Scan barcode
marquaal's review
4.0
Enjoyable read. Carroll is skilled at reducing complex processes into manageable segments. The color plates are fantastic and extremely helpful in understanding how/where gene activation occurs in embryonic development. Definitely vertebrate-centric, but extremely accessible to readers interested in learning more about evo-devo.
_sparrow_hawk's review
4.0
"What's beautiful in science is the same thing that is beautiful in Beethoven. There's a fog of events and suddenly you see a connection. It expresses a complex of human concerns that goes deeply to you, that connects things that were always in you that were never put together before." Victor Weisskopf
7anooch's review
3.0
Good book but probably not something that should be listened to as an audiobook, as I did.
gemlois's review
informative
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
Only a 2.5 from a 17 year olds perspective, it took a long time to get through to understand although the information was really interesting
danielmbensen's review
3.0
I learned about this book from "Evo Devo," a song by acapellascience, and I have to say, I like the song better. Maybe all the surprises were already spoiled for me, because I didn't find much in the book that I didn't already know. I'd recommend that Song and Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin.
emmacook's review
4.0
Very good read, but quite a challenge! Only managed to finish this book (attempted and put down last year) after taking an Introduction to Anatomy and Embryology at university, which made the book make slightly more sense. Possibly not a book for anyone without a serious interest or background knowledge of biology and particularly embryology and development.
matthewb's review
4.0
Every so often a book comes along that completely blows you away. This is one such book. I first heard about this book from Tim Blais’ A Cappella Science video, which is in itself a superlative work of art. I bought this book to better understand the concepts presented in that video.
When I first learned about the details of DNA in school I was enraptured by how simple but incredibly powerful DNA replication is. This book rekindled that feeling of awe as it explained the beauty of evolution and the fundamentally simple mechanisms that make it all possible: genetic switches, tool-kit genes and Hox proteins that govern the development of embryonic form.
The book is replete with interesting case studies and examples of evolution, such as the fact that gills were repurposed in ingenious ways to form everything from insect wings to spider spinnerets, the independent evolution of wings in insects, pterodactyls, birds and bats, and the way animal coat colourings spread outward from the neural crest along the spine, often causing lighter colours underneath on the belly and providing a clue for how the zebra got its stripes.
There is so much more in the book and I’m sure I would benefit from repeat readings. Carroll’s writing is well-pitched, being both challenging and accessible. He does a great job bringing the beauty and wonder of evolution to the fore.
That said, I am only giving it four out of five stars because of the omission of colour plates in the soft-cover book. In a book about beauty and diversity, where the image captions repeatedly draw attention to the “exquisite” colors and varying shades in detailed close-up photographs, the greyscale photos are a significant editorial flaw. The fact that the “colour” illustrations are central to the points being made in the text makes it even more maddening when it is impossible to distinguish between greens and blues and reds. I tweeted the publisher and the author about it but got no reply.
The book requires some effort to grasp the details of the ideas presented and it is challenging to a degree. This is perhaps a hindrance in getting the evolutionary worldview accepted by those who actively oppose it, particularly in America, as short answers are rarely possible and a firm scientific foundation is needed. The book finishes off with a fairly reasonable assessment of the challenges faced by the scientific community and science educators to spread the discoveries of Evo Devo to society at large. The author suggests that, like all major scientific paradigm shifts, these new ideas will be accepted slowly through generational displacement. So for those already convinced of these advances and frustrated with society’s intransigence we can be sure that truth and beauty will ultimately carry the day.
Overall I highly recommend this book, but I would caution against the soft-cover edition.
When I first learned about the details of DNA in school I was enraptured by how simple but incredibly powerful DNA replication is. This book rekindled that feeling of awe as it explained the beauty of evolution and the fundamentally simple mechanisms that make it all possible: genetic switches, tool-kit genes and Hox proteins that govern the development of embryonic form.
The book is replete with interesting case studies and examples of evolution, such as the fact that gills were repurposed in ingenious ways to form everything from insect wings to spider spinnerets, the independent evolution of wings in insects, pterodactyls, birds and bats, and the way animal coat colourings spread outward from the neural crest along the spine, often causing lighter colours underneath on the belly and providing a clue for how the zebra got its stripes.
There is so much more in the book and I’m sure I would benefit from repeat readings. Carroll’s writing is well-pitched, being both challenging and accessible. He does a great job bringing the beauty and wonder of evolution to the fore.
