The Crucible of Creation: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals

Morris, one of two contemporary specialists on the Burgess Shale, has produced an exceedingly well-written survey of the Burgess shale fauna and their meaning for evolutionary biology. The book is loaded with scores of B/W photos, 4 color drawings, a 13-page glossary of terms for the uninitiated, an imaginative underwater excursis with time-travelling paleontologists to the middle Cambrian, and a chapter on developmental evolutionary genetics (wherein he argues that many Burgess forms *are* related to contemporary forms). Stephen Jay Gould's view of the significance of the Burgess Shale is that the bizarre life-forms seen then demonstrate the historical contingency of evolution--rewind the tape and let it play out again, and things would turn out differently (a la Jimmy Stewart's "Wonderful Life"). Morris's thesis is that Gould's tape-player metaphor is misleading, overemphasizing contingency at the cost of ignoring the powerful role played by ecology . One need only consider the evolution of convergent traits in insular life-forms (e.g., Australian marsupial cat-like predators) to get the point. (I should point out that I am suspicious of monolithic theories from either pole of the necessity-chance spectrum.) I find it unfortunate that Gould never discussed Bradley Efron's Bootstrap, a technique used widely in evolutionary and population genetics, or cellular automata, a la Stuart Kauffman, which give rise to the same recurrent patterns with astonishing regularity.) Morris is an adaptationist senstive to the power of ecology to shape evolution, who sees Burgess forms not as deviant freaks that accidentally went extinct but as ancestral to contemporary animals. As usual, there is likely to be truth to both positions; indeed, in some ways, their different views turn on different understandings of probability. For anyone with more than a passing interest in evolutionary biology and paleontology, who finds Gould's incessant digressions distracting, or wonders about the hypertrophy of contingency, this book should not be missed.

I think some of the reviews make far too much about the author's comments about Stephen Jay Gould. That these two disagree about certain things is just fine with me and if it gets a little personal at times, so what? Consider that just a little spice in the dish. What is wonderful about this book is its concise expression of ideas and concepts and its use of apt illustrations to help us understand the points it makes. Simon Conway Morris obviously cares very deeply about the subject of the book and his skillful writing helps us catch some of that fervor. Whether you end up believe Dr Gould or Dr Conway Morris or make up some other conclusion isn't really the point. You will be better off having read this book (as well as Gould and other authors). This book is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the implications of the Burgess Shale and what we believe we are learning from it and other sites. There are many valuable concepts discussed in this book and valuable references to other reading so you can take your investigations as deep as you care to go. If you read this book I believe you will enjoy it and learn from it.

This is a book you would expect from an Englishman: lucid, logical, and insightful. For the interested, it isn't all that difficult to read. Actually, it's fun compared to S. J. Gould's excellent, but far more difficult, Wonderful Life.Conway Morris is also very persuasive in how much prominence "contingency" (randomness) in biological evolution deserves. Against Gould, Conway Morris finds it unremarkable and discusses how evolution by natural selection is more coherent and predictable than Gould would have one believe. CM also shows that the facts just do not support Gould's contention that anatomic forms are more impoverished today compared to the welter of body forms that appeared during the Cambrian Explosion.In sum, this is a fun, well-written book for the lay crowd that enjoys palentology, the Paleozoic Era, and a glimpse at the issues debated in the academic arena.

Readers have a choice to consider here; attend a senior evolutionary biology course, or spend an intense bit of time studying Conway Morris' glossary introducing this book. Either way, press on to the text, rich rewards await your persistence. Conway Morris offers a memorable account of assessing the fossil evidence of one of biology's more striking finds. The Burgess Shale's disclosure of fossilized soft-bodied creatures is a captivating story, one which was not, contrary to the views of many, fully resolved by Stephen Gould's account.So much attention has been given to the grandeur of the dinosaurs, other eras of importance in life's pageant have too often been overlooked. The Cambrian era described so vividly by Conway Morris was a time when evolution's processes were already well under way. His account, partially supporting Walcott's original descriptions, is based on hard, reflective investigation and reassessment of the fossil evidence. Using techniques unavailable in Walcott's day, Conway Morris and his colleagues delicately pieced together a new picture of how the Cambrian life forms looked and how they must have lived. His imaginative use of 'time travel' to depict these creatures is a fine innovation in reporting science. He's to be commended for stimulating thinking about evidence.While Conway Morris doesn't write with Gould's more florid style, his presentation has presented us with a much more valuable account. Gould spends too much time disparaging Walcott's lack of effort in analyzing the shale. Gould's advocacy of 'contingency' as an evolutionary mechanism supporting his misleading 'punctuated equilibrium' thesis is rightly assaulted by Conway Morris. Conway Morris, by focussing on strong scientific work, demonstrates that flighty contentions cannot replace solid scientific analysis. He provides the reader with a stirring account of the research leading to the reassessment achieved by his team. The result is a solid, highly readable account of the Burgess finds. This book is a fine replacement for the only work we've had available on this topic.

Having read and loved Professor Gould's book, Wonderful Life, I have always wanted to read and learn more about the Cambrian fauna.This book was just what I was looking for. It provides information about other organisms from other Cambrian fossil localities and ties these into the Burgess Shale story. I appreciate the way Conway-Morris brings the organisms to life in his time-travel scenario. And the photographs of the fossils are beautiful! Obviously a great deal of care went into taking these unretouched photos. His disagreements with Gould are also illuminating and add depth to the book, providing another way of looking at these organisms. Conway-Morris's account of how Wiwaxia and the halkieriids tie together the Annelids, the Mollusca and the Brachiopods is particularly fascinating.