Product Description
Over the past twenty years, paleontologists have made tremendous fossil discoveries, including fossils that mark the growth of whales, manatees, and seals from land mammals and the origins of elephants, horses, and rhinos. Today there exists an amazing diversity of fossil humans, suggesting we walked upright long before we acquired large brains, and new evidence from molecules that enable scientists to decipher the tree of life as never before.The fossil record is now one of the strongest lines of evidence for evolution. In this engaging and richly illustrated book, Donald R. Prothero weaves an entertaining though intellectually rigorous history out of the transitional forms and series that dot the fossil record. Beginning with a brief discussion of the nature of science and the "monkey business of creationism," Prothero tackles subjects ranging from flood geology and rock dating to neo-Darwinism and macroevolution. He covers the ingredients of the primordial soup, the effects of communal living, invertebrate transitions, the development of the backbone, the reign of the dinosaurs, the mammalian explosion, and the leap from chimpanzee to human. Prothero pays particular attention to the recent discovery of "missing links" that complete the fossil timeline and details the debate between biologists over the mechanisms driving the evolutionary process. Evolution is an absorbing combination of firsthand observation, scientific discovery, and trenchant analysis. With the teaching of evolution still an issue, there couldn't be a better moment for a book clarifying the nature and value of fossil evidence. Widely recognized as a leading expert in his field, Prothero demonstrates that the transformation of life on this planet is far more awe inspiring than the narrow view of extremists.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.5 based on 49 reviews)

Excellent book by Andrachne (Ireland)

5 Stars
August 31, 2009
When I started reading the book, I found in the first chapter too much about creationists. But then, when you read the other chapters, you realized how dangerous and dishonest (and ridiculous at the same time) are these ignorants. The best of the book: the hundreds of transitional forms shown by the author. Evolution? Fossils say yes. An elegant and excellent book, highly recomended.

I wish this book had been available to me in high school by Evil Don the Pirate

5 Stars
August 06, 2009
For years and years I repeated the mantra "There are no transitional fossils! There are no transitional fossils!" like a mindless robot. It's what I had been told at home, in church, at my Christian school, and in the parental approved dinosaur books I read as a child. Soon after my recent enlightenment I came across this book. I could not have been more delighted as I read page after page describing and illustrating the very types of fossils whose existence I had been conditioned to deny. What's even more amazing is that this big, heavy book covers only a very tiny fraction of the total body of fossil evidence for evolution. Now anytime someone insists that fish never made the transition to terrestrial life; or scoffs at the idea of dinosaurs evolving feathers and wings; or denies that land mammals returned to the water and evolved into whales; or makes the ludicrous claim that neanderthals were just humans with a bone disease or that "Lucy" never walked upright, I can just take out this book and point out the many full-color photos of the actual fossil specimens that refutes their claims. I imagine I will be referring back to this book for years to come both for my own enjoyment and to show doubters exactly what the state of the fossil record truly is. After finishing this book, it should find a permanent place on the coffee table for those times when guests are present and the conversation turns to evolution and fossils (okay, maybe you and your guests aren't that nerdy, but put it there just in case).

Excellent Summary of Current Evolutionary Thinking by C. M. Kern (WERNERSVILLE, PA USA)

5 Stars
July 22, 2009
This is a well organized and well written book! I am a geologist with a side interest in paleontology. One of the reasons that I wanted to read this book was to get an up-to-date summary of the recent vertebrate fossil finds - specifically with respect to transition fossils... The author delivers! This book packs historical geology, the scientific method, and 3 billion years of evolution into one book. Each chapter is detailed enough to really provide insight but not too lengthy for the reader to lose interest. He provides plenty of additional references at the end of each chapter for the interested reader. Personally, I could not put the book down. I also appreciated the author's response to creationism and ID. For those reviewers who though he was too harsh, I saw it as his frustration coming out when dealing with the so called "creationist experts" none of whom are qualified to comment on the fossil record. The only major ID proponent that I know that has any background in geology is Kurt Wise and he has recently admitted that for him scripture trumps any scientific evidence (my paraphrase). I also strongly agree with the author that the public is essentially scientifically illiterate and that this will grave consequences for our country in the future. As a side note, the book I read was the 3rd printing and I did not notice any of the typos or grammatical errors reported by the other reviewers.

Great Insights, Great Subject by Michael Eaton (West Valley City, Utah USA)

5 Stars
July 07, 2009
In some ways, Evolution - What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters by Donald R. Prothero has a dual personality. One side is an excellent introduction to modern paleontology and evolution by an honest-to-goodness working scientist who gets his knees dirty digging up and studying fossils and therefore knows his subject deeply. The other side is a relentless, skilled, and irrefutable rebuttal to all the Intelligent Design/Creationist misinformation which is so wide-spread these days. In some ways, I wish that Dr. Prothero had come out with two versions of his book: one with just his in-depth description of current knowledge in paleontology and evolution, leaving out all the diatribe against I.D. for those of us who just want to increase our knowledge in those areas and then another as the book is now - a thorough debunking of Creationist silliness. There are several things about this book which make it worth your while. One, Dr. Prothero is a good writer. He is clear and explains difficult concepts in a way that a non-scientist can understand. Two, Dr. Prothero loves his subject, and it shows. His enthusiasm for his job flows out of the pages. Three, Dr. Prothero really knows his stuff. This is a man in the trenches. His knowledge of fossils does not come just from books - it comes from years in the field digging bones out of the ground and rock. You are getting the straight dope here. Four, the book is full of beautiful and informative illustrations. This is not a coffee table book, but it has diagrams or drawings or photos on the majority of pages. All the artwork is very well done, and the color photos are fascinating. Fifth and last, this book is very up-to-date. We are introduced to Tiktaalik, discovered by Neil Shubin, which is a newly discovered transitional creature between fish and amphibian. As someone who is trying to expand his understanding of the history of life on earth, I found Dr. Prothero's book to be very worthwhile. It is not an easy read for most of us. There are a lot of esoteric terms and names, along with squeakily precise concepts and lines of reasoning. But, the effort is worth the effort. Get your hi-liter ready and prepare to spend some time carefully reading and rereading a lot of pages. I actually regretted the moment when I reached the last paragraph. If you were to hand Evolution - What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters to a ID'er and creationist, I do not understand how they could honestly rebut the evidence and arguments made in it. Of course, the key word is "honestly". If your mind is closed and rigid, then no amount of truth - no matter how clearly presented - will sway you. Still, the temptation is there to hand Dr. Prothero's book to a creationist and see what mental gymnastics they go through to weasel their way out of the overwhelming body of evidence, fact, and reason that can be found in it. It would be great fun.

Excellent Book for people who need ammunition against evolution nay sayers by Padmanabh Srinivas (Greensboro, NC)

5 Stars
April 13, 2009
I have not finished the book. I am in Chapter 4. I am enjoying the book so far. It gives me ammunition to tackle evolution nay sayers. The author elucidates fundamentals of evolution for beginners like myself. Paddy

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