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Rating: 
Summary: Even more remarkable than he says
Review:
On June 30, 1908, a remarkable event occurred in remote Siberia. A 60 meter diameter meteor exploded over the Tunguska River with an estimated force of 30 million tons of TNT, wasting an area the size of Belgium. Had the object entered the atmosphere a couple of hours later, St Petersburg and Stockholm would have been vaporized and recent history would probably have taken a course different than it did.
The Tunguska event is one of many remarkable things unmentioned in Larson's reader-friendly narrative. Omissions are unavoidable when 250 years of science history are compressed into 286 pages of text. The author might have acknowledged this circumstance and declared the objectives that guided his selection. Alas, he elected not to take readers into his workshop, but his inclusions and omissions fall into patterns indicative of his intention. Let's start with Tunguska.
It occurred at a timely moment-the year before evolution mandarins assembled to celebrate the jubilee of On the Origin of Species. These gentlemen (not a female scientist in sight) surveyed the progress of theory and discovery, congratulated themselves on their achievements, and papered over the profound conflicts among themselves with hymns to the Great Man. No mention of Tunguska. Some presenter-physicist Sir George Darwin comes to mind-might have used the event to reopen the case for catastrophism that for the Church of Darwin was heresy. The paper would have noted that the possibility of cometary and asteroid collisions had been recognized since Newton. Five hundred asteroids and many comets were known by 1900. Their orbits could not be exactly predicted, so one did not know how many earth-crossing loose rocks were out there. The few known impact craters would be discussed and the discarded evidence for catastrophes and mass extinctions revived and reassessed. However, this heresy had to wait another 71 years, when Nobel physicist Luis Alvarez proposed a K-T boundary impact that obliterated dinosaurs and much else. All hell broke loose; conditions remained turbulent for the two decades as geologists and evolutionists struggled to save their doctrines, Uniformitarian geology and Gradualist evolution, from the collateral damage of scientific progress. Larson by-passes this theory-defining controversy, but it comes up indirectly in his discussion of the Gould-Eldredge punctuated equilibrium (PE) model of the fossil record. PE replaces postulated continuous gradual evolutionary change by observed long periods of stasis, followed by rapid evolution of new species and higher taxa. Gradualism is incompatible with stasis because it postulates continuous change that isn't in the fossil record. Gradualism explains away sudden emergence of new species and higher taxa by pleading that the evidence of transitional species hasn't been preserved. Catastrophe-induced mass extinctions refute Gradualism by disproving its claim that extinctions are due solely to the `struggle for existence' (which is why Darwin and his successors loathed catastrophe theory). Stasis refutes Gradualism by showing that competitive struggle does not of itself induce adaptive change. (This fact was often pointed out to Darwin. The converse-species defining differences that have no adaptive function-was also pointed out to him. Larson passes these interesting points by). How does Larson handle this conflict about the fundamentals of evolutionary theory? As I've indicated, he's silent about the demise of sacred Uniformitarianism and its replacement by modern catastrophism based on planetary science, geophysics, and paleoclimatology: planet Earth's place in the cosmos isn't quite the benign Mother Earth assumed by optimistic Victorian geologists. The silence enables Larson to demote PE from an alternative non-Darwinian paradigm to a dispute among paleontologists that leaves Neo-Darwinism in tack. Finally, the author insinuates that PE can be equated with S J Gould and then polishes off both by quoting Maynard Smith's poison barb that Gould is `so confused as to be hardly worth bothering about'. That put-down is the essence of the furious responses of the faithful to up-starts who question Neo-Darwinism. Larson doesn't contrast it with the vast outpouring of eulogies to Gould on his demise. Nor does he reflect on the meaning of this schism in the science consensus for the laity, especially students. This is an opportunity missed, for he devotes a chapter to culture wars incident to the Creationist assault on evolution teaching in secondary schools. The tone of that chapter is set by his statement in its opening paragraph that `scientists [in 1959 were] all but agreed on how evolution operated'. In 1959, yes. But not any more.
Larson's book is yet another postponement of recognition that Neo-Darwinism is well past its use-by date. Perhaps in the second edition he will pause to consider the most remarkable thing of all: the belief that a theory of organic development devised by a couple of naturalists 150 years ago could possibly survive the stupendous advance of knowledge since that time. For this one needs a powerful will to believe. Larson appropriately dedicates his book to Ernst Mayr, whose life-long Darwin worship is second to none. Teachers who share Mayr's faith will find Larson's narrative to be a wholesome guide for their students through a very troubled terrain.
Rating:
Summary: Good for Adding Historical Context
Review: This book does a good job at placing evolution by natural selection into its historical context as an idea. I enjoyed seeing the comparison of Darwin's ideas with the competing ideas of scientists of his time. The historical approach makes it clear why Darwin's ideas have been so successful: they have plenty of predictive power. This book makes clear that the central problem with creationist theories is precisely their lack of predictive power. In Darwin's time creationists could still claim to be reputable scientists. Unfortunately, the creationist hypotheses, such as that species could not go extinct, turned out to be wrong. In our time, it's easy to say that God created something, but what does that explain about why plants or animals are the way they are? Not much.
This book is for the college-level reader; it can be technical and a little slow-paced in places.
