Selection : The Mechanism of Evolution Paperback / softback
by Graham Bell
Paperback / softback
Description
Thisbookhasbeenwritten tomake a pointand tofulfill a need.
Thepoint is that the importance and the distinctiveness of the process of selection have been undervalued by most biologists.
There is, consequently, the need for a book that describes the principles of selection in a simple but reasonably comprehensive way.
Selection Is a Distinct Kind ofProcess Although we are now well into the second century of Darwinism, the theorythatDarwinand Wallaceannouncedin 1858hasnotyetmademuch progress beyond a small coterie of professional biologists.
The reason is thatit isjarringlyunfamiliar toournormalexperienceofhow things come to be.
Few ofus would be able to design a light bulb or a lathe, still fewer the computerand itsattendant softwarewithwhich this sentence is being written.
But we all have a clear idea of what is meant by "design", and we readily, too readily, transfer this notion to the natural world.
A light bulb or a lathe are prefigured in the mind, and constructed according to a plan. It is entirely reasonable to assume that beetles and daisies must be constructed after the same fashion, especially because they are much morecomplicatedthananythingthathumaningenuityhassofarmanaged to devise.
There is, however, a second route to complex organization, throughtheselectionofrandomvariantsthatpropagatenearlyexactcopies ofthemselves.
Itisofverylittleconsequenceinourdailylives,becauseifis somuchmorelaboriousandexpensivethandeliberatedesign.
However,it isanotherwayofconstructingthings. Indeed, sofarasIknow, itistheonly other way of constructing things that we have ever been able to imagine.
Information
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Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:699 pages, XXV, 699 p.
- Publisher:Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
- Publication Date:03/10/2012
- Category:
- ISBN:9781461377399
Other Formats
- Hardback from £192.59
- PDF from £169.58
Information
-
Available to Order - This title is available to order, with delivery expected within 2 weeks
- Format:Paperback / softback
- Pages:699 pages, XXV, 699 p.
- Publisher:Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
- Publication Date:03/10/2012
- Category:
- ISBN:9781461377399
