Evolution

Usually my preference runs to chemistry and anything to do with biochemistry. I hate biology and think it's the most boring science but this book is awesome. The best part is, the short, really short chapters so it doesnt bore you. Also the topics covered are super interesting. I will cherish it.

Strickberger is famous in the genetical studies of Drosophila and his works primarily focus on phylogenetics and traditional genetic data interpretation. In lieu of his speciality he has done a remarkable job composing this book as it makes a smooth, gradual transition from traditional evolutionary biology covering topics such as the endosymbiont theory, chemosynthetic origins of life, various theories of life and its formation to Linnean and Cladistic (anatomical and physiological classification) and finally into the real world with modern day molecular clock concepts and phylogenetic analysis. Our focus in Biology 114 were all of these and the book was a fountain of knowledge in these regards. The field of study is generally boring, and I myself found this genre of biology to be more along the lines of some history class than a science subject. On consideration of my negative bias of this whole topic, I still found this book to be remarkable. It had made a subject which I was not fond of (I didnt hate it but I didnt like it either) and made is refreshing. Strickberger's conversational style of writing and simplicity should by dually noted, the guy has a sense of humour what will make an individual crack up whilst reading his book. He is also highly informative and his explanations are not lost when reading as he joins ideas so coherently that it is hard to find gaps in the concepts he presents. This is by the way a book that ranges from explaining the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology, creationism vs evolution and how DNA fits in with respect to the three major biological domains. The subject of Eukarya, Prokarya and Archia is discussed very well, a lot of focus is placed on the Eukaryotic paradigm of evolution since it is much more simpler to explain concepts with examples that an individual can associate with. So unless you have a microbiology PhD or are microscopic yourself it is safe to say that Eukarya is most ideal :) Strickberger has some philosophical differences to myself however I have learnt a significant amount from his text and found it useful in my further studies of Genetics at 200 (sophomore or second year) levels. How he explains electrophoresis is better than most analytical genetics textbooks, and this all packed in one cute package. The bottom of the pages have this interesting lizard animation that when you flick the pages you see it move and eat a fly. I found that entertaining for the whole semester lol.

This is a superb textbook. Where it surpasses the most widely known textbook in the field (Futuyma)is in its detailed listing of original source material after every chapter. This makes it an excellent springboard into serious background study for virtually any aspect of evolution or the topics surrounding evolution.

I used the second edition of this book and have not had a chance to view the third, but it no doubt is an excellent and comprehensive overview of the theory of evolution, just as in the second. In the edition I used, there are many fine diagrams illustrating the main points and also exercises at the end of each chapter to reinforce the concepts presented. Space probibits a detailed review so I will list only the areas in the book that I found exceptionally well-written: 1. The philosophical and religious issues in evolution theory. 2. The history of biology before Darwin. 3. The comparison between the pangenesis and germ plasm theories in the formation of a human. 4. The table on the comparison of views on variation and heredity. 5. The clarification by the author that evolution is primarily a historical process, and not arising by a lucky combination of events. 6. The general scheme of protein synthesis in Escherchia coli. 7. The schematic diagram outlining the mutual dependence of information carried by nucleotide sequences and function governed by proteins. 8. The dicussion on the "RNA world". 9. The universality of the genetic code. 10. The evolution of the genetic code. 11. The discussion on exceptions to Mendelism. 12. The highly interesting discussion on the evolution of sex-determining systems. 13. The discussion on sickle cell mutation. 14. Evolutionary solutions to problems of locomotion. 15. The evolution of the human brain. 15. Conservation of gene frequencies and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. 16. The treatment of adaptive landscapes showing adaptive heights of different possible genotypes.

"Evolution" covers all of the possible topics with completion and accuracy. The work is made accessible to any reader through wide use of graphics to illustrate key concepts.The book is divided into four parts, each dealing with a different facet of evolutionary science: "The Organic Framework" concerns with the evolution of each of the five kingdoms of organisms; "The Psysical and Chemical Framework" focuses on the cellular level, dealing with the common chemical background and mechanisms of living creatures; "The Historical Framework" discusses the events leading up to Darwin's concept of evolution and further into our time; and, finally, "The Mechanisms", which reveals the workings of evolution on small-scale levels, such as gene frequencies and populations. Each of the book's chapters is further supported by an accompinying web site.