Overview

"The story of life's splendid drama has captivated generations of the general public, just as it has intrigued biologists, especially those who began to try to solve evolutionary puzzles in the years immediately after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859. Yet histories of the Darwinian revolution have paid far more attention to theoretical debates and have largely ignored the researchers who struggled to comprehend the deeper evolutionary significance of fossil bones and the structures of living animals. Peter J. Bowler recovers some of this lost history in Life's Splendid Drama, the definitive account of evolutionary morphology and its relationships with paleontology and bio-geography. ""Intriguing and insightful.""—William Kimler, American Scientist ""[A] volume of impressive scholarship and extensive references.""—Library Journal ""One of Bowler's best.""—Kevin Padian, Nature ""[Bowler's] comprehensive review of the various debates and ideas in taxonomy, morphology, and vertebrate evolution . . . deserves the attention of biologists and other scholars interested in the history of ideas.""—Choice ""The persistence of pre-Darwinian modes of thought in contemporary biology underlines the importance of Bowler's book. Its value is not only in the history it provides, but also in the way it illumines the present.""—Peter J. Causton, Boston Book Review"

Full Product Details

Author:   Peter J. Bowler
Publisher:   The University of Chicago Press
Imprint:   University of Chicago Press
Dimensions:   Width: 1.60cm , Height: 0.30cm , Length: 2.40cm
Weight:   0.907kg
ISBN:  

9780226069210

ISBN 10:   0226069214
Pages:   540
Publication Date:   15 November 1996
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Table of Contents

List of Figures Preface Table of Geological Periods and Eras 1: The First Evolutionary Biology A New Biology A Revolution in Science? Transforming Traditions The Professional Framework 2: The Tree of Life Relationships Redefined Form and Function Convergence and Parallelism Ontogeny and Phylogeny The Base of the Tree 3: Are the Arthropoda a Natural Group? The Problem of Arthropod Origins The Genealogy of the Crustacea Peripatus and the Origin of the Tracheata Limulus an Arachnid The Debate Widens The Fossil Record 4: Vertebrate Origins The Ascidian Theory The Annelid Theory The Arthropod Theories Nemertines and the Actinozoa Balanoglossus and the Echinoderms The Environmental Trigger Later Developments 5: From Fish to Amphibian The Origin of Fish The Fin Problem The Origin of the Amphibians From Water to Land 6: The Origin of Birds and Mammals From Reptile to Bird Taking to the Air Monotremes, Marsupials, and Mammals The Mammal-like Reptiles 7: Patterns in the Past Putting Things Together Adaptive Radiation Laws and Trends Rise and Fall Mass Extinctions 8: The Geography of Life Zoological Provinces Lost Worlds Northern Origins Southern Continents 9: The Metaphors of Evolutions Trees and Ladders The Biology of Imperialism? Phylogeny and Modern Darwinism Biographical Appendix Bibliography Index

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Author Information

Peter J. Bowler is professor emeritus of the history of science at Queen's University Belfast. He has written many books, including Darwin Deleted: Imagining a World Without Darwin, also published by the University of Chicago Press, and A History of the Future: Prophets of Progress from H. G. Wells to Isaac Asimov.

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