Brilliant book. Easy to read and yet doesn't skimp on the science. I understand Evo Devo about 400% more than I did before reading it. ( )

Brilliant book. Easy to read and yet doesn't skimp on the science. I understand Evo Devo about 400% more than I did before reading it.

A very good primer on what Evo Devo ('evolutionary developmental biology' shortened) is and how it greatly adds to our understanding of how parts and pieces develop, relatedness, etc. Especially interesting after reading [b:Genome: the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters|4591|Genome the Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters|Matt Ridley|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362958533s/4591.jpg|1987129], seeing how science has progressed to looking at the changes in switches/expression rather than hunting for specific genes and assuming species developed them independently. ( )

The introduction here, and various summaries I've seen elsewhere, gave me all the content I wanted.  I skimmed the rest a bit, but nothing made me want to actually read it.  Besides which, it is actually already pretty old.

The writing was much too breathless, in a "gee, look at this butterfly wing!" sort of way. The science got buried in metaphorical cliche'. Writing for a lay audience is always going to be tricky and I think in this case Carroll aimed too low and ended up using too many words that don't say much.

For those interested in another way to approach learning about current evolution theory I strongly recommend checking out the Yale open course available for free online, "Principles of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior," taught by Stephen C. Stearns, who is as eloquent a storyteller as Sean B. Carroll but also illuminates this field in a more thorough way than Carroll's writing can, link here:

http://oyc.yale.edu/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/eeb-122 ( )