Research Catalog
The problems of evolution
- Title
- The problems of evolution / Mark Ridley.
- Author
- Ridley, Mark
- Publication
- Oxford [Oxfordshire] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1985.
- ©1985
Items in the Library & Off-site
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | QH366.2 .R526 1985 | Off-site |
Details
- Description
- vi, 159 pages : illustrations; 20 cm.
- Summary
- Is evolution true? If so, what is the force that drives it? Can natural selection account for so complex an organ as the eye--or is Darwin's theory merely what an eminent nineteenth-century astronomer call 'the law of higgledy-piggledy'? Is molecular evolution a random process? What is the real relationship between the theory of evolution and biological classification? Why do living things appear to come to recognizable units called species, and how can one species split into two? Does evolution proceed gradually, or in jerks? What causes the grand patterns of change in the fossil record?
- This book sets out to do for evolution what Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy did for that subject. Its authors is a leading evolutionary biologist, and unlike many popular books on evolution, it isn't written to prove a particular theory. Instead it reviews the key problems and the main answers to them, in a balanced account which is also authoritative. It will be an invaluable guide to all students of biology, but the clarity of the arguments and the level of writing make it an excellent introduction for general readers as well. Among the concepts and controversies discussed are the nature of heredity, evolution, natural selection, and the existences of species. Annotation Published: March 2010.
- Series Statement
- An OPUS book
- Subject
- Note
- Includes index.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (page 153) and index.
- Contents
- Is evolution true? -- The nature of heredity -- The mechanism of evolution -- Natural selection in action -- Molecular evolution -- Principles of classification -- Why do species exist? -- How can one species split into two? -- The rates of evolution -- Macro-evolution.
- ISBN
- 0192191942
- 9780192191946
- 0192891758
- 9780192891754
- LCCN
- 84027300
- OCLC
- ocm11519663
- 11519663
- SCSB-14354959
- Owning Institutions
- Princeton University Library