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lilchauncey's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
meglieb's review
informative
medium-paced
3.5
Interesting read with a good balance of conversational vs scientific language. Not sure I agree with all of the author’s conclusive points, and the example species seem skewed towards birds and bugs.
apatrick's review against another edition
4.0
This one was really good! Schilthuizen studies how other insects have adapted to ant communities, and points out that human communities are no different. We're all part of a big, complex world, and changes in anything affects everything else. There are also tons of cool stories about critters who've adapted to human communities, of course. I really enjoyed discovering a science writer I haven't read before.
audreyapproved's review against another edition
3.0
Schilthuizen is an urban ecologist and evolutionary biologist, studying HIREC (human-induced rapid evolutionary change). In Darwin Comes to Town, he tries to reframe the idea of evolution as something happening "out in pristine nature" and over long periods of time. Like the title suggests, much evolution happens in urban environments (our world is mostly urban now anyways) and can be seen now, today, on time scales much smaller than one might expect.
Each chapter covers the research and results from different urban ecologists, and the changing state of historical though with regards to the relationship between cities and evolution. We cover both how species adapt to the physical and chemical signature of our environment (i.e. birds living in the sides of houses, adapting to pollution in the air or water, or the impact of highways and other artificial borders) and how species adapt to the living cogwheels of a city's ecological clockwork (i.e. how birds' singing changes with sound pollution, the impact of artificial light at night).
Overall, there's nothing wrong with this book - the pacing is great, the author narrates the audiobook with so much enthusiasm, content organization makes sense, and there's a ton of cited data. All this being said, I felt my attention waning at times. Maybe because I'm not as interested in birds and insects (the subjects of which the majority of these urban studies have focused on) as I am in say.... dinosaurs??? I'm glad I read this to add to my evolution shelf, but I wasn't exactly amazed, shocked or inspired by any of it.
Each chapter covers the research and results from different urban ecologists, and the changing state of historical though with regards to the relationship between cities and evolution. We cover both how species adapt to the physical and chemical signature of our environment (i.e. birds living in the sides of houses, adapting to pollution in the air or water, or the impact of highways and other artificial borders) and how species adapt to the living cogwheels of a city's ecological clockwork (i.e. how birds' singing changes with sound pollution, the impact of artificial light at night).
Overall, there's nothing wrong with this book - the pacing is great, the author narrates the audiobook with so much enthusiasm, content organization makes sense, and there's a ton of cited data. All this being said, I felt my attention waning at times. Maybe because I'm not as interested in birds and insects (the subjects of which the majority of these urban studies have focused on) as I am in say.... dinosaurs??? I'm glad I read this to add to my evolution shelf, but I wasn't exactly amazed, shocked or inspired by any of it.
michielstock's review against another edition
4.0
Schilthuizen argues that evolution does not merely take place at a glacial pace but happens in front of our noses in our cities. A hopeful notion about the resilience of nature.