Climbing Mount Improbable

Climbing Mount Improbable
Richard Dawkins (Author), Lalla Ward (Illustrator)
(86)

New!: $16.95 $12.19 (as of 04/30/2014 11:33 PST)
138 Used! | New! from $2.38 (as of 04/30/2014 11:33 PST)

Organic

A brilliant book celebrating improbability as the engine that drives life, by the acclaimed author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker.

The human eye is so complex and works so precisely that surely, one might believe, its current shape and function must be the product of design. How could such an intricate object have come about by chance? Tackling this subject—in writing that the New York Times called "a masterpiece"—Richard Dawkins builds a carefully reasoned and lovingly illustrated argument for evolutionary adaptation as the mechanism for life on earth.

The metaphor of Mount Improbable represents the combination of perfection and improbability that is epitomized in the seemingly "designed" complexity of living things. Dawkins skillfully guides the reader on a breathtaking journey through the mountain's passes and up its many peaks to demonstrate that following the improbable path to perfection takes time. Evocative illustrations accompany Dawkins's eloquent descriptions of extraordinary adaptations such as the teeming populations of figs, the intricate silken world of spiders, and the evolution of wings on the bodies of flightless animals. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time.

Climbing Mount Improbable is a book of great impact and skill, written by the most prominent Darwinian of our age.

• Rank: #186666 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .35" h x 3.27" w x 2.17" l, .71 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

The Evolutionary World: How Adaptation Explains Everything from Seashells to Civilization

The Evolutionary World: How Adaptation Explains Everything from Seashells to Civilization
Geerat J. Vermeij (Author)
(3)

New!: $27.99 $10.94 (as of 04/26/2014 15:07 PST)
41 Used! | New! from $4.75 (as of 04/26/2014 15:07 PST)

Organic

“One of the master naturalists of our time” (American Scientist) reveals how evolutionary theory explains and affects not just the natural world but our society---and its future.

• Rank: #736206 in Books
• Published on: 2010-11-23
• Released on: 2010-11-23
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

DARWIN'S BLACK BOX: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution

DARWIN'S BLACK BOX: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution
Michael J. Behe (Author)
(565)

98 Used! | New! from $0.95 (as of 04/23/2014 16:11 PST)

Organic

Virtually all serious scientists accept the truth of Darwin's theory of evolution. While the fight for its acceptance has been a long and difficult one, after a century of struggle among the cognoscenti the battle is over. Biologists are now confident that their remaining questions, such as how life on Earth began, or how the Cambrian explosion could have produced so many new species in such a short time, will be found to have Darwinian answers. They, like most of the rest of us, accept Darwin's theory to be true.But should we? What would happen if we found something that radically challenged the now-accepted wisdom? In Darwin's Black Box, Michael Behe argues that evidence of evolution's limits has been right under our noses -- but it is so small that we have only recently been able to see it. The field of biochemistry, begun when Watson and Crick discovered the double-helical shape of DNA, has unlocked the secrets of the cell. There, biochemists have unexpectedly discovered a world of Lilliputian complexity. As Behe engagingly demonstrates, using the examples of vision, bloodclotting, cellular transport, and more, the biochemical world comprises an arsenal of chemical machines, made up of finely calibrated, interdependent parts. For Darwinian evolution to be true, there must have been a series of mutations, each of which produced its own working machine, that led to the complexity we can now see. The more complex and interdependent each machine's parts are shown to be, the harder it is to envision Darwin's gradualistic paths, Behe surveys the professional science literature and shows that it is completely silent on the subject, stymied by the elegance of the foundation of life. Could it be that there is some greater force at work?Michael Behe is not a creationist. He believes in the scientific method, and he does not look to religious dogma for answers to these questions. But he argues persuasively that biochemical machines must have been designed -- either by God, or by some other higher intelligence. For decades science has been frustrated, trying to reconcile the astonishing discoveries of modern biochemistry to a nineteenth-century theory that cannot accommodate them. With the publication of Darwin's Black Box, it is time for scientists to allow themselves to consider exciting new possibilities, and for the rest of us to watch closely.

