Vertebrate Palaeontology: Biology and Evolution

This book provides a readable, self-contained, description of the evolution of vertebrates. I think it's a great book. The main purpose of the opening two chapters is to provide background material for the rest of the book. The first shows how vertebrates fit into the tree of life. Enough embryology is presented to define deutrostomes. The only phylum considered in any detail is, not surprisingly, chordata. Some other phyla are described, but this is done mainly to show how they relate to chordates. This chapter is brief but lucid. The following chapter presents material on fossil excavation, cladistics and the fossil record. After this introductory material the book progresses to its main topic. The approach is roughly chronological. As usual the focus is, for the most part, on the animals that were dominat in that time. For instance amphibians aren't considered after rise of amniotes and reptiles aren't considered after the Mesozoic. The first topic covered is fish from the Paleozoic, at least through the Devonian period. The material is pretty much what one would expect: jawless fish, the origin of jaws, armour-plated fish, early sharks, bony fish, lung fish and a mass extinction of fish that occurred in the late Devonian. There is a chapter later in the book that covers fish evolution from the end of the Paleozoic. It treats the evolution of sharks and bony fish in more detail. An outline of the remaining content is: amphibians, early amniotes (my favorite chapter covering synapsids/diapsids/anapsids), dinosaurs and reptiles from the Mesozoic, birds, mammals and finally a chapter on human evolution. Each chapter begins with a list of "key questions" that will be addressed. This was useful both in providing a preview of the material to come and in providing a review of what was covered. The coverage in each chapter went along the lines of describing important genera, descriptions of how the various species made their way in the world, cladograms (of varying granularity), anatomical diagrams, photos of fossils and descriptions of important finds. One very nice feature is that some important concepts were explained in great detail, like the digits that birds have lost or how reptilian jaw bones evolved into important parts of the mammalian inner ear. Another nice feature is that the author makes it clear where there are controversies among paleontologists and explain where the weight of the evidence leads. Aside from the main text some other good aspects of the book are that if gives lots of references (including some available on-line), the bibliography references a lot of good books and there is an appendix that gives a reasonably detailed classification of the vertebrates. The book covers quite a lot of material in a surprisingly small number of pages, slightly less than 400 pages in the main text. I think more than enough background material is included in the book for non-specialists. However prior exposure to natural selection woul

"Vertebrate Palaeontology" written by Michael J. Benton is a chronological narritive wriiten like a college text book about the subject of vertebrate palaenolology. There are a few diversions into related current subject matter throughout the text making for some interesting reading but the focus of the book is how the vertebrate palaeontologists obtain their information. I found the book to be very informative and rather detailed in scope and breath in some areas where there is a lot of information on the subject and and rather enlightening in areas where there is less information. "Verterbrate Palaeontology" is designed for palaeontology courses in college given by either the biology, geology, or palaeontology departments within the university setting, but if you are an enthusiast you can still benefit from reading this book, and experience the "how" in how information is processed in a research setting. "Vertebrate Palaeontology" is about the evolution of the vertebrate... that is, it is about all of the historical animals that have existed prior to man's evolution and about human evolution itself. The book makes for a fascinating read and I found that it is very logical in its progression and the information that the book imparts is quite valuable in its very nature as to how animals evolved as they did and for what purpose. Like I've said, this book is not for the novice or a young reader, but for those that truly need to read about more detailed and structured information as to why things are as they are and happened for a particular reason. Reading "Vertebrate Palaeontogy" will give the reader a structured and discplined reading as to approaching the information at hand and you'll better understand the adaptations required for the move on to land and the relationships of the early amphibians and reptiles... orgins and biology of the dinosaurs and the role that extinction plays in the whole of evolution. Reading "Vertebrate Palaeontology" will train your mind in a logical train of thinking and gives the reader a leg up on what is found and how to interpret any evidence found and the approach to which and how to handle this information in a logical manner. I gave "Vertebrate Palaeontology" a solid 5 stars for the reasons above and that there is a wealth of information contained within its pages that will definitely give you a more enlightened view of life on earth. The reading of "Vertebrate Palaeontology" will in some areas be very taxing and others the read is absolutely enlightening... this book is written for the specialist in mind. "Vertebrate Palaeontology" has plenty of illustrations and the book has an extensive bibliography and has the works of others in this field properly footnoted for further exploration into the topic.

Benton manages to write a thorough text on various vertebrate groups and their evolutionary trends, mentioning specific important species and basic morphology without making the book as dry as a bone. As one can always state about books that are overviews, one could wish for more thorough coverage of personal groups of interest, but as an overview, this is a great book. The diagrams and phylogenetic charts are very helpful, and the case studies that are provided in offset boxes are very interesting. One major complaint about the book is the number of typos and mislabeled diagrams...it can become rather confusing. I have taken a pen to the book and with careful reading, re-reading and cross referencing, have corrected the errors in my own copy to save me the brain strain...but on the whole, this book does what one would want from it.