Rating: 
Summary: Fast and as new
Review: Shipped to Canada in a week
THe book is as new.
Congratulations
Rating: 
Summary: Please use a better text, if you are an instructor
Review: So there is a new evolution instructor at our school and he is using this text and lecturing out of it directly - ie no supplementation with other material. Very bad combination, boring simple lectures on what is actually a complex interesting topic. It would be different if the text was comprehensive and challenging but it is not. Positives of the text:
Easy to ready
Entertaining examples Negatives of the text:
1.Very, very frustratingly simplistic
2.Overlooks controversial topics or only presents one side of an issue. Example, no coverage of Wright's shifting balanced theory as opposing Fisher's mass selection theory. Doesn't even indicate there IS another theory out there.
3.Simplifies primary literature. Does not detail assumptions or boundaries of experiments.
4.Inadequate index and glossary (for example, epistatis, is in neither) The entire book reminds me of justso stories my mama read to me as a wee pup, not a scientific examination of evolution. The authors say this is book is at undergraduate level. But given the lack of complexity and depth, I'd say it is more suited for say an 5-6th grade class level.
Rating: 
Summary: Evolution for the confused undergrad
Review: The topic of evolutionary biology is a complex and fascinating subject. However, teaching evolution is a daunting task since one must balance being thorough vs. overwhelming the poor undergraduate. Although this book makes no qualms about being aimed at the undergraduate student, I think it is far too simplistic, which gives a poor impression of how evolutionary processes work (i.e., how infinitely complex they can be!). For example, adaptation has always been a hotly debated issue within evolutionary biology, but from reading this book the student does not gain even an inkling of insight into this rigorous debate. Furthermore, it leaves small things out that are essential, such as dividing by the Phenotypic SD when considering selection differentials. However, this book does consider new essential topics in evolution such as developmental constraints (i.e., HOX genes) in more than just mere passing. Also, the first chapter on the evolution of virulence via the HIV crisis is an interesting area often forgotten in even advanced evolutionary texts. Overall, though, I think this book would be greatly improved by being at least more thorough on the topics it does cover(which would allow it to become more of a reference than simply an undergraduate text). People can leave out the extra info or not, but it would be nice to have the option! Furthermore, I cannot honestly say I would currently recommend this book as is over the Ridley book, even to undergraduates. The Ridley book, I find, is still the best evolutionary text to date.
Rating:
Summary: Evolution for the confused undergrad
Review: The topic of evolutionary biology is a complex and fascinating subject. However, teaching evolution is a daunting task since one must balance being thorough vs. overwhelming the poor undergraduate. Although this book makes no qualms about being aimed at the undergraduate student, I think it is far too simplistic, which gives a poor impression of how evolutionary processes work (i.e., how infinitely complex they can be!). For example, adaptation has always been a hotly debated issue within evolutionary biology, but from reading this book the student does not gain even an inkling of insight into this rigorous debate. Furthermore, it leaves small things out that are essential, such as dividing by the Phenotypic SD when considering selection differentials. However, this book does consider new essential topics in evolution such as developmental constraints (i.e., HOX genes) in more than just mere passing. Also, the first chapter on the evolution of virulence via the HIV crisis is an interesting area often forgotten in even advanced evolutionary texts. Overall, though, I think this book would be greatly improved by being at least more thorough on the topics it does cover(which would allow it to become more of a reference than simply an undergraduate text). People can leave out the extra info or not, but it would be nice to have the option! Furthermore, I cannot honestly say I would currently recommend this book as is over the Ridley book, even to undergraduates. The Ridley book, I find, is still the best evolutionary text to date.
Rating:
Summary: This book is like a lazy college student's lab report:
Review: This book is all long winded examples and no depth. Whenever I want depth I go back to my freshman (actually high school) campbell book. Does that sound a little strange to you? A student taking a course on evolution (yes an advanced one as the lectures are QUITE difficult to follow) looking at campbell for depth when he has a text with a formidable sounding name like Evolutionary Analysis? It is true. This book reminds me of the crap I write to fool my lab graduate TA into thinking I actually know what I am doing in my lab reports. The authors start out chapters and subsections with fascinating titles, they make you think you are about to learn something fantastic from them and then let you down at the end, they never quite get to the punchline of any topic they discuss. Not to be forgotten is the ridiculous amount of time they spend defending evolution from creationism. There is no place in a course on evolution for the stupidity of religion. They don't discuss this religious crap in a course on neuroscience,why should they discuss it in a course on evolution? There is a certain university on long island whose professors use this book, I hope you two read this and realize what a mistake you've made in choosing it for your course, It is not worth the liquid the ink was dissolved in before its printing. I FEEL BAD GIVING IT ONE STAR, BUT I CANNOT CHOOSE ZERO, I'll try and make myself feel better by saying that the star is for its pretty cover and that cool hologram on the back that says "genuine authentic valid security"
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