#49431: — 11/17  at  06:08 PM
So here I am writing at break-neck speed on museum representations of human evolution to finish my MA thesis and Zimmer goes out and publishes this too late for me to use it. What a jerk.

#49448: — 11/17  at  06:58 PM
Watch out! Here comes... THE GRAMMAR NAZI!!!

Seriously, though. That last sentence is bugging me immensely. It should read "More accessible descriptions [...] ARE exactly what we need."

On a more relevant note, I've never read any of Zimmer's work before. Anyone have any recommendations?

#49454: coturnix — 11/17  at  07:12 PM
Parasite Rex is great. I have not read the others.

#49456: — 11/17  at  07:17 PM
I absolutely LOVED At the Water's Edge by Zimmer. He's a very accessibly writer. I read it in just three days during the school year, so that will tell you how hard it is to put down. The only part I didn't completely understand is when he was explaining Hox genes, but that's probably because I wasn't reading that section very carefully (not terribly interested in genetics) and I'm still in high school so have only taken one cellular bio course. But other than that, it was fascinating. I'm currently reading Parasite Rex, as well, and it wonderfully disgusting. He is ranked right up there with Jared Diamond and Stephen Jay Gould for nonfiction writing, in my opinion.

#49460: PZ Myers — 11/17  at  07:35 PM
He also has that big book titled Evolution.

#49463: — 11/17  at  08:00 PM
I'm looking forward to Zimmer's book as I have been looking for the most concise description of Evolution. I would still like to see a one or two page proof of Evolution.

Also does anyone know of a list of scientific advances, medical and other, that are a direct result of Evolution science? How has our world changed since Darwin's advances?

#49538: Heathen Dan — 11/18  at  03:30 AM
I've read his books At the Water's Edge and Evolution, and both are very good. I want to read his book Soul Made Flesh and perhaps this latest one on human evolution. Two opposable thumbs up for Carl! =)

#49665: — 11/18  at  02:39 PM
Thanks! I've put them on my Christmas wish-list next to a couple of books about string theory... let's hope I can actually take something away from all of that prose.

#49705: — 11/18  at  05:21 PM
Another very good book is Where Do we Come From? The Molecular Evidence for Human Descent by Klein and Takahata, though it probably pushes the envelope of the level of technical sophistication that a general audience is willing to deal with. Given that it gets into a fair amount of nitty-gritty it's about as clear and reader-friendly as it could possibly be, though, and it's also entertainingly written.

Trackback: So You Want To Be An Academic Tracked on: Modulator (63.247.135.223) at 2005 11 17 17:26:03
This seems like it would be just the thing for bloggers:I asked everyone the same question: "What's it really like to have your job?" Instead of responding with: "Do you like teaching?" they all asked: "Do you like to write?"It does appear that some tenured academic bloggers have plenty of time to write. Heck, even some of the untenured ones...