Synopses & Reviews
"It is not often that a work can literally rewrite a person's view of a subject. And this is exactly what Rudwick's book should do for many paleontologists' view of the history of their own field."—Stephen J. Gould,
Paleobotany and Palynology"Rudwick has not merely written the first book-length history of palaeontology in the English language; he has written a very intelligent one. . . . His accounts of sources are rounded and organic: he treats the structure of arguments as Cuvier handled fossil bones."—Roy S. Porter, History of Science
Synopsis
The Meaning Of Fossils is an absorbing history of changing views of what fossils are and how they contribute to an understanding of the history of the earth.
Description
Includes bibliographical references and index.
About the Author
Martin J. S. Rudwick is professor emeritus of history at the University of California, San Diego and affiliated scholar in the Department of the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.
Table of Contents
Preface
I. Fossil Objects
II. Natural Antiquities
III. Life's Revolutions
IV. Uniformity and Progress
V. Life's Ancestry
Glossary
Further Reading
Index