evolution

EVOLUTIONARY ANALYSIS (2nd ed) by Freeman and Herron hits the mark for an evolution text for the undergarduate student. It's not so thick that it's intimidating, but the contents cover the basics of evolutionary biology without being watered down.

The authors address topics of current interest (e.g., the evolution of HIV in Chapter 1) in drawing the student into the conversation about what evolution is, how it happens, and how you can demonstrate that it is happening.

Major sections of the book include the following:

1) An introduction to evolution: the HIV story, evidence for evolution, natural selection...

2) Mechanisms of evolutionary change: mutation, genetic drift, genetics, etc...

3) Adaptation: sexual selection, kin selection, social behavior, life history factors...

4) The History of Life: mechanisms of speciation, reconstructing evolutionary trees, origins and evolution of life through human evolution...

5) Current Research in Evolutionary Biology: development and evolution (a field that's really gaining momentum these days), molecular evolution, evolution and human health...

The authors touch all the important bases in this introductory text on evolution. The organization of material is logical, the tone is professional without being overbearing, there are many understandable examples, and the illustrations are excellent. Because of those factors, this new book appears to be a great text to teach from. There are wonderful reference texts out there about evolution, but most of them are not easy to teach or learn from. This book, however, helps students to learn, and provides ample material for instructors to use.

This is now my top choice for a textbook in evolution. This book is definitely worth 5 stars!

I hope this review was helpful to you.

Alan Holyoak, Dept of Biology, Manchester College, IN

The topic of evolutionary biology is a complex and fascinating subject. However, teaching evolution is a daunting task since one must balance being thorough vs. overwhelming the poor undergraduate. Although this book makes no qualms about being aimed at the undergraduate student, I think it is far too simplistic, which gives a poor impression of how evolutionary processes work (i.e., how infinitely complex they can be!). For example, adaptation has always been a hotly debated issue within evolutionary biology, but from reading this book the student does not gain even an inkling of insight into this rigorous debate. Furthermore, it leaves small things out that are essential, such as dividing by the Phenotypic SD when considering selection differentials. However, this book does consider new essential topics in evolution such as developmental constraints (i.e., HOX genes) in more than just mere passing. Also, the first chapter on the evolution of virulence via the HIV crisis is an interesting area often forgotten in even advanced evolutionary texts. Overall, though, I think this book would be greatly improved by being at least more thorough on the topics it does cover(which would allow it to become more of a reference than simply an undergraduate text). People can leave out the extra info or not, but it would be nice to have the option! Furthermore, I cannot honestly say I would currently recommend this book as is over the Ridley book, even to undergraduates. The Ridley book, I find, is still the best evolutionary text to date.

Evolutionary biology can be extremely tedious for undergraduate students if one insists on teaching the more arcane debates as Fisher versus Shifting Balance. That might be good for a second course for future professionals, but if one starts with such stuff, students will lose all the interest in evolution they came with.
Evolutionary Analysis is interesting, wel-informed and up to date, and is meant for general biologists. It cannot be used as a reference book for neo-darwinian debates, so the better.