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Binding: PaperbackDewey Decimal Number: 571 EAN: 9780393327793 ISBN: 0393327795 Label: W. W. Norton Manufacturer: W. W. Norton Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 368 Publication Date: April 17, 2006 Publisher: W. W. Norton Studio: W. W. Norton Editorial Review: Amazon.com Review: "Every animal form is the product of two processes--development from an egg and evolution from its ancestors," writes Sean B. Carroll in his introduction to Endless Forms Most Beautiful. The new science of "evo devo"--or evolutionary developmental biology--examines the relationships between those two processes, embryonic development and evolutionary changes, despite their radically different time scales. Carroll first offers a recap of how genes express themselves in a growing embryo, then peers into the life histories of real-life examples to explain how those genes have changed (or not changed) over millions of years of evolution. Paraphrasing Thomas Huxley, he asks us to consider evolution and development as two sides of the same coin. We may marvel at the process of an egg becoming an adult, but we accept it as an everyday fact. It is merely then a lack of imagination to fail to grasp how changes in this process that assimilated over long periods of time, far longer than the span of human experience, shape life's diversity."The book's second half is where Carroll really gets at the meat of evo devo, explaining how regulatory genes control such mysteries as individual and population changes in butterfly's spots, jaguar fur, and hominid skulls. Evo devo is one of the hottest areas of study in 21st-century biology, and Carroll's outline of the field is a great place to start understanding it. --Therese Littleton Product Description: "A beautiful and very important book."—Lewis Wolpert, American Scientist For over a century, opening the black box of embryonic development was the holy grail of biology. Evo Devo—Evolutionary Developmental Biology—is the new science that has finally cracked open the box. Within the pages of his rich and riveting book, Sean B. Carroll explains how we are discovering that complex life is ironically much simpler than anyone ever expected. Perhaps the most surprising finding of Evo Devo is the discovery that a small number of primitive genes led to the formation of fundamental organs and appendages in all animal forms. The gene that causes humans to form arms and legs is the same gene that causes birds and insects to form wings, and fish to form fins; similarly, one ancient gene has led to the creation of eyes across the animal kingdom. Changes in the way this ancient tool kit of genes is used have created all the diversity that surrounds us. Sean Carroll is the ideal author to lead the curious on this intellectual adventure—he is the acknowledged leader of the field, and his seminal discoveries have been featured in Time and The New York Times. 16 pages of color and 100 black-and-white illustrations. Average Rating:
 Rating:  - Sean Carroll has done it againThis is a fantastic read; informative, yet laid-back enough to make it easy to digest. Carroll has a way of integrating just enough humor to keep you interested, without going overboard. If you're super science-savvy, you may be a bit bored in a few places where he goes over the basics of DNA structure, etc., but the fact that he starts at the bottom makes his books suitable for a much broader audience. If you want a good popular-science style read, this is your book. Rating:  - Parsimony of Nature in Action -- As Darwin StatedWith all of the general intros into contemporary genetics and significance of mutant changes, it is sometimes difficult to obtain a book that has a specific hook incorporating a really unique theme. But with this book, we have the wonder of over 150 years since evolution was posited and Darwin is still teaching us new and wonderful things in the guise of evolutionary development. In this book the new science of evolutionary development biology is explained as one of the core understandings ... Read More Rating: - Super info - ok writingThis book is so full of interesting, amazing information - but the writing is very, very dry. I loved "Your Inner Fish" which overlaps the content of this book, but is much more engaging. Rating:  - Interesting readingThis is an interesting take on evo-devo. I'd recommend it for the popular science reader (its stays in pretty shallow waters scientifically). Rating: - The "Butterfly Effect" in the genesThe best feature of this book is the fantastic sense of the complexity of the development of the organism from the genes. Sean shows with genius how the tiniest changes in a gene can lead to huge effects in the developing organism -- much like in Chaos theory (see the book "Chaos: making a new science" for example)in mathematics where complex systems are affected by the tiniest influences (i.e., a puff of air from a butterfly's wings) which can be magnified to change the entire face of a complex multi-determined ... Read More |
