Jan 20, 2008
Evolution by Natural Selection Defended
"If you want to understand the evolutionary history of man and other animals, and read no other account this year, read this splendid monograph. And if you subscribe to 'creationist' tendencies, read it also and repent your sorry ways."
So begins Alan Cane's enthusiastic review of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (New York: Pantheon; London: Allen Lane, 2008).
"Shubin's book is packed with the evidence to support his contention that everything innovative or apparently unique in the history of life 'is really just old stuff that has been recycled, recombined, repurposed or otherwise modified for new uses'. It's not a new notion, but rarely has it been expressed so clearly and with such good humour."
So begins Alan Cane's enthusiastic review of Neil Shubin's Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body (New York: Pantheon; London: Allen Lane, 2008).
"Shubin's book is packed with the evidence to support his contention that everything innovative or apparently unique in the history of life 'is really just old stuff that has been recycled, recombined, repurposed or otherwise modified for new uses'. It's not a new notion, but rarely has it been expressed so clearly and with such good humour."