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Evolution: Making Sense of Life
Science writer Carl Zimmer and evolutionary biologist Douglas Emlen have produced a thoroughly revised new edition of their widely praised evolution textbook. Emlen, an award-winning evolutionary biologist at the University of Montana, has infused Making Sense of Life with the technical rigor and conceptual depth that today’s biology majors require. Zimmer, an award-winning New York Times columnist, brings compelling storytelling to the book, bringing evolutionary research to life. Students will learn the fundamental concepts of evolutionary theory, such as natural selection, genetic drift, phylogeny, and coevolution. The book also drives home the relevance of evolution for disciplines ranging from conservation biology to medicine. With riveting stories about evolutionary biologists at work everywhere from the Arctic to tropical rainforests to hospital wards, the book is a reading adventure designed to grab the imagination of students, showing them exactly why it is that evolution makes such brilliant sense of life.
752 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2012
About the author
Carl Zimmer
49 books1,736 followersCarl Zimmer is a columnist for the New York Times and the author of 15 books about science. His latest book is Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Visit him at carlzimmer.com.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
November 11, 2014
Read for USF's Organic Evolution lecture course.
To begin with, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The language was clear and concise, making the subject matter considerably more palatable to read than similar texts have in the past. The accompanying images and graphs are good throughout, and helped me to build on my understanding of the material by offering numerous visual cues. That being said, the concision of the writing often reduced the subjects and terminology into ideas beyond full comprehension, offering little or no contextual support, and requiring me to seek information from outside sources. This was especially true when completing the accompanying quizzes and study guides, which often focused on concepts poorly covered in the text, and were rife with errors of every design and order.
This entire course was spent compensating for--and criticizing--what the text and accompanying materials lack. Though unconventional, the structure of the course, as it was forced by the limitations of the text, allowed for increased insight into many of the concepts surrounding evolutionary theory.
In general, I like the direction Zimmer and Emlen took with this textbook. The concept is great--introducing university students to evolution through succinct, modern, and highly readable language--and it has the potential to be an excellent addition to the lexicon of the life sciences. I do hope the authors recognize these shortcomings and produce more thorough editions in the future.
To begin with, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. The language was clear and concise, making the subject matter considerably more palatable to read than similar texts have in the past. The accompanying images and graphs are good throughout, and helped me to build on my understanding of the material by offering numerous visual cues. That being said, the concision of the writing often reduced the subjects and terminology into ideas beyond full comprehension, offering little or no contextual support, and requiring me to seek information from outside sources. This was especially true when completing the accompanying quizzes and study guides, which often focused on concepts poorly covered in the text, and were rife with errors of every design and order.
This entire course was spent compensating for--and criticizing--what the text and accompanying materials lack. Though unconventional, the structure of the course, as it was forced by the limitations of the text, allowed for increased insight into many of the concepts surrounding evolutionary theory.
In general, I like the direction Zimmer and Emlen took with this textbook. The concept is great--introducing university students to evolution through succinct, modern, and highly readable language--and it has the potential to be an excellent addition to the lexicon of the life sciences. I do hope the authors recognize these shortcomings and produce more thorough editions in the future.
June 13, 2015
Great textbook, wish I could teach a whole course!
April 28, 2020
evolutionary biology is very interesting
December 22, 2019
A phenomenally informative book about evolution, its mechanisms and affects, how scientists learn about it and use it, and how modern medicine has started to take advantage of it.
August 30, 2014
Well written and accessible for a text book.
November 20, 2018
A very interesting and inspiring book about evolution. Before reading this I had no clue there were som many different aspects of evolution. It covers pretty much every thing you have to know about it but it does so in a sensible way.
August 22, 2018
Obviously read for a college course. The graphics are great. The real-life scenarios that are in the book are interesting. I enjoyed learning about the topic.
August 20, 2019
Not bad for a university textbook. The writing wasn't dry, and was actually sometimes fun to read!
November 13, 2012
Used for UCLA's LS1 class
Zimmer dryly covers a lot of basic terminology in biology, which makes this a pretty average textbook. He includes a lot of specific anecdotes of animals to make his point and then adds a picture of the animal, which I thought was the best part of the book. The pictures are colorful and a warm welcome when faced with a page of dry text defining some obscure term in biology. Plus, whereas you'll never care (or, in my case, remember) what the Buri experiment is, at least you'll remember what a Harlequin beetle or an okapi looks like. The book is already slightly outdated as it mentions that "over half of the genome is composed of neither genes, nor vestiges of human genes, nor regulatory regions" (p.132) though the junk DNA concept has been debunked; again, just part of being an average textbook. If you're looking for something interesting in biology to read, pick up Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything or go search up animal pictures and see where that takes you. In three words: expensive, dry, basic.
Zimmer dryly covers a lot of basic terminology in biology, which makes this a pretty average textbook. He includes a lot of specific anecdotes of animals to make his point and then adds a picture of the animal, which I thought was the best part of the book. The pictures are colorful and a warm welcome when faced with a page of dry text defining some obscure term in biology. Plus, whereas you'll never care (or, in my case, remember) what the Buri experiment is, at least you'll remember what a Harlequin beetle or an okapi looks like. The book is already slightly outdated as it mentions that "over half of the genome is composed of neither genes, nor vestiges of human genes, nor regulatory regions" (p.132) though the junk DNA concept has been debunked; again, just part of being an average textbook. If you're looking for something interesting in biology to read, pick up Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything or go search up animal pictures and see where that takes you. In three words: expensive, dry, basic.
October 25, 2025
Already, I can see that the chapters of this textbook are laid out for intuitive purposes. I'm only on the first chapter but I've learned a bit more about whale evolution.
However, much of this is above my head!
However, much of this is above my head!
January 19, 2016
I read this text for BWU's Bio310: Evolution and thoroughly enjoyed it. The text is easy to read and understand. The authors provide many examples and illustrations to tie concepts to real life. Likewise, the graphs and charts are accessible. I would precariously suggest that they improve one or two chapters that are heavier on math.
Nevertheless, this text is perfect for students and enthusiasts who want to leant more about evolution.
Nevertheless, this text is perfect for students and enthusiasts who want to leant more about evolution.
Want to Read
January 29, 2013As seen on ScienceOnline.
January 14, 2016
Great textbook on evolution, a pleasure to read and explains things well. Lots of great illustrations, figures and tables. The index could be better.
May 3, 2017
Read for BIOL 4260 Principles of Evolution: Spring 2017, UNT. Rented from Amazon.
What I did read of this book, I enjoyed. It was interesting and informative. Unfortunately, as I have found with most of my college classes, reading the book turned out to be a waste of study time. I was better off reviewing and rewriting the professors notes and making flashcards, which was a shame because, like I said I did enjoy reading the first part of this book. Nice graphics and informative. If I had more time I would have liked to read more of it.
What I did read of this book, I enjoyed. It was interesting and informative. Unfortunately, as I have found with most of my college classes, reading the book turned out to be a waste of study time. I was better off reviewing and rewriting the professors notes and making flashcards, which was a shame because, like I said I did enjoy reading the first part of this book. Nice graphics and informative. If I had more time I would have liked to read more of it.
Read
February 18, 2019I've gone too far: this is an actual textbook, and it's more detail than I'd like. If I'd had it as a textbook in school I'd probably have thought it was pretty solid, though.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews