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Sto caricando le informazioni... Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England (2009)di Steve Jones
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Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro. I put off reading this for ages, after picking it up from a remainders shop. I've read so many popular biology books, what would I learn? But I should have known better - Steve Jones is always an engaging and entertaining author. This is no repeat of his earlier books, though it echoes "Almost Like a Whale" . It's about Darwin's other works, after his return from the Beagle and before the Origin of Species. Why did Darwin write about orchid, worms, barnacles and so on? Very good reasons, as it turns out. Jones' explanation is clear and approachable, and as with his other works on Darwin, he brings us up to date with modern related developments. Fascinating stuff. The author goes through the books by Darwin other than Origin and develops Darwin's work with recent knowledge. Very interesting facts and conclusions about past, present and future of genes and genetics, evolution and science on evolution, mankind, Earth. The author also wants us to understand that science not only the result of bright minds but also of hard work and testing facts.The book is dedicated to those who are already interested in these topics. nessuna recensione | aggiungi una recensione
Premi e riconoscimenti
Charles Darwin is of course best known for The Voyage of the Beagle and The Origin of Species. But he produced many other books over his long career, exploring specific aspects of the theory of evolution by natural selection in greater depth. The eminent evolutionary biologist Steve Jones uses these lesser-known works as springboards to examine how their essential ideas have generated whole fields of modern biology. Earthworms helped found modern soil science, Expression of the Emotions helped found comparative psychology, and Self-Fertilization and Forms of Flowers were important early works on the origin of sex. Through this delightful introduction to Darwin's oeuvre, one begins to see Darwin's role in biology as resembling Einstein's in physics: he didn't have one brilliant idea but many and in fact made some seminal contribution to practically every field of evolutionary study. Though these lesser-known works may seem disconnected, Jones points out that they all share a common theme: the power of small means over time to produce gigantic ends. Called a "world of wonders" by the Timesof London, The Darwin Archipelago will expand any reader's view of Darwin's genius and will demonstrate how all of biology, like life itself, descends from a common ancestor. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni... GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)570.92Natural sciences and mathematics Life Sciences, Biology Life Sciences History, geographic treatment, biography BiologistsClassificazione LCVotoMedia:
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An interesting book by geneticist Steve Jones. It's the fourth in a series about Darwin, reflecting his interests and updating them to the present day (which I think is about 2005); I haven't read the others, so I was missing some of the context. However, Darwin's thoughts on worms, barnacles, insects, insectivore plants, sexual selection and our facial expressions are interesting in themselves, and Jones' updating to current research is also pretty fascinating. I felt however that it lacked an overarching structure; the book is fairly granular, each chapter taking one (or more) of Darwin's publications on a particular subject, and linked to the others only in that Darwin cared about the topic. The title is provocative, making the point that the island that really mattered to Darwin was not one of the Galapagos archipelago but the one he was born, married and died on; but we don't get any corresponding exploration of Darwin's Englishness or Britishness. (I'd love to know where he stood on Irish issues, for instance.) It's also just a little out of date - Jones proclaims firmly that modern humans have no Neanderthal DNA, a view that was overturned in 2005. However, the writing is good and engaging, and I might look out for some of the earlier books in this series. ( )