Kenneth P. Dial is professor of biology at the University of Montana and founding director of the university's Flight Laboratory and Field Station at Fort Missoula. Neil Shubin is senior advisor to the president and the Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Anatomy at the University of Chicago. His books include The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People and Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body. Elizabeth L. Brainerd is professor of medical science and director of the XROMM Technology Development Project at Brown University.
"In this volume, the editors showcase a comprehensive and
impressive series of studies that address some of the most curious
and classic questions in evolutionary biology. . . . One of the
most ubiquitous and unique themes from this selection of studies is
the value of interdisciplinary science. The message to students as
well as to senior scientists is this: learn to look at life--its
origins and transformations of the past and present--in ways
unimagined. The space between methods, materials, discourses, and
disciplines is the space that yields rich and rewarding insights
into evolutionary biology. As the editors and authors remark,
narratives such as the march from monkey to man or the transition
from swimming in water to walking on land tell a tale of
progression, linearity, and superiority. These narratives can
dominate and dictate how scientists interpret the past. Great
Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution is a challenge to those
narratives and chapter after chapter reveals that life is not
linear but full of unpredictable episodes of convergence, reversal
to ancestral states, and much more intricate pictures of the
patterns and processes of evolution. . . . This book demonstrates
that great transformations in vertebrate evolution come from great
transformations in the ability of scientists to adopt new evidence
and adapt to new approaches."-- "Quarterly Review of Biology"
"This book honors the great Farish A. Jenkins Jr., who studied
macroevolutionary transitions in vertebrates by combining a wealth
of data from fossils, dissections, experimental analyses of
behavior, evolutionary data, and more to reconstruct major changes
in form and function, with a strong biological focus. Jenkins was
so innovative, so big-question-oriented, and so influential that a
book dedicated to him and the kinds of questions in which he was
interested is not just appropriate, but essential. The book is
timely, summarizing and giving new perspectives on the greatest
transitions in vertebrate evolution. The questions are huge. The
authors are simply the best in the field. A landmark work from a
star-studded cast of scientists."--John Hutchinson, Royal
Veterinary College, University of London
"This book will be of broad general interest to vertebrate
biologists, indispensable for vertebrate functional and
evolutionary morphologists, and essential reading for the next
generation of vertebrate organismal biologists. The editors have
done an enormous service to the field by collecting these thorough,
incisive papers. One feels extremely invigorated and excited about
what might be done next. Great Transformations will exert a strong
impact on research agendas."--Michael Alfaro, University of
California, Los Angeles
"Great Transformations in Vertebrate Evolution is a timely landmark
work that presents new intellectual and methodological grounds to
unravel long-standing questions in the evolution of vertebrates. I
highly recommend this excellent volume to all who have been
enchanted by the mysterious beauty of our vertebrate
history."--Martin Kundrát, Comenius University, Slovakia
"Systematic Biology"
"A broad yet in-depth look at some of the most radical and
fascinating changes in vertebrate anatomy and biology over the
course of their evolutionary history. With contributions from 35
authors, this book greatly benefits from a range of expertise and
many years of scientific research. . . . Great Transformations is
an engaging and thorough book explaining not only what we know
about vertebrate evolution, but, perhaps more importantly, the
evidence behind what we know."--Jordan Bestwick, University of
Leicester "Palaeontology Newsletter"
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