• Rank: #263111 in Books
• Published on: 1996-08-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.04" h x 6.53" w x 9.59" l, 1.22 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 307 pages

Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology)

Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life (Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology)
Eva Jablonka (Author), Marion J. Lamb (Author), Anna Zeligowski (Illustrator)
(26)

New!: $29.95 $22.19 (as of 04/19/2014 09:11 PST)
28 Used! | New! from $18.19 (as of 04/19/2014 09:11 PST)

Organic

This new edition of the widely read Evolution in Four Dimensions has been revised to reflect the spate of new discoveries in biology since the book was first published in 2005, offering corrections, an updated bibliography, and a substantial new chapter. Eva Jablonka and Marion Lamb's pioneering argument proposes that there is more to heredity than genes. They describe four "dimensions" in heredity -- four inheritance systems that play a role in evolution: genetic, epigenetic (or non-DNA cellular transmission of traits), behavioral, and symbolic (transmission through language and other forms of symbolic communication). These systems, they argue, can all provide variations on which natural selection can act.

Jablonka and Lamb present a richer, more complex view of evolution than that offered by the gene-based Modern Synthesis, arguing that induced and acquired changes also play a role. Their lucid and accessible text is accompanied by artist-physician Anna Zeligowski's lively drawings, which humorously and effectively illustrate the authors' points. Each chapter ends with a dialogue in which the authors refine their arguments against the vigorous skepticism of the fictional "I.M." (for Ipcha Mistabra -- Aramaic for "the opposite conjecture"). The extensive new chapter, presented engagingly as a dialogue with I.M., updates the information on each of the four dimensions -- with special attention to the epigenetic, where there has been an explosion of new research.

Praise for the first edition

"With courage and verve, and in a style accessible to general readers, Jablonka and Lamb lay out some of the exciting new pathways of Darwinian evolution that have been uncovered by contemporary research." -- Evelyn Fox Keller, MIT, author of Making Sense of Life: Explaining Biological Development with Models, Metaphors, and Machines

"In their beautifully written and impressively argued new book, Jablonka and Lamb show that the evidence from more than fifty years of molecular, behavioral and linguistic studies forces us to reevaluate our inherited understanding of evolution." -- Oren Harman, The New Republic

"It is not only an enjoyable read, replete with ideas and facts of interest but it does the most valuable thing a book can do -- it makes you think and reexamine your premises and long-held conclusions." -- Adam Wilkins, BioEssays

• Rank: #67424 in Books
• Published on: 2014-04-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.30" h x 5.90" w x 8.90" l, 1.65 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time (Vintage)

The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time (Vintage)
Jonathan Weiner (Author)
(115)

Download: $11.99 (as of 04/15/2014 03:43 PST)

Organic

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

On a desert island in the heart of the Galapagos archipelago, where Darwin received his first inklings of the theory of evolution, two scientists, Peter and Rosemary Grant, have spent twenty years proving that Darwin did not know the strength of his own theory.  For among the finches of Daphne Major, natural selection is neither rare nor slow: it is taking place by the hour, and we can watch.

In this dramatic story of groundbreaking scientific research, Jonathan Weiner follows these scientists as they watch Darwin's finches and come up with a new understanding of life itself.  The Beak of the Finch is an elegantly written and compelling masterpiece of theory and explication in the tradition of Stephen Jay Gould.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Rank: #105771 in eBooks
• Published on: 2014-05-14
• Released on: 2014-05-14

Hypersea: Life on Land

Hypersea: Life on Land
Mark A. S. McMenamin (Author), Dianna L. S. McMenamin (Author)
(3)

New!: $42.00 $38.66 (as of 04/13/2014 04:24 PST)
37 Used! | New! from $3.95 (as of 04/13/2014 04:24 PST)

Organic

This text describes the evidence for how life moved from sea to land, beginning more than 400 million years ago, employing the concept of "Hypersea" which is the idea that the barren land surfaces of the Earth could only have been colonized by multicellular organisms working in concert.

• Rank: #248159 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .85" h x 5.70" w x 8.81" l,
• Binding: Paperback
• 343 pages

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Vintage)

Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Vintage)
Robert Wright (Author)
(105)

Download: $11.84 (as of 04/08/2014 18:55 PST)

Organic

In his bestselling The Moral Animal, Robert Wright applied the principles of evolutionary biology to the study of the human mind. Now Wright attempts something even more ambitious: explaining the direction of evolution and human history–and discerning where history will lead us next.

In Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny, Wright asserts that, ever since the primordial ooze, life has followed a basic pattern. Organisms and human societies alike have grown more complex by mastering the challenges of internal cooperation. Wright's narrative ranges from fossilized bacteria to vampire bats, from stone-age villages to the World Trade Organization, uncovering such surprises as the benefits of barbarian hordes and the useful stability of feudalism. Here is history endowed with moral significance–a way of looking at our biological and cultural evolution that suggests, refreshingly, that human morality has improved over time, and that our instinct to discover meaning may itself serve a higher purpose. Insightful, witty, profound, Nonzero offers breathtaking implications for what we believe and how we adapt to technology's ongoing transformation of the world.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

• Rank: #26978 in eBooks
• Published on: 2001-04-us.html
• Released on: 2001-04-us.html
• Format: Kindle eBook

The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives

The Big Cats and Their Fossil Relatives
Mauricio Anton (Author), Alan Turner (Author), F. Clark. Howell (Foreword)
(27)

New!: $27.95 $22.24 (as of 04/05/2014 12:26 PST)
67 Used! | New! from $11.89 (as of 04/05/2014 12:26 PST)

Organic

In this beautifully illustrated natural history that links extinct larger feline species with those still in existence, collaborators Alan Turner and Mauricio Anton weave together the evidence of modern feline behavior with that of the fossil record. Turner's clear, insightful prose and Anton's masterly illustrations combine to offer specialists and newcomers alike an accurate and accessible guide to the evolution of cats.

• Rank: #254001 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .22" h x 3.98" w x 2.74" l, 1.09 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Cells, Embryos and Evolution

Cells, Embryos and Evolution
Jon Gerhart (Author), Marc Kirschner (Author)
(6)

34 Used! | New! from $2.53 (as of 04/03/2014 11:51 PST)

Organic

In Cells, Embryos and Evolution the authors' ambition is to continue what Charles Darwin began: to understand not only the influence of selection on evolution but also the capacity of an organism to generate heritable variation upon which selection can act. Drawing on the theories derived from molecular, cellular and developmental biology in the past 20 years, John Gerhart and Marc Kirschner have begun to explain the origins of phenotypic variation and evolutionary adaptation from within eukaryotic cell biological and developmental processes. This has required them to confront the following paradox: on the one hand, deep cellular and molecular conservation and the extraordinary stability of body plans of the major metazoan phyla; and on the other hand, the rapid diversification of the anatomy and physiology of organisms.

Cells, Embryos and Evolution is richly illustrated with examples drawn from modern palaeontology, developmental biology, and cell biology. It sets out to establish a coherent basis for evaluating the role of cellular and embryological mechanisms in evolutionary change.

• A ground-breaking text in the new subject of cellular evolution.
  
• Written by two extremely distinguished authors.
  
• Every cell biologist, molecular biologist and evolutionary biologist will want a copy of this book.

• Rank: #696118 in Books
• Published on: 1997-06-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.26" h x 7.81" w x 9.74" l, 2.76 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis

Evolution: A Theory in Crisis
Michael Denton (Author)
(87)

68 Used! | New! from $0.24 (as of 04/02/2014 14:49 PST)

Organic

Michael Denton is an Australian molecular biologist and medical doctor who has lived and worked in London, Toronto and Sydney, and who is best known for his biological research.

• Rank: #97577 in Books
• Published on: 1986-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 9.25" h x 6.25" w x 1.25" l,
• Binding: Hardcover
• 368 pages

Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design

Darwin's Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design
Stephen C. Meyer (Author)
(440)

New!: $28.99 $16.38 (as of 04/01/2014 18:38 PST)
86 Used! | New! from $13.46 (as of 04/01/2014 18:38 PST)

Organic

When Charles Darwin finished The Origin of Species, he thought that he had explained every clue, but one. Though his theory could explain many facts, Darwin knew that there was a significant event in the history of life that his theory did not explain. During this event, the “Cambrian explosion,” many animals suddenly appeared in the fossil record without apparent ancestors in earlier layers of rock.  

In Darwin’s Doubt, Stephen C. Meyer tells the story of the mystery surrounding this explosion of animal life—a mystery that has intensified, not only because the expected ancestors of these animals have not been found, but because scientists have learned more about what it takes to construct an animal. During the last half century, biologists have come to appreciate the central importance of biological information—stored in DNA and elsewhere in cells—to building animal forms.

Expanding on the compelling case he presented in his last book, Signature in the Cell, Meyer argues that the origin of this information, as well as other mysterious features of the Cambrian event, are best explained by intelligent design, rather than purely undirected evolutionary processes.

• Rank: #11421 in Books
• Published on: 2013-06-18
• Released on: 2013-06-18
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.59" h x 6.31" w x 9.25" l,
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages