Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful: 15 (Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology, 15)

Having just read this fantastic book and seeing that there are no reviews for it here, I'm having my first stab at a review for it deserves one:Convergent evolution is the phenomenon whereby unrelated organisms independently adapt the same biological traits. A simple, but obvious example of this is that cetaceans (such as dolphins or whales) are hydrodynamic and possess fish-like fins, despite they're being mammals and are far more closely to related to humans. The underlying theory is fully explained in Chapter 1.The subtitle of the book, 'Limited Forms Most Beautiful', is intended as a correction to the conclusion of Darwin's 'On the Origins of Species', which ended considering the endless forms that nature has produced. They are not endless because certain environments are physically and chemically restrictive, and the organisms within them are biologically restricted, or rather, there exist functional and developmental constraints on the forms that organisms can take.The author proceeds on taking the reader on a multi-million-year tour of both the extant and extinct, illustrating in a very readable, but scientifically concise fashion, how biologically distinct taxa have, time and again, arrived remarkably (or not!) at the same solutions to the same evolutionary challenges. In some cases it appears from the fossil record that many evolutionary "innovations" simply occurred in the wrong place and the wrong time, but that they were, perhaps, inevitable.Chapters 2 and 3 cover evolutionary convergence in animals and plants, respectively, which most may be familiar with. Then comes three chapters covering the notions of convergent ecosystems, molecules and minds. In all cases the reader will continuously be entertained by the author's breadth of understanding and insight, and also the personality and passion that inevitably led to the writing of the book. For me there were many revelatory surprises, and I appreciated the tables that continue throughout the book that help to summarise each of the example solutions that such distant groups have arrived upon. Chapter 6 then looks at how convergence occurs and how it might be predictable, and Chapter 7, it's implications for life in the future and elsewhere in the universe.This book is definitely aimed at the advanced undergraduate student through to the established academic, and requires at least a rudimentary understanding of phylogenetic/cladistic classification and terminology, evolutionary biology and a familiarity with the major eukaryote taxa. Extensive citations exist throughout the text so that the reader may pursue their own personal interests.Beautifully bound, presented, and only a few minor typos I spotted, it's a must for anyone interested in evolution, and ultimately, life!