The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution

Tangled Bank distinguishes itself amongst a heady group of recent publications as a masterpiece of science writing, publishing, instruction, and as a reference book. It has immediately become one of the books in my library that I most treasure.2009 was a great year for students and supporters of science, especially those that study evolution given it's the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin's 1st edition of  The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition . The year was celebrated partly by several practicing scientists publishing excellent books about evolution directed towards the general reader, nearly all of which were complementary rather than redundant. Having read seven books covering evolution this year, and several that were published just prior to 2009, it's my position that Tangled Bank stands above the rest of the herd, in spite the others also being very worthy of consideration.Not only is Tangled Bank a great book on evolution on your first read, but it is structured in a way that allows it be used as an extremely valuable reference source. At 9.75 inches tall by 5.5 inches wide, it's large enough to provide ample space on its pages which are filled with beautiful color illustrations, color photos, and other color graphics that greatly help reinforce the subject matter. The quality of the cover and the paper is also first rate so it should be able to sustain a long usable life.While Tangled Bank is being described as a textbook, it's important to distinguish how Tangled Bank is different from the stereotypical textbook. Tangled Bank does not include quizzes, exercises, or tests; instead it can be identified as a textbook based on the structure of the subject material and framing, which is instructive rather than argumentative or a narrative like some of the other evolution books published recently. Each chapter of Tangled Bank ends with a "To Sum Up" page that presents a bullet point list to both help reinforce the objective of the chapter's instruction and help in future reference searches. While most textbooks of this quality can cost as much as $150, Amazon's current price of $40, or even the list price of $60 make this a true bargain given how many years I predict this book will be able to provide value, even as the rate of discoveries increases over time.In addition Mr. Zimmer provides an excellent reference section categorized by both chapter and subject matter. Nearly all of Mr. Zimmer's references are either peer-reviewed articles generally accepted by the scientific community, or books popular with the scientific community that report on multiple peer-reviewed articles in a certain topical area germane to the chapter Zimmer covers. One reason Mr. Zimmer is an outstanding journalist is his intellectual honesty, where he is careful to report and distinguish between where science is confident in its explanations and where there is either controversy or a lack of confidence.I would distinguish the closest competitor to what Mr. Zimmer does in Tangled Bank for the general reader to Richard Dawkins'  The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution  (aka TGSOE) as follows. TGSOE is like a semester of seminars with a brilliant retired biologist with a wide command of the subject matter but also susceptible to frequent soliloquies that are often tangential, personal to the point it veers from what science understands or peer-accepts (where in the latter case Dawkins' is careful to note) and often illuminating but also sacrifices scientific findings for Dawkins personal reflections. Many of Dr. Dawkins' personal ruminations do serve to reinforce either the subject matter, scientific methodology, or are illuminative on how some research scientists think. However some of his reflections actually supplant what practicing scientists doing research are discovering with Dawkins' own non-fact based speculations, e.g., probability of life on other planets and how it could differ from life on earth.Tangled Bank on the other hand is a more comprehensive self-guided tutorial of evolution. It's far more ambitious in terms of covering more topics within the relevant scientific disciplines and the format of instructional text coupled to far more graphics guarantees the reader will have a much better understanding of the theory of evolution than they would from books primarily focused on text alone (though Dawkins book does provide some nice color photos). I would argue that given Jerry Coyne's  Why Evolution Is True  provides a far more compelling and concise argument for the evidence of evolution than TGSOE; Tangled Bank makes TGSOE an unnecessary purchase.While the Tangled Bank's subtitle states, "An Introduction to Evolution", it's my opinion that very few readers would not greatly benefit from owning and perusing this book even if their job is germane to some aspect of the life sciences and they've formally trained in the life sciences through the undergrad level or gone to med school. While it's true that Mr. Zimmer only introduces the topics he covers by chapter rather than drilling down into the 200-level or beyond on any of the topics, the theory of evolution covers a broad cross-section of scientific disciplines and Mr. Zimmer covers nearly all of them. So while someone whose studied developmental biology or cell biology might not learn much on those topics as they're covered here, I think they'd still benefit from Mr. Zimmer's excellent chapters covering radiations and extinctions, the evolution of behavior, or other topics tangential to their field of expertise or subjects studied years ago given Zimmer's ample reporting of recent findings. I've been studying evolution now for thirty-plus years and I either learned quite a bit about topics I'd previously covered, or was re-introduced to subjects with a plethora of additional findings since I last studied the topic.This is truly a masterpiece of textbook publishing for the general reader.

