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Evolution: the Whole Story, by Steve Parker, Dr. Alice Roberts
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Evolution: The Whole Story contains everything you need to know about the development and survival of life on Earth. Each chapter of this accessible and lavishly illustrated book takes a major living group and presents thematic essays discussing the evolution of particular subgroups as they appeared on Earth with reference to detailed comparative anatomy, evolutionary legacies, and the breakthrough theories of eminent scientists. Accompanying the essays are amazing photographic features that investigate the characteristics of individual organisms in detail: in some, remarkable fossils, assembled skeletons, and lifelike reconstructions are presented and analyzed; while in others, living species are depicted and compared in detail to their direct ancestors, creatures that may have lived millions of years ago.
- Sales Rank: #1846157 in Books
- Published on: 2015-08-31
- Original language: English
- Dimensions: 7.32" h x 1.81" w x 9.96" l, .84 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 576 pages
Review
(starred review) This accessible volume takes a pictorial look at all aspects of evolution, organizing the progression of species chronologically by group ("Earliest Life," "Plants," "Invertebrates," "Fish and Amphibians," "Reptiles," "Birds," and "Mammals"). Each section contains a narrative essay and historical time line of key events. The individual snapshot entries both show and describe the characteristics of individual organisms (such as Dunkleosteus, a four-ton, vampire-fanged fish) and how they are ancestors of or relatives to modern species. Each entry is a two-page spread, filled with color illustrations and photographs--more than 1,000 illustrations in all. There is also coverage of noted scientists as well as important places worldwide. In addition, numerous sidebars further elucidate topics of particular interest. The coverage here is exhaustive, but the writing is easy to follow, and the short-entry format makes for a very readable book. This is an important work and is
highly recommended for all types of libraries, where it will serve both general readers and students. (Rebecca Vnuk Booklist 2015-12-01)
(starred review) This book is a gorgeously illustrated and utterly fascinating history of the planet Earth and the millions of life forms that have called it home. Parker, a prolific science writer, synthesizes the most up-to-date knowledge of evolutionary science for educated general readers in this accessible, chronological guide. Evolution encompasses "the changes undergone by living things through time," and it is therefore the story of our world. Parker divides the book into seven chapters that cover eons, during which life very gradually evolved from primordial microbes into invertebrate creatures, plants, fish and amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Every single page contains full-colour images of fossils and living animals, as well as superb artistic renderings of long-extinct creatures great and small. Parker provides vital information on each species--sea floor--crawling trilobites, flesh-tearing terrestrial dinosaurs, ape-like early human ancestors, and
more--including scientific names, life cycles, habitats, taxonomic groups, and fossil records. Modestly priced for such a richly detailed hardcover, this book is the essential story of life on earth, and it belongs on the shelf of everyone who is interested in that story. (Publisher's Weekly 2015-10-01)
Editor Parker has assembled the work of 20 contributing scientists in "Evolution," an approachable and interesting 576 page study of life on Earth, now and then. Diagrams, photos, charts and text all add up to a fascinating study. (William Hageman Chicago Tribune 2016-01-28)
Monoplacophorans are not particularly showy, but they are part of Earth's evolutionary story. As might be expected in this colorful, well-laid out, methodical presentation of the history of life on this planet, monoplacophorans are there--even if one has never heard of them--along with Tiktaalik, spirobranchus, and of course, trilobites, dinosaurs, and people. This book gives readers a profound sense of time, a sense of awe at the great variety of life that has lived and is living on Earth, and an encyclopedic view of evolution that is unequalled. By replicating portions of the photographs as areas of special interest mentioned in the text and using regularly occurring, way-finding icons and inserts, the authors have created a sense of animation and of "being there" while the story is told. With 1,288 carefully selected photographs and illustrations, 123 time lines and phylogenies, a 94-entry glossary, an index of more then 1,600 entries, and 11 contributing authors, this book earns
its subtitle "the whole story." Highly recommended. All library collections. (G. C. Stevens Choice 2016-03-01)
Editors' Top 75 Community College Resources, Science and Technology (Choice 2016-03-01)
About the Author
Steve Parker gained a BSc Honors First Class in Zoology and is a Senior Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London. His passion for animals, plants, and life sciences such as ecology and ethology is reflected in the more than 300 books that he has written, contributed to, or acted as consultant for. They include The Encyclopedia of Sharks and as co-author Planet Ape, both published by Firefly Books.
Alice Roberts is a clinical anatomist and Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham. She has presented several BBC science series including The Incredible Human Journey, Origins of Us, Prehistoric Autopsy and Ice Age Giants. She writes a regular science column for The Observer, and has authored five popular science books.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Foreword
In 1860, a debate took place in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. The hall where this debate took place still exists, although it's now divided by a mezzanine floor into an upper "Huxley Room," and a lower "Wilberforce Room." The names of the rooms enshrine the main protagonists of that debate.
