Attracting future developmental biologists Developmental Biology (3rd edn, 1991). By S. F. Gilbert. Sinauer Associates, Massachusetts (UK. W. H. Freeman & Co., Ltd, Oxford). 891pp. £29.95, $48.95. Developmental Biology (1991). By L. W. Browder, C. A. Erickson and W. R. Jefferey. Saunders College Publishing, Florida. 811pp. £32 h/b, £15.50 p/b
✍ Scribed by Jonathan Bard
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 243 KB
- Volume
- 14
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0265-9247
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
techniques but suggests that they could be used as the basis of phylogenetic analyses; these data will need to be augmented with information from suitable outgroups. The author rightly emphasises 'the need for broad phylogenetic and classificatory conclusions to be based upon the study of a number of different regions, systems and character complexes,' and has provided the wherewithal for others to do this. One can only support Tobias's campaign for more broadly-based cladistic studies. Without a comprehensive data base, the resulting cladograms can only ever be interpreted as hypotheses of relationships based on atomised morphology.
As long as scientists continue to respond to mankind's innate interest in its evolutionary history, this monograph will remain a repository of information and careful analysis. It is a fitting monument to a life devoted to unravelling the puzzles of prehistory, and should be a reminder to us all of the 'old-fashioned' virtues of scholarship. It should also remind us that at least one scientist can sustain a lucid, entertaining and elegant writing style for more than 900 closely-argued pages.