A
Literary Saloon
&
Site of Review.

Trying to meet all your book preview and review needs.

Contents:

Main

the Best

the Rest

Review Index

Links

to e-mail us:

the complete review - science

Shaping Life

by
John Maynard Smith

general information | review summaries | our review | links | about the author

- Return to top of the page -

Our Assessment:

B : brief, interesting presentation of ideas about the development of species and individuals

See our review for fuller assessment.

  From the Reviews:

• "The first half of the book is a fascinating insider's account (...). Then Smith strays into a highly abstract theoretical dispute that will lose many readers." - Corey S. Powell, Discover
  
  
• "(An) enjoyable and instructive little book." - R. Brian Ferguson, Natural History

Please note that these ratings solely represent the complete review's biased interpretation and subjective opinion of the actual reviews and do not claim to accurately reflect or represent the views of the reviewers. Similarly the illustrative quotes chosen here are merely those the complete review subjectively believes represent the tenor and judgment of the review as a whole. We acknowledge (and remind and warn you) that they may, in fact, be entirely unrepresentative of the actual reviews by any other measure.

- Return to top of the page -

The complete review's Review:

       Each title in the Darwin Today series aims to be, according to the editors, "an authoritative pocket introduction to the Darwinian ideas that are setting today's intellectual agenda." Short surveys, some 15,000 words in length, they cover a variety of subjects, from farming to sex to politics. Refer to the links for further information.

       John Maynard Smith's Shaping Life is a very brief account of some of the theories of the development of individual beings (from embryo to full-grown creatures) and the evolution of species. Smith draws on the parallels between these two forms of development, and suggests some of the steps that might be fruitful in better understanding them.
       He discusses both genetics and theories of complex systems, and suggests that it is necessary to examine the many open questions from both vantage points. He also sees the two main strands of current thinking on questions of developmental biology as holistic on the one hand, and reductionist on the other -- and believes it to be useful to consider both views in tackling the questions.
       A solid and interesting introduction to the basics of developmental biology, Smith's examples and explanations are fairly straightforward and often illuminating. The book is only a very cursory survey, but, as such, it is quite successful.

- Return to top of the page -

Links:

• Yale University Press publicity page

• ATC
• Evolution's Voyage
• Discover (scroll down for review)
• Was Darwin Wrong ?

• Homepage at University of Sussex
• John Maynard Smith Prize site

• Darwin@LSE Project
• Yale University Press information about Darwinism Today books

• Peter Singer's A Darwinian Left
• Colin Tudge's Neanderthals, Bandits and Farmers
• Catherine Salmon and Donald Symons' Warrior Lovers

• Freeman Dyson's Origins of Life
• Richard Lewontin's book on gene, organism, and environment, The Triple Helix
• Charles Darwin's classic The Origin of Species
• Steve Jones' update of Darwin's The Origin of Species, Almost Like a Whale (US title; Darwin's Ghost)
• Steve Jones' The Language of Genes
• Robert T. Pennock's dismantling of the New Creationists' arguments in Tower of Babel
• Michael Ruse examines the Mystery of Mysteries, asking Is Evolution a Social Construction ?
• Mark A.S. McMenamin's idea of The Garden of Ediacara
• Michael Ruse asks: Can a Darwinian be a Christian ?
• See Index of books on Darwinism and Evolutionary Theory

- Return to top of the page -

About the Author:

       John Maynard Smith is Professor of Biology at the University of Sussex.

- Return to top of the page -

© 2000-2010 the complete review

Main | the New | the Best | the Rest | Review Index | Links