Did Darwin Get It Right?: Essays on Games, Sex and Evolution
by John Maynard Smith
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Now in paperback, Did Darwin Get It Right discusses some of the hottest issues in biology today. Its author, the eminently quotable John Maynard Smith, discusses such fascinating conundrums as how life began, whether the brain works like a computer, why most animals and plants reproduce sexually, and how social behavior evolved out of the context of natural selection--a process which would seem to favor selfishness. A humorous and insightful writer, John Maynard Smith has the special ability show more to convey the excitement of science, its complexity and fascination, without baffling or boring his readers. In these 28 brief and accessible essays, Maynard ranges widely over such issues as science and the media, the birth of sociobiology, the evolution of animal intelligence and the limitations of evolutionary theory. For his work on the evolution of sex, Smith won the Darwin medal from the Royal Society, and he has pioneered the application of game theory to animal behavior. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
When you read a books of previously published essays you have to expect repetition, and lack of continuity. Repitition of content is one thing. Smith seems to have reused whole paragraphs and groups of paragraphs in different essays. At least once I checked that I didn't have a bad copy with the same pages bound in twice.
You also expect the editors to give you at least a few hints as to the context of the essays, if that is important to reading them. Several of these essays are book reviews, but the book reviewed is not named in the chapter, just in the bibliographic information at the back of the book. The beginning of the first chapter that is a book review beginns with 'This book...' The book reviewed, that is, NOT obvious in this show more context.
In the end, I think I learned something from reading this, but I'm not eager to read another book by him, unless there is some indication that it has been better edited before publishing. show less
You also expect the editors to give you at least a few hints as to the context of the essays, if that is important to reading them. Several of these essays are book reviews, but the book reviewed is not named in the chapter, just in the bibliographic information at the back of the book. The beginning of the first chapter that is a book review beginns with 'This book...' The book reviewed, that is, NOT obvious in this show more context.
In the end, I think I learned something from reading this, but I'm not eager to read another book by him, unless there is some indication that it has been better edited before publishing. show less
An wide-ranging and entertaining introduction to several current issues in evolutionary theory.
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31+ Works 1,292 Members
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- Members
- 74
- Popularity
- 427,053
- Reviews
- 2
- Rating
- (3.57)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
