snowcat. 2006 Dec 12. Review of Carroll and Zimmer. <http://development.pharyngula.org/review_of_carroll_and_zimmer/>. Accessed 2008 Aug 30.

Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Review of Carroll and Zimmer

Overall I liked both books. Carroll’s book was strong in describing the biology behind development, but at times it was not an easy read. It was definitely written at level where an understanding of basic biology is a must. Although the topics were often complex I feel that he did a good job of trying to make them easier to understand. Since this is a 4000 level course, I believe it is a suitable book for the course even if it is a difficult read at times. Other things I enjoyed about Carroll’s book were the pictures scattered through it as well as the illustrations at the beginning of every chapter. I thought the use of illustrations and quotations at the beginning of every chapter was interesting and was especially appropriate for a book used in a liberal arts college. Zimmer’s book was easier to read with less scientific background necessary to understand most of it. Something that I really enjoyed about this book was how it discussed the people who made different discoveries and what led them down those paths. The history of the various discoveries made them much more interesting as well as creating a much better picture of how science “happens.” This book also used pictures to help to show what various animals might have looked like, this was helpful in allowing you to view an extinct species as more than a latin name. I also felt the cladograms where also very helpful in thinking about the history of a species of animal. In conclusion I think both books were very informative and interesting. They also had very different styles of prose which is nice because it helps you to see the different ways people write about biology.