The debate followed a lecture by an American academic on the subject of evolution, and soon burgeoned into a full-blown confrontation between science and religion. The Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce, laid into the new theory of evolution through natural selection, expressing his doubts that species could change over time. Among the scientists in the room was Thomas Henry Huxley, who would become known as "Darwin's Bulldog." Wilberforce went on to challenge Huxley: on which side of his family did he claim descent from a monkey -- on his grandmother's side or his grandfather's?
There are different accounts of precisely how Huxley responded to Wilberforce's sarcastic enquiry. Here's Huxley's own recollection of his reply:
"If then, said I, the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs these faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion, I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape."
One commentator remembered perhaps what Huxley wished he'd said -- muttering first "The Lord hath delivered him into my hands," before delivering this decisive blow: "I would rather be the offspring of two apes than be a man and afraid to face the truth."
Whatever was actually said, Huxley's contribution to the debate has become legendary. I think that this is partly down to one of the enduring anxieties that evolution seems to provoke. We humans have always been keen to place ourselves on a pedestal, to emphasize the gulf between us and the rest of life on the planet. The concept of humans as a special creation, made by an intelligent designer, stands in direct opposition to the idea that we are a product of unthinking natural selection: that we have evolved, like every other species on the planet. The acceptance of the fact of evolution involves the acknowledgement that humans are animals. Huxley's open recognition of his humble pedigree showed that he was willing to accept this scientific truth -- even if it meant that he had to knock himself, and the rest of humanity, off a pedestal.
While humans are undoubtedly unusual animals, and unusual apes, it really is impossible to adhere to the idea of special creation if you look at the evidence around you. Our bodies and our genes are uncannily like those of other mammals, especially primates. And we now have a great fossil record of the ancestors of humans.
Five weeks before the famous debate in Oxford, Wilberforce had written a fairly damning review of Darwin's On the Origin of Species. He wrote about the lack of any fossil evidence to show one species gradually changing into another. To some extent, he was right. The fossil record in the mid-nineteenth century was patchy at best. Of course, there are still gaps -- it is, after all, very rare for a dead organism to become fossilized. But a huge wealth of fossil evidence has come to light since Darwin's time. For example, we now have good evidence of the transition from aquatic to terrestrial existence in early amphibians; of the ancestral whales who would eventually lose their hind legs entirely; of feathered dinosaurs who were ancestral to birds; and of hominins -- a whole family of apes who walked upright on two legs, including Homo sapiens.
These hominin fossils also show that human-ness didn't just suddenly appear. Features that we consider to be definitively, even uniquely, human, arrived in a piecemeal fashion, over vast expanses of time. And actually, it's only with hindsight that we can say that these features accumulated to a point where we can say "this is a human."
In fact, you can take any species you want and trace its evolutionary history in a similar way. And you find the same thing: a piecemeal accumulation of features until we end up with a species we're familiar with today. Tracing evolutionary histories like this also takes us back to common ancestors with other species, and indeed with whole groups of species, until we can reconstruct the huge, branching tree of life on the planet. Evolution, then, explains not just the appearance of individual species, including our own, but the entire diversity of life on Earth.
Evolution proceeds gradually, both in terms of genetic changes, and in the outward appearance of animals. But -- admittedly only with the benefit of hindsight -- it is possible to identify key points in evolutionary history which had huge implications for the way organisms continued to evolve. Such key moments include the appearance of the first eukaryotic cells, paving the way for the evolution of complex organisms; the evolution of animals which can survive out of water; and the appearance of flowering plants, together with the insects which evolved to pollinate them. In these pages, you can focus in on the characteristics of individual plants and animals -- but you can also pull back, to look at the wider picture, to place those species in context. There's a useful timeline guide to key events popping up just when you need it.
This book sets out to present the beautiful and awe-inspiring range of biodiversity, past and present. It's a fantastic guide to life on this planet, starting with the earliest hints of living creatures preserved in rocks, then looking at plants, and at major groups of animals. In this way, we learn about not only the adaptations we see in living species, but also how those adaptations arose. And we discover how each species -- including our own -- is connected with others: with past ancestors and living cousins. We're all tiny twigs on the great Tree of Life.
Alice Roberts
Anatomist and Physical Anthropologist, Writer, and Broadcaster
Bristol, UK
Most helpful customer reviews
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful.
A superbly written, beautifully illustrated overview of the history of life on Earth
By Michael Birman
As someone who did his graduate work in molecular biology and genetics, it still amazes me that more than a century and a half after Charles Darwin published his epochal Origin of Species, the foundation stone of scientific biology known as Evolution remains controversial in some quarters. Misinformation and sheer nonsense about what Darwin actually wrote in his great study of natural history is still routinely repeated so books like Evolution: The Whole Story have never been more timely or necessary. Evolution is a scientific fact as much as gravitation and electromagnetism are. Unfortunately, Evolution has profound religious implications, as Darwin well knew (he hesitated publishing his theory for many years, anticipating the resulting firestorm of controversy).