Rating: 
Summary: A Litte of Everything
Review: Edward J. Larson manages to pack this little book. The author goes beyond the usual small format of the Modern Library Chronicles series only a little in terms of page number but seems to cram much more information in than the readers of this dazzling series usually encounter. And the joy is that he does it so effortlessly, with scientific jargonize only sneaking in near the very end. The concept of evolution is covered from Cuvier in the Napoleonic era through Darwin and onto the modern 21st culture wars in America. Everything important is touched on in a manner that makes it relevant, understandable, and interesting, and the story flows quickly and intelligently. It is one of the better volumes of the series making the best use of the space allowed in order to introduce important historical ideas and events to the general reader. A highly recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: A Litte of Everything
Review: Edward J. Larson manages to pack this little book. The author goes beyond the usual small format of the Modern Library Chronicles series only a little in terms of page number but seems to cram much more information in than the readers of this dazzling series usually encounter. And the joy is that he does it so effortlessly, with scientific jargonize only sneaking in near the very end. The concept of evolution is covered from Cuvier in the Napoleonic era through Darwin and onto the modern 21st culture wars in America. Everything important is touched on in a manner that makes it relevant, understandable, and interesting, and the story flows quickly and intelligently. It is one of the better volumes of the series making the best use of the space allowed in order to introduce important historical ideas and events to the general reader. A highly recommended read.
Rating:
Summary: The trials of an idea
Review: Edward Larson has capped a fine string of publications on evolution with this history. A study of the idea of evolution and consideration of the mechanisms driving it, this book introduces you to the major thinkers and researchers involved. Each chapter focuses on an individual or a concept, explaining the rationales behind the idea and its supporters. Larson's evocative prose style keeps the account moving smoothly, even when disputants over an idea grow disruptive and acrimonious.Larson opens with consideration of the problem of deep time. With biblical authority decreeing a young earth and the immutability of species, the idea of change over time was deemed impossible, if not heretical. Ironically, the first scholar to open the notion of deep time was one of evolution's "staunchest foes" - Georges Cuvier. This French scientist was an early expert on comparative anatomy, stressing form resulted from functional use of an organ. His studies led him to argue that fossils truly represented extinct species. However, new species didn't evolve from the older ones, he argued, but were the result of an act of subsequent creation. Extinctions were due to some catastrophic event. The idea of species succession, however, introduced the notion of deep time - an Earth older than then supposed. From Cuvier, Larson logically moves to the ideas of another French scientist, Jean Baptiste Lamarck. Today, Lamarck's ideas are blithely dismissed, but Larson shows the significance of his contributions. Although the paleontological record provided spotty support, Lamarck rejected Cuvier's "fixed species" sequences for a form of continuous change. Thinking that changes to the body would be reflected in later generations, Lamarck developed the thesis of "acquired characteristics". Larson makes clear that Lamarck's ideas, although denounced today, were a needed foundation for Darwin's great insight. Larson's summary of Darwin's Beagle voyage and development of the concept of evolution by natural selection is clear and succinct. Except for Larson's insistence on calling it "evolutionism", thereby changing a scientific idea into an ideology, it's a fine synopsis. Larson is correct in concentrating on human evolution. No matter what Darwin wrote of pigeons or barnacles, people wanted to know how humans fit into the evolutionary scheme. More than one scientific and social issue depended on that pivotal point. Larson describes the years of challenge to natural selection and the rise of Mendelian genetics leading the assault. Objectors to natural selection came from more than just the ranks of Christian dogmatists. Lord Kelvin's calculation of the sun's waning heat denied evolution sufficient time to operate. Others argued that breeding species blended traits instead of separating them into new species. Later, the most important student of heredity, Thomas Hunt Morgan, rejected natural selection in favour of a mutation-driven mechanism. The turning point came with J.B.S. Haldane, Sewall Wright and Ronald Fisher's new "biometric" studies in population genetics. The merging of Mendelian genetics with Darwin's natural selection is now known as the "new synthesis" or "neo-Darwinism". That combination has proven the most lasting and meaningful aspect of thought on the idea of evolution. From it, Larson explains, arose E. O. Wilson's innovative concept of sociobiology. The behaviour of social insects offer insight into group interaction and are applicable to human evolutionary history. There are many books with information on the history of evolution as a concept. Why choose this one over any of them? The main reason is Larson's focus on evolution as an idea. The biological themes are discussed only briefly, keeping Larson free to relate the history of the concept. He describes some of the off-shoots of Darwin's original thesis, such as Gould and Eldredge's "punctuated equilibrium", but cautiously avoids any commitment to any of them. His purpose is relating how the idea came to dominate science. He also portrays its Christian opponents in the United States and how their strategies have been applied in driving education away from science to embrace religious themes, however disguised. As an overview, this book is an outstanding introduction. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Rating: 
Summary: Good, up to the second half of the 20th century
Review: Larson is quite competent at describing the history of evolutionary thought up until recent decades. Then he becomes obsessed with Wilson's pop-sci "sociobiology" and completely misses the much more significant Zukerkandl & Pauling, Kimura, Jukes & Cantor, Walter Fitch, and the whole revolution in molecular evolution which brought evolution out of the swamps of mere "naturalism" and into serious molecular and genomic studies.
Rating:
Summary: Good, up to the second half of the 20th century
Review: Larson is quite competent at describing the history of evolutionary thought up until recent decades. Then he becomes obsessed with Wilson's pop-sci "sociobiology" and completely misses the much more significant Zukerkandl & Pauling, Kimura, Jukes & Cantor, Walter Fitch, and the whole revolution in molecular evolution which brought evolution out of the swamps of mere "naturalism" and into serious molecular and genomic studies.
Rating: 
Summary: Much ado over nothing
Review: Overblown worthless drivel. Much hype over an old idea
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