Genetic Variations of Drosophila Melanogaster

Rating:
Summary: The very well read red book
Review: Continuing in the towering tradition of Calvin Bridges, Dr. Lindsley's turgid prose lays bare the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. His steamy descriptions had me turning pages late into the night. The inclusion of mutant ranks especially pleasured me. I found the Rank 1's to be the most arousing, and in a utilitarian sense, the most useful. The passages dealing with the exchanges that occur between the inverted forms were intriguing but pushed the boundaries of good taste. Compounds were simply beyond my wildest imaginings. Little did I realize how big they could get. Even though I bought it for the stories, I enjoyed the pictures, especially the foldouts. One shouldn't miss sensuous tales of brown-spotted. Although the book comes with a bright red cover, it's shipped in a discreet plain brown wrapper. Highly recommended! I can't wait to read the sequel. I understand they go into much more detail.

Rating:
Summary: Memories of Dan and Ed???????
Review: Dr. Wise worries that Professor Park's rather off-beat review is "simply disrespectful of the memory of these scientists". That is a rather odd concern, given that both Dan Lindsley and Ed Grell are very much ALIVE. Instead of worrying about the form in which Dr. Park posed his praise, it might be worth realizing that, some forty years after it's publication, people still care about this book!

Rating:
Summary: Mixed
Review: I bought the book based on the reviews, and had a mixed reaction. The writing was tedious and redundant - very much formulaic. The illustrations were not helpful, and many were, frankly, very similar to each other. "Curled" and "Curly" seem a difference in perspective, rather than a substantial difference in shape. The picture on page 433 was of questionable taste. "Location: 4-" was underrepresented, and I fear that this might reflect some undercurrent of professional dislike between the authors and this location. On a brighter side, the l(3) section was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise plodding morass of l(1), l(2), and l(4). "tufts" had me laughing out-loud, but such pithy writing was rare. I enjoyed the two-column format that pervaded the book, and would buy the next book in the series on that merit alone.

Rating:
Summary: Mixed
Review: I bought the book based on the reviews, and had a mixed reaction. The writing was tedious and redundant - very much formulaic. The illustrations were not helpful, and many were, frankly, very similar to each other. "Curled" and "Curly" seem a difference in perspective, rather than a substantial difference in shape. The picture on page 433 was of questionable taste. "Location: 4-" was underrepresented, and I fear that this might reflect some undercurrent of professional dislike between the authors and this location. On a brighter side, the l(3) section was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise plodding morass of l(1), l(2), and l(4). "tufts" had me laughing out-loud, but such pithy writing was rare. I enjoyed the two-column format that pervaded the book, and would buy the next book in the series on that merit alone.

Rating:
Summary: thank you mr park!
Review: I loved this book. I think that Frank Park is right on the money, and shake his hand for his brave and honest review. I could read the book over and over again (and that's mainly what I do these days, having a lot of spare time on my hands) and never get bored. My favorite section was "Nonchromosomal Inheritance": it really blew my mind.

Rating:
Summary: Simply Scandalous!
Review: I was outraged by this book. By the time I got to the entry "humpy", I should have realized this book was not for me. I had to put the book down, my hands were shaking so badly. I am still in shock over all the countless references to (I can hardly bare to even write the words): sex-linkage! In addition to being scandalous, the book was not even helpful. I plunked down a lot of money for this book, and most of it was just a bunch of descriptions. For instance the section entitled "Deficiencies": all descriptive, without one word about what to DO about all those deficiences. The section "Departures from Diploidy", while having a fetchy alliterative title, suffered the same problem. The only thing I liked about this book was its pretty red cover.

Rating:
Summary: reply to salacious review
Review: The work by Lindsley and Grell is a milestone for drosophila genetics. All serious geneticists know this book and admire and respect the accomplishment it represents. While Mr. Frank's review is doubtless intended to be funny, it is not. It is simply disrespectful of the memory of these scientists. By the way, Lindsley and Grell is STILL the best source for information about mutations in drosphila.