That said, I am only giving it four out of five stars because of the omission of colour plates in the soft-cover book. In a book about beauty and diversity, where the image captions repeatedly draw attention to the “exquisite” colors and varying shades in detailed close-up photographs, the greyscale photos are a significant editorial flaw. The fact that the “colour” illustrations are central to the points being made in the text makes it even more maddening when it is impossible to distinguish between greens and blues and reds. I tweeted the publisher and the author about it but got no reply.
The book requires some effort to grasp the details of the ideas presented and it is challenging to a degree. This is perhaps a hindrance in getting the evolutionary worldview accepted by those who actively oppose it, particularly in America, as short answers are rarely possible and a firm scientific foundation is needed. The book finishes off with a fairly reasonable assessment of the challenges faced by the scientific community and science educators to spread the discoveries of Evo Devo to society at large. The author suggests that, like all major scientific paradigm shifts, these new ideas will be accepted slowly through generational displacement. So for those already convinced of these advances and frustrated with society’s intransigence we can be sure that truth and beauty will ultimately carry the day.
Overall I highly recommend this book, but I would caution against the soft-cover edition.
deagaric's review
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
4.5 out of 5. I received this book as a gift, probably because I talk about evolutionary development and epigenetics at social events a bit more than I should. I'm personally very interested in the behavioral aspects of evo devo rather then the evolution of form, but this book did not disappoint nevertheless.
My favorite chapters in this book were chapter 8 (he discusses his team's cardinal discoveries about the genetics involved in butterfly wing patterns, and includes really neat high res photos of the main findings) and chapters 8-9, which give a fascinating overview on the development of coat colors in mammals and how the human brain came to be. He does an excellent job at explaining things, and I really enjoyed learning about the formula for determining the length of time it takes for a mutation to spread through a species population. Many examples provided are things I'm sure many have heard about in bio classes before, but Carroll describes things in a way that not only teach or remind you, but also puts the information into a broader, more comprehensive context.
He does all of this in a very engaging writing style that almost feels conversational. I even laughed out loud when he inserted a photo copy of hand-written hate mail he's received after some of his publications. Even as a scientist publishing in top tier journals like Science and Nature , he still had to face a lot of backlash, or worse, disinterest from the general public. He does an excellent job at translating scientific concepts to the layman, and this has been a missing piece in making scientific discoveries approachable and applicable throughout history.
I was tempted to give this five stars, but chapters 4-6 droned on about embryonic limb development in so much detail, I was bored (and at times confused) to tears. I see other reviewers got a little tripped up about these sections as well, so I feel less alone now. But if you reach this point and want to give up on Carroll's writing altogether; hang in there! I thought the second half of the book was mesmerizing, very informative, and entertaining. Definitely worth the three difficult chapters.
Fantastic and very approachable intro to evo devo. Regardless of your background, Carroll makes this topic fun and thought-provoking. Pick it up, even if it's only to look at all of the amazing pictures.
My favorite chapters in this book were chapter 8 (he discusses his team's cardinal discoveries about the genetics involved in butterfly wing patterns, and includes really neat high res photos of the main findings) and chapters 8-9, which give a fascinating overview on the development of coat colors in mammals and how the human brain came to be. He does an excellent job at explaining things, and I really enjoyed learning about the formula for determining the length of time it takes for a mutation to spread through a species population. Many examples provided are things I'm sure many have heard about in bio classes before, but Carroll describes things in a way that not only teach or remind you, but also puts the information into a broader, more comprehensive context.
He does all of this in a very engaging writing style that almost feels conversational. I even laughed out loud when he inserted a photo copy of hand-written hate mail he's received after some of his publications. Even as a scientist publishing in top tier journals like Science and Nature , he still had to face a lot of backlash, or worse, disinterest from the general public. He does an excellent job at translating scientific concepts to the layman, and this has been a missing piece in making scientific discoveries approachable and applicable throughout history.
I was tempted to give this five stars, but chapters 4-6 droned on about embryonic limb development in so much detail, I was bored (and at times confused) to tears. I see other reviewers got a little tripped up about these sections as well, so I feel less alone now. But if you reach this point and want to give up on Carroll's writing altogether; hang in there! I thought the second half of the book was mesmerizing, very informative, and entertaining. Definitely worth the three difficult chapters.
Fantastic and very approachable intro to evo devo. Regardless of your background, Carroll makes this topic fun and thought-provoking. Pick it up, even if it's only to look at all of the amazing pictures.