The overall experience reading the book was amazing, it was really useful and cheap to use during my 6-week course class. It was made simple to understand and learn, which to me is an A+ job, considering the fact that I struggle in science courses.However, I had trouble with the buyer. I rented the book in "acceptable" condition and was being charged yesterday for a price, triple the amount I paid for the rental, due to "Binding Damage," for an already-worn-out book. The rental had been returned July 3rd, 2017 and only now yesterday was I told about their concern for the book's "inadequate" condition. As you can tell I was not happy, hence the 4-stars; in the end, I called Amazon Customer Service and they was very reassuring, handling the situation smoothly. Please note that if your book doesn't come in the condition you expected, TAKE PICTURES.

What's to say? A picture is worth a thousand words. Paid for a new hard back and look what I got.

I really wanted to love this book. We are fortunate to have an abundance of excellent writers about evolution, and Zimmer is one of the best. In this book, intended to be a college textbook, he forsakes his usual prose for a bland textbook-ese, which robs his writing of punch. However, as a classroom textbook, this book lacks the sort of clarity of organization and explicit learning objectives that would justify the sacrifice of Zimmer's usual prose style.A strength of the book is its constant use of recent research examples. I would have loved to see some of them spelled out with more detail.Finally, there are problems with a couple of illustrations. The diagram on p. 198 appears to confuse chromatids with homologous chromosomes, and there was another confusing diagram that I can't find right now (sorry, I hate to do that).I'm hoping for an improved second edition.

I'm not a fan of reading text books, but I really enjoyed reading this one. The author wrote it in a very practical manner so I didn't feel so dumb reading this because of complicated language. I actually felt like I was learning something and was engaged in the reading, unlike most boring text books. I highly recommend this book to professors looking for a textbook for their class to use, or to the biology junkie. :) 👍

Very fast shipping, the book is a little beat up though but it has I;m sure it has been used many times so that was expected.

Carl Zimmer's text is well laid out and a good read. He introduces each chapter with a story about one (or more) researcher who is currently investigating an aspect or evidence of past life-forms in an effort to relate these findings to life as it now exists. At the end of each chapter is a succinct summarization of the salient points.

The book is just wonderful.

Writing popular science books is no easy task. The author has to strike a delicate balance, between providing all the scientific information in an organized way and not alienating a non scientific public with undue complexity in vocabulary or concept.Well, I am a happy, and fully satisfied, reader. Because reading this magnificent book, gave me new knowledge about the nature, tools, processes and results of the evolutionary process on Earth. And this result was accomplished through a very well written text, solid subject structuring and a wealth of beautiful and informative illustrations.After the introductory chapters, the author adopts a biological approach, well founded in modern genetics science, and presents every subject clearly and elegantly, frequently mentioning up-to-date results from research in relevant fields, thus documenting every step of the amazing story of evolution in the Natural World. Of course he cannot delve too deeply in some matters, however interesting it would be, since he aims to keep the "popular" character of the book. But the bibliography at the end is analytical - by chapter and section - and offers many exciting starting points for anyone interested in further reading.The two last chapters are of particular interest, since they are about the evolution of harmful or helpful microorganisms ("Evolutionary Medicine") and the evolution of spiritual and behavioral characteristics in our species ("Minds and Microbes"). Both subjects are crucial for our survival and sharply remind us that, irrespective of any "high-minded" ideas we have about our exalted status on the planet, we still remain just a part of the vast, intricate and constantly evolving web of life.

If you're the type of individual who has an interest in evolution but simply don't have the time, this is the book for you. It's so easy to read, written in clear and concise chapters with beautiful, well detailed diagrams.Having a busy work and family life with little available time, I have often looked for such a book and Carl Zimmer has fortunately fulfilled my wish. If you're interested in evolution, but often wonder, 'but', 'how', 'when', then this book is a must.Why can't every textbook be written like this?!

Très beau livre, bien emballé, envoyé rapidement et économiquement. A+ Merci.

Gelungenes Werk. Auch für Laien verständlich, wird hier das Konzept der Evolutionstheorie, von ihren Anfängen bis zur modernen Synthese, beschrieben. Interessant geschrieben, mit Beispielen versehen. Absolute Kaufempfehlung.

生命の進化について書かれた名著だと思います。主に動物中心に書かれており、植物や微生物の進化に関してはあまり記述がありません。進化について、実際の例を個体から器官の発生、病気や共生といったさまざまな次元から捉え、そこに潜む基本的な概念を浮き彫りにしようと試みた内容で、進化生物学を学ぶ学生だけでなく､生命に関わる科学を学ぶための良い入門書といえます。カラーのFigureも大変多く使われており、今はもう見られない絶滅してしまった生物の生きていた環境をうまく再現しています。