The publisher provides the following statement about the accessibility of the EPUB file supplied to OverDrive. Experiences may vary across reading systems. After borrowing the book, you may download the EPUB files to read in another reading system.
No information about appearance modifiability is available.
Not all of the content will be readable as read aloud speech or dynamic braille.
No information is available.
October 1, 2003
Accomplished Cambridge paleobiologist Morris (The Crucible of Creation) brings the phenomenon of evolutionary convergence back to a central place in the discussion of the nature of life. During the course of evolution, disparate organisms converge on similar patterns of form and behavior in response to similar conditions of natural selection. Convergence occurs because the number of viable "solutions" is constrained by the limits of physics and chemistry. Morris gives a detailed and fascinating account of numerous examples of evolutionary convergence, ranging in scale and complexity from molecular functions to physiology, morphology, sensory organs, behavior, complex social systems, and, finally, intelligence. For the author, the ubiquity of convergence logically translates into the expectation of inevitable evolutionary outcomes, including human intelligence. It's the origin of life itself that he thinks might be a rare occurrence in the universe. In comparing his popular writing to that of the late Stephen Jay Gould, Morris balances the aspects of Gould that emphasized the role of contingency in the history of life. Highly recommended for both academic and larger public libraries.-Walter L. Cressler, West Chester Univ. Lib., PA
Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.