Evolution: The First Four Billion Years

Spanning evolutionary science from its inception to its latest findings, from discoveries and data to philosophy and history, this book is the most complete, authoritative, and inviting one-volume introduction to evolutionary biology available. Clear, informative, and comprehensive in scope, Evolution opens with a series of major essays dealing with the history and philosophy of evolutionary biology, with major empirical and theoretical questions in the science, from speciation to adaptation, from paleontology to evolutionary development (evo devo), and concluding with essays on the social and political significance of evolutionary biology today.

A second encyclopedic section travels the spectrum of topics in evolution with concise, informative, and accessible entries on individuals from ­Aristotle and Linneaus to Louis Leakey and Jean Lamarck; from T. H. Huxley and E. O. Wilson to Joseph Felsenstein and Motoo Kimura; and on subjects from altruism and amphibians to evolutionary psychology and Piltdown Man to the Scopes trial and social Darwinism. Readers will find the latest word on the history and philosophy of evolution, the nuances of the science itself, and the intricate interplay among evolutionary study, religion, philosophy, and ­society.

Appearing at the beginning of the Darwin Year of 2009—the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of Species—this volume is a fitting tribute to the science Darwin set in motion.

Michael Ruseis Lucyle T. Werkmeister Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Program in the <>History and Philosophy of Science, Florida State University. He is the founder and editor of the journal <>Biology and Philosophy, and has appeared on “Quirks and Quarks” and the <>Discovery Channel.<>Joseph Travisis Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of <>Biological Science at Florida State University.Edward O. Wilsonis Pellegrino University Professor at <>Harvard University. In addition to two Pulitzer Prizes (one of which he shares with Bert Hölldobler), Wilson has won many scientific awards, including the National Medal of Science and the Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

• Foreword
  Edward O. Wilson
• Introduction
  Michael Ruse and Joseph Travis
• The History of Evolutionary Thought
  Michael Ruse
• The Origin of Life
  Jeffrey L. Bada and Antonio Lazcano
• Paleontology and the History of Life
  Michael Benton
• Adaptation
  Joseph Travis and David Reznick
• Molecular Evolution
  Francisco J. Ayala
• Evolution of the Genome
  Brian Charlesworth and Deborah Charlesworth
• The Pattern and Process of Speciation
  Margaret B. Ptacek and Shala J. Hankison
• Evolution and Development
  Gregory A. Wray
• Social Behavior and Sociobiology
  Daniel I. Rubenstein
• Human Evolution
  Henry M. McHenry
• Evolutionary Biology of Disease
  Michael F. Antolin and Darwinian Medicine
• Beyond the Darwinian Paradigm: Understanding Biological Forms
  Brian Goodwin
• Philosophy of Evolutionary Thought
  Kim Sterelny
• Evolution and Society
  Manfred D. Laubichler and Jane Maienschein
• American Antievolutionism: Retrospect and Prospect
  Eugenie C. Scott
• Alphabetical Guide
• Contributors
• Index