 |
|
Title: Evolutionary Analysis
ISBN: 0132275848
Author:
Scott Freeman
Jon C. Herron
Publicate Date: 2007-01-07
Publish: 2007-01-07
List Price: $116.80
Average Customer Rating: 3.5
Format: Hardcover
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $91.98
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $85.99
Amazon Merchant Price: $93.44
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: Evolutionary Analysis
The book was in perfect condition and it was shipped on time. Overall good purchase.
|
2: Great text book
This book is well written and actually not bad as far as text books go.
|
3: Save your scientific intellect
For an eager young mind, anxious to understand more about the evolutionary theory, this book is both scientifically and intellectually disappointing. The book reads more like a commentary than a textbook, organizing theoretical thoughts from numerous publications. Its principles that are supposed to explain the "backbone of all biology" will leave you with more questions than answers. Even the questions that the author proposes, e.g. in Ch 3, are not adequately answered. I have many question marks scribbled in the margins of this book, not because of my lack of understanding, but because there is so little support for the propositions that they make.
For a book that is written against non-scientific "Intelligent Design" theories, this sure forces you to make a lot of assumptions in order to swallow the holistic picture down- and I'm not buying it.
|
4: Richly detailed overview of modern evolutionary thought
I have used all three earlier editions of this text for my undergraduate 'Evolution' course (I am a college Professor of Biology) and have witnessed the various changes made over the years. The new version has updated much of the information on molecular evolution; the authors should be commended for their very thorough literature review. With the veritable explosion of research into evolutionary phenomena, this must be difficult indeed! The initial chapter on HIV still remains a wonderful introduction to your typically "human oriented" undergraduate and serves to generate interest in the topic early on. The phlogeny/evolutionary tree chapter was moved earlier to the "Introduction" part of the text; not sure why this was done. It was also nice to finally see mention made of reaction norms in the 'Adaptation' chapter (at last!), but there are still no examples of phenotypic plasticity from the vast botanical literature. The 'Evolution and Human Health' chapter is excellent for the medical student. Rather oddly, the important topic of speciation is near the book's end (Chapter 16) and glosses over the many fine examples from the plant evolution literature (polyploid speciation is virtually ignored, except for two paragraphs on p.159). My students are fascinated by the 'evolution of wheat' story, but don't look for that example of speciation here.
My primary complaint with this, and the preceding editions, is still the overwhelming amount of extraneous detail. How I wish I could use my editorial hand on this one! Does an undergraduate student really need over 20 pages on linkage disequilibrium? Are the final details of QTL mapping really necessary at this level of student education? Do we really need 4 pages on the 'fallacy' of the bell-curve (interesting advanced topic, but...) Also, there is an over abundance on phylogeny and systematics (useful for the future molecular systematist, but probably just confusing to the general biology major).
In any event, a great book, a little overwhelming, but well written and free of errors...I'll probably order the lastest (4th) edition anyway for the next 'Evolution' class...
|
5: If only Campbell were the author...
There's not much to say. The book isn't confusing because the material is too technical--it's often confusing because the author doesn't go in enough depth; it's frustrating when a crucial concept is presented, such as Hamilton's Law, but no examples on its applications are put forth. I find myself frequently searching the internet to suppliment this textbook. It also doesn't help that the book doesn't come with a cd-rom, or any additional material, unless you purchase the teacher's edition...reading this textbook makes me yearn for Campbell.
|
|
|
|
|
