At the Water's Edge : Macroevolution and the Transformation of Life

Zimmer, Carl

ISBN 10: 0684834901 / ISBN 13: 9780684834900

Published by Free Press, 1998

About this Item

Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and may have some shelf wear or limited writing. We ship orders daily and Customer Service is our top priority! Seller Inventory # S_291219193

Bibliographic Details

Title: At the Water's Edge : Macroevolution and the...

Publisher: Free Press

Publication Date: 1998

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Good

About this title

Synopsis:

Evolution is one of the most hotly debated areas of popular science. Zimmer's account of cutting-edge scientific research and fieldwork helps to illuminate this particular chapter in the history of ideas.

Review:

Macroevolution is the interesting part of evolution: the rise and fall of major groups like dinosaurs or horses, the development of whole new organs (like eyes) and ways of life (like pollination). Such changes are difficult to study, and harder still to prove. Carl Zimmer looks at metamorphoses across the boundary between land and sea: how fish learned to walk on land, and how whales went back to the ocean. "The story of each of these transformations hides its own unexpected details, as startling as the skyward eyes that sat on top of our ancestors' heads or the delicate toes that turned up in the equation of a whale." Zimmer's account is accurate yet lively, covering recent discoveries in taxonomy and dolphin intelligence, embryology and eight-toed fossil fish. --Mary Ellen Curtin