Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond by Eldredge, Niles

Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9780231153164)

Vendor: Niles Eldredge
Product type: Books
Format: Hardcover
$37.00
$37.00
$37.00
Subtotal: $37.00
Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond by Eldredge, Niles

Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond

$37.00
Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond by Eldredge, Niles

Eternal Ephemera: Adaptation and the Origin of Species from the Nineteenth Century Through Punctuated Equilibria and Beyond

$37.00
Format: Hardcover
Description
Description
x
All organisms and species are transitory, yet life endures. The origin, extinction, and evolution of species--interconnected in the web of life as "eternal ephemera"--are the concern of evolutionary biology. In this riveting work, renowned paleontologist Niles Eldredge follows leading thinkers as they have wrestled for more than two hundred years with the eternal skein of life composed of ephemeral beings, revitalizing evolutionary science with their own, more resilient findings.

Eldredge begins in France with the naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, who in 1801 first framed the overarching question about the emergence of new species. The Italian geologist Giambattista Brocchi followed, bringing in geology and paleontology to expand the question. In 1825, at the University of Edinburgh, Robert Grant and Robert Jameson introduced the astounding ideas formulated by Lamarck and Brocchi to a young medical student named Charles Darwin. Who can doubt that Darwin left for his voyage on the Beagle in 1831 filled with thoughts about these daring new explanations for the "transmutation" of species.

Eldredge revisits Darwin's early insights into evolution in South America and his later synthesis of knowledge into a theory of the origin of species. He then considers the ideas of more recent evolutionary thinkers, such as George Gaylord Simpson, Ernst Mayr, and Theodosius Dobzhansky, as well as the young and brash Niles Eldredge and Steven Jay Gould, who set science afire with their concept of punctuated equilibria. Filled with insights into evolutionary biology and told with a rich affection for the scientific arena, this book celebrates the organic, vital relationship between scientific thinking and its subjects.

Author: Niles Eldredge
ISBN-10: 0231153163
ISBN-13: 9780231153164
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Language: English
Published: 03/03/2015
Pages: 416
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.45lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.10w x 1.30d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 04/15/2015 pg. 7
Choice 09/01/2015
By Niles Eldredge
By Niles Eldredge
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Niles Eldredge is a paleontologist formerly on the curatorial staff of the American Museum of Natural History. He developed the theory of punctuated equilibria with Stephen Jay Gould, and his book The Pattern of Evolution offers a comprehensive theory of how environmental change governs the evolutionary process. He is also the author of Life in the Balance: Humanity and the Biodiversity Crisis and The Triumph of Evolution... and the Failure of Creationism and was a coeditor of the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach.

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