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Animal Diversity
A top choice among students and instructors alike, Animal Diversity continues to earn the appreciation of both science majors and non-majors alike. The book uses the theme of evolution to develop a broad-scale view of animal diversity—students focus not only the organisms themselves, but also the processes that produce evolutionary diversity. The book is unique in its comprehensive survey of zoological diversity and its emphasis on evolutionary, systematic and ecological principles, all in one package.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
17 people are currently reading
154 people want to read
About the author
Cleveland P. Hickman Jr.
39 books13 followersDr. Cleveland P. Hickman Jr., Professor Emeritus of Biology at Washington and Lee University
Dr. Hickman taught at Washington and Lee from 1967 until his retirement in 1993. He specialized in animal physiology, general zoology and ecology. He is the author of three textbooks of zoology - Integrated Principles of Zoology, Biology of Animals and Animal Diversity. Integrated Principles of Zoology, currently in its 14th edition, is the world's most popular zoology text and is currently available in five languages in addition to English.
Dr. Hickman's early research concentrated on renal physiology in fish, but he later focused on the fauna of the Galapagos Islands. He is an international expert on the aquatic invertebrates of the Galapagos and has had two species that he discovered named after him.
In retirement, Dr. Hickman has remained active in his research and has published four field guides in the Galapagos Marine Life Series, the most recent, published in 2008, on corals and other radiate invertebrates.
Dr. Hickman taught at Washington and Lee from 1967 until his retirement in 1993. He specialized in animal physiology, general zoology and ecology. He is the author of three textbooks of zoology - Integrated Principles of Zoology, Biology of Animals and Animal Diversity. Integrated Principles of Zoology, currently in its 14th edition, is the world's most popular zoology text and is currently available in five languages in addition to English.
Dr. Hickman's early research concentrated on renal physiology in fish, but he later focused on the fauna of the Galapagos Islands. He is an international expert on the aquatic invertebrates of the Galapagos and has had two species that he discovered named after him.
In retirement, Dr. Hickman has remained active in his research and has published four field guides in the Galapagos Marine Life Series, the most recent, published in 2008, on corals and other radiate invertebrates.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 25, 2011
I liked this textbook for the most part, although some of the first few chapters took some time getting into vocabulary and concepts. I appreciate the abundance of pictures to illustrate a lot of the difficult concepts, and kind of wish there had been more. Many of the things talked about by the book are fascinating and involve creatures that humans do not often get to see or come in contact with. I would have loved to see more pictures of these types of animals when they were mentioned.
Vocabulary is difficult for this book, and so is learning some of the biological concepts that you will need to get through the rest of it, however, I think the book does an okay job of reiterating things as they come up so that they can be better clarified. It is a textbook, so it isn't the most entertaining read in the world, but the chapters are of a reasonable length and it isn't torture to read it either.
Vocabulary is difficult for this book, and so is learning some of the biological concepts that you will need to get through the rest of it, however, I think the book does an okay job of reiterating things as they come up so that they can be better clarified. It is a textbook, so it isn't the most entertaining read in the world, but the chapters are of a reasonable length and it isn't torture to read it either.
September 1, 2014
After learning about biodiversity in my grade nine science class, I decided to go deeper into my understanding of the subject at hand. This textbook had information like in my other textbook that I received for science class, but this one has more detail and stories in it to make it more user-friendly in a sense. I really enjoyed reading about marine biology especially, and rainforest inhabitants. Humans have such an impact on wildlife and the world of biodiversity shows us how all these organisms in our world have an impact on other species, and society in itself. This was a very interesting read and I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about biodiversity and animal diversity. Great textbook.
April 7, 2020
It was a good refresher of some Biology lessons I studied way back in High School, and seriously can't understand that it's a recommended book for some semesters in University. Found it to be quite wordy, and also strained towards a certain viewpoint, of which majority of biologists disagree with.
January 10, 2018
Läste kanske... 70% av den
April 11, 2008
I have a love/hate relationship with this book, which is being used for my 200-level zoology class.
The artwork is amazing; rather than simplified cartoons, this book gives realistic drawings with plenty of labels. It really is visually appealing (as the cover might suggest, as it is covered with beautiful images of different eyes!)
However, the text is not easy to read and absorb. For example:
"... zoologists now agree that the so-called hemichordate "notochord" is really an evagination of their mouth cavity and not homologous with the chordate notochord, so hemichordates are considered a separate phylum."
While one may assume that many of these terms - chordate, hemichordate, notochord, homologous, phylum - are already in the vocabulary of a biology student, the term "evagination" was not in my (fairly broad) vocabulary. I had to refer to another resource in order to understand the critical distinction between hemichordates and chordates. This is one of many examples where vocabulary and sentence structure are obstacles to the effective delivery of information. The author impresses us with his ability to create long sentences of convoluted structure and unnecessary, excessive use of polysyllabic terms which confound even the most attentive students.
This book describes itself as such:
"Animal Diversity is tailored for the restrictive requirements of a one-semester or one-quarter course in zoology, and is appropriate for both non-science and science majors of varying backgrounds. [This edition] presents a survey of the animal kingdom with emphasis on diversity, evolutionary relationships, functional adaptations, environmental interactions, and certainly not least, readability."
*snort*
The artwork is amazing; rather than simplified cartoons, this book gives realistic drawings with plenty of labels. It really is visually appealing (as the cover might suggest, as it is covered with beautiful images of different eyes!)
However, the text is not easy to read and absorb. For example:
"... zoologists now agree that the so-called hemichordate "notochord" is really an evagination of their mouth cavity and not homologous with the chordate notochord, so hemichordates are considered a separate phylum."
While one may assume that many of these terms - chordate, hemichordate, notochord, homologous, phylum - are already in the vocabulary of a biology student, the term "evagination" was not in my (fairly broad) vocabulary. I had to refer to another resource in order to understand the critical distinction between hemichordates and chordates. This is one of many examples where vocabulary and sentence structure are obstacles to the effective delivery of information. The author impresses us with his ability to create long sentences of convoluted structure and unnecessary, excessive use of polysyllabic terms which confound even the most attentive students.
This book describes itself as such:
"Animal Diversity is tailored for the restrictive requirements of a one-semester or one-quarter course in zoology, and is appropriate for both non-science and science majors of varying backgrounds. [This edition] presents a survey of the animal kingdom with emphasis on diversity, evolutionary relationships, functional adaptations, environmental interactions, and certainly not least, readability."
*snort*
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews