carl Zimmer answers many of the by now shop-worn objections to evolutionary theory - macroevolution; abiogenesis; Cambrian Explosion; Immune resistance; biodiversity; and sexual reproduction. He has also drawn a clear line marking the muddied waters of social darwinism; sociobiology; human evolution - all with a great deal of skill and impeccable research. If anyone has creationist doubts (all of us scientifically minded people always doubt everything) about evolution after reading this book the person must turn away from science for a loong time. Science isn't for them.