What distinguishes this absolutely superb overview of Evolution, the nature of the fossil record and the adaptive radiation of species through deep time, is the encyclopedic discussion in the text, which is carefully and skillfully coupled with beautiful and instructive illustrations. The text is extremely well-written and a model of clarity. The authors select each representative species for discussion based on evidence in the fossil record. Fossils, which are either free-standing or on site, are illustrated with photographs or drawings. The illustrations are beautifully executed and serve to create visual evidence for Evolution which helps to clarify and validate the text.
Every significant species that is important in an evolutionary sense is given a two page spread. The progression of species are organized chronologically by group, starting from the very earliest and barest hints of life, to plants, invertebrates, fish and amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Cladograms are especially important for illustrating relationships between each of the animal groups and their members and several are included in this book. Their function is to help crystallize the data contained in the fossil record and confirm its evolutionary significance. Geological charts and photographs serve to combine biology with geology in illustrating the powerful effect that the tectonic motion of the continents has had on the evolution of species over geological time periods. There are multiple timelines that plot evolutionary events as well as the most important relevant scientific discoveries.
There are more than 1000 images in all and they make this book a feast for the eyes. One criticism that others have mentioned is the relatively small sized type font used. I did not find the book difficult to read (and my vision is quite bad) but the type could have been larger. Of course, larger type would come at the significant expense of sacrificing reader comfort and ease of manipulation, The book is already textbook sized and slightly on the heavy side. I think that given the book's large amount of text, the editors did not want to extend its already hefty 600 pages, a decision I agree with. This is one of the finest discussions of Evolution for a lay audience I've ever come across. I wish I had such a superb discussion of the history of life on Earth available when I was studying biology years ago. If you're interested in this fascinating subject, Evolution: The Whole Story will serve to enlighten you as well as whet your appetite to learn even more. Most highly recommended.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful.
Every home should have this beautifully illustrated and enlightening book of essential knowledge
By AngeliqueA
Now that I'm retired, I've returned to my first love which is studying science. This book is an immense asset in that endeavor. Remembering the names of geological time periods, and the flora and fauna that lived during them has been challenging. Now I have visual images to help me order the information I am taking in through other sources. Not to mention the fact that this book in itself presents enough information to satisfy me for many months of study. And to remain a valued reference for years to come.
The quality in EVERY respect is absolutely the best. The photographs and drawings are excellent, the layout is logical and easy to follow, the text is always relevant and illuminating. There is sufficient information about the scientists who made the discoveries, the controversies that existed during their time, and the resolution of theoretical conflicts to give the student a feel for the progress of knowledge without overburdening the narrative. There are recurring themes that help hold together the stories. There is so much factual information about the stunning numbers of life forms and so many awe-inspiring photographs and drawings of the life forms themselves that my understanding of evolution is greatly enhanced.
I think this would be a great book to get for any student of evolution. In fact, it would make an excellent reference book for a family to keep beside the dictionary. As to the size of the text, it presented no problem for me. I am 67 years old, with all the vision impairments that come with age. I found that the relatively small type font did not require any increase in my reading glass prescription. For my own purposes, the slightly more compact book that resulted is much preferable to a "coffee table book" which would have been unnecessarily large. This way, I am able to use "Evolution: The Whole Story" as a supplemental text and visual aid as I read from other, denser, text-heavy works.
I highly recommend this excellent volume to all individuals and families. It should become a much loved reference book in many homes!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
A solid contribution to popular knowledge about the science of evolution.
By Steve R
This is an excellent reference work, especially for students and interested adults. The subtitle "the whole story" is of course somewhat overstated, because no one work can encompass the entirety of evolutionary theory, especially as the theory itself is not, like all of science, static. New discoveries are made, tweaks and revisions are proposed, etc. As the authors themselves state, "The scientific study of evolution is ever changing, like its subject" (p.19).
"The whole story" is also something of a misnomer, as this is not a narrative but something more like a catalog. Each section (there are seven) contains roughly 2-4 page descriptions of representative species along the evolutionary timeline (e.g., Psittacosaurus, Stegoceras, Triceratops, etc.).
The seven sections are as follows:
1. Earliest Life
2. Plants
3. Invertebrates
4. Fish and Amphibians
5. Reptiles
6. Birds
7. Mammals
It is a beautiful book, well designed. Full of color photographs, illustrations, timelines, figures, etc. Printed on thick glossy paper and hardbound, it will not only survive heavy use but look good on your desk or shelf.
A solid contribution to popular knowledge about the science of evolution.
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