Vertebrate history: problems in evolution (McGraw-Hill series in population biology)

By Barbara J. Stahl

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0070606986
• ISBN13: 9780070606982
• Release Date: January 1973
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 594 Pages
• Weight: 2.07 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Exhaustive Assumptions Simply Don't Make the Grade

Updated from the March 28, 2002 review I'm not surprized that I'm the first person to write a review for this book, or that it is no longer in print. If I were a die-hard Darwinian, I would probably feel a bit uncomfortable having this volume spread very far. That's how revealing this book is, from cover to cover. It's not an 'easy reading' book by any means, but it IS a tremendous resource. I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks the evidence for evolution is 'overwhelming'. I say, then you need to read this book. Stahl, a solid evolutionist, provides her readers with a great service, although it was 'almost certainly' unintended. What do I mean by that? Simply put, Stahl gives an utterly exhaustive review of the 'alleged' evolutionary lineages of all the major vertebrate fossil groups, and provides the OPINIONS of the key experts who have studied them. Let me say it again, she presents INTERPRETATIONS of the evidence that usually lead to purely speculative conclusions. And there is often QUITE a lot of disagreement along the way. The sub-title of Stahl's book says it all ("Problems in Evolution"), which is an incredible understatement, because Stahl is brutally honest in revealing how little we really understand about the evolutionary history of nearly all vertebrate groups - and this is perhaps her greatest service to her readers. In example after example she points out how paleontologists have come up empty-handed in unequivocally identifying the transitional forms for nearly all the major vertebrate groups. Her meticulous investigation reveals an incredible dearth of evidence that most science professionals and educators assume is quite abundant. For example: "Paleontologists are quite certain of the relationship between the rhipidistians and the amphibians even though they have not discovered the animals intermediate between the finned and limbed forms" which has left them with no other choice than "to speculate how legs and aerial breathing evolved and why a group of fishes produced forms that habituated themselves little by little to life on land." (p. 194-95) Or, "For the present, at least, the environment of the first vertebrates, like the identity of their ancestors, remains unknown." (pg. 44) One after another Stahl traces the evidence leading to a failure to explain how this or that critter came to be, who it's ancestors were, or how it could have possibly transitioned from the best known ancestral candidates. In many instances, it is clear that the experts can't even IMAGINE how certain vertebrates evolved. Stahl's book is replete with so many comments of this type that I marveled in the end why anyone would feel comfortable being a strong advocate of evolution if this is all we have. Though it is probably due to her writing style rather than any deliberate intent, Stahl makes the distinction between evidence and speculation ABOUT the evidence crystal clear in this volume, and THAT is another great service she p