Review by Choice Review
The modern synthesis was the union of genetics, systematics, and paleontology into an integrated theory of evolution during the 1930s and 1940s. Since then, advances in each of these fields and the rise of new subdisciplines such as evolvability, genomics, and evolutionary developmental biology (EvoDevo) have led to broader syntheses and novel approaches to both macroevolution (large-scale, long-term phenomena) and microevolution (small-scale processes). Editors Pigliucci (CUNY) and Muller (Univ. of Vienna, Austria) provide an excellent analytical introduction fusing the history of the modern synthesis with the new steps of the past half-century, summarized in a nice graphic of successively nested concepts. Drawing on a 2008 conference, 16 later chapters offer views of these next steps in evolutionary theory. Three of these expand on ideas of selection and adaptation, including contingency and group selection. The next two chapters consider molecular genetics and genomics; other groups of chapters examine topics in heredity, EvoDevo, macroevolution, evolvability, and philosophy. It might have been useful for the editors to draw these disparate lines together again in a final summary. This volume will reward those who make the effort to work through its complex offerings. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers, and faculty. E. Delson CUNY Herbert H. Lehman College
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
