Book Description
This ambitious, interdisciplinary book seeks to explain the origins of religion using our knowledge of the evolution of cognition. A cognitive anthropologist and psychologist, Scott Atran argues that religion is a by-product of human evolution just as the cognitive intervention, cultural selection, and historical survival of religion is an accommodation of certain existential and moral elements that have evolved in the human condition.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent first step.......2007-07-26
This book is no beach read. It is dense, technical, and written in a rather stiff prose style. It is, however, absolutely the best book available on the evolutionary origin of religion.
Briefly, Atran defines religion as a community's costly and hard-to-fake commitments to nonexistent beings, commitments which help to assuage existential anxieties involving death, suffering, loneliness, and so on.
Atran uses an incredibly wide array of primary sources in biology, psychology, and religious studies to make his points, and the book brims with insights, both large and small, about how human minds manufacture religion. For example, psychologists and ethnologists have commonly argued that magic in many tribal cultures represents a primitive form of thought which children also have. Atran points out that children in such societies actually believe LESS in magical explanations than their elders. His discussion of divination is also quite insightful.
On the downside, this book is pitched at a rather general, ahistorical level. There is little discussion, for example, of the differences between tribal religions and religions which have had much longer written histories, such as Zen Buddhism and American Protestantism. This is perhaps unavoidable in a book on such a large topic, particularly when this book applies a relatively new sort of explanation to this topic.
Also nice would have been more on how prayer, meditation, and other techniques are used in religion, or about how and why different religions (e.g., Sufi mysticism, Church of Christ Protestantism, and shamanism) differ in the way that they do, but again, this may be expecting too much from a book that weighs less than I do.
On the whole, a superb first step on the road to explaining what human religiosity owes to our evolutionary ancestry, and a wonderful antidote to anti-religious screeds which ignore the universality and complexity of religion itself.
Defectors and norms?.......2007-04-11
Negative reviews are not popular in this venue, so I'll keep this short and sour.
I refer you to ch. 8, "Culture without mind."
I ask you to reconcile the sense of the following claims:
"There is no compelling psychological evidence for norms as packages of learned information, stored as discrete units, clustered into higher order knowledge structures, encoded as specific memory traces in neural tissue, or expressed in clearly recognized and denumerable bundels of behavior."p. 199.
"Perceived reciprocal altruism may result in a culturally stable strategy as long as defectors can be defected and excluded." p. 201
How does one define or recognize a "defector" without a clear notion of norms and their violation? But, it will be argued, the point is that the evidence used by those who identify "norms" as units of selection does not include the detail necessary to verify or falsity the the role of such norms. But the semantic nature of my objection simplify shifts focus to "defection": How can evidence insufficient to verify or falsify the role of norms do more to verify or falsify "defector detection"?
The argument of ch 8 also suggests that 'mind' is equivalent to 'computational architecture'. But current notions of computational architecture are totally inadequate to account for individual differences among any of the world's cultures. That the human mind has a "module" for organizing taxonomies of living things, suggests only that taxonomies always and everywhere are based on essences which do not change over a lifetime and which can be arranged as elements in a hierarchy of nested sets. This is true the world around. But so called modularity of mind does not enable us to distinguish the folk taxonomies of the Amazon basin from those of lowland Guatemala.
If we can't tell folk taxonomies apart, aren't we just being asked to put all the world's religions into one box labeled "minimally counter-intuitive" by-products of natural selection?
Why should that rate five stars?
Very sad.......2007-03-09
It is sad that so many in the world are saddled with the consequences of belief in gods; one hopes that this book will enlighten! It is fairly hard work but worth it.
Thoughtful analysis of the origin of religious beliefs.......2007-03-08
There have been a slew of recent books by scientists on religion which fall basically into two camps. The first, exemplified by Sam Harris' "The End of Faith," are essentially attacks on the logical plausibility of the major religious belief systems. For those who have already realized that these sorts of beliefs are absurd, such works are entertaining but are a bit like preaching to the choir, if you'll excuse the metaphor. The second camp, exemplified by Pascal Boyer's "Religion Explained," are attempts at explaining WHY people believe in such absurdities, from the perspectives of cognitive neuropsychology and anthropology. Atran's book is in the latter camp, and in fact overlaps to some extent with Boyer's book, published at about the same time, although each author has unique insights. I especially liked Atran's analysis of the origin of beliefs in the supernatural as stemming from a cognitive module predisposed to interpret environmental stimuli as coming from a potential predator, and I also found his analysis of "meme theory" to be enlightening (he strongly discounts it). Atran's book is the harder to read of the two and is largely missing the dry sense of humor in Boyer's book, which is why I docked it one star. I also disagree with the pessimism in Atran's last chapter about why religions are likely to endure indefinitely; I believe the secular trends present especially since Darwin must ultimately prevail. But his book is certainly a valuable contribution to the discussion of the origins of religious thought and behavior, which is of paramount importance in understanding today's world of religious fanaticism.
Simply the best book on a charged and intricate topic.......2007-02-01
The topic of Atran's book has recently received a lot of attention, primarily because of the publication of Daniel Dennett's "Breaking the Spell" and Richard Dawkins' bestselling "The God Delusion".
I have just finished teaching a graduate course on evolutionary perspectives on religion, and have fewer doubts than ever that Atran has written by far the best book on the topic. In terms of explanatory structure his theory is more detailed and precise than any of the competitors.
While Atran says openly that he is an atheist, he tries to keep his discussion neutral, and his book is devoid of the polemical tone of Dawkins and Dennett. Yet, paradoxically, his approach has interesting implications for dealing with religious fundamentalism on a political level.
Even though "In Gods we Trust" is an unabashedly scientific book, it is well written and accessible to informed lay-people. I also recommend viewing the interchanges of Atran and Sam Harris ("The End of Faith")during the recent "Beyond Belief" conference either on youtube or (written) on the "Edge" website.
Book Description
"It's the animal in us," we often hear when we've been bad. But why not when we're good? Primates and Philosophers tackles this question by exploring the biological foundations of one of humanity's most valued traits: morality.
In this provocative book, primatologist Frans de Waal argues that modern-day evolutionary biology takes far too dim a view of the natural world, emphasizing our "selfish" genes. Science has thus exacerbated our reciprocal habits of blaming nature when we act badly and labeling the good things we do as "humane." Seeking the origin of human morality not in evolution but in human culture, science insists that we are moral by choice, not by nature.
Citing remarkable evidence based on his extensive research of primate behavior, de Waal attacks "Veneer Theory," which posits morality as a thin overlay on an otherwise nasty nature. He explains how we evolved from a long line of animals that care for the weak and build cooperation with reciprocal transactions. Drawing on both Darwin and recent scientific advances, de Waal demonstrates a strong continuity between human and animal behavior. In the process, he also probes issues such as anthropomorphism and human responsibilities toward animals.
Based on the Tanner Lectures de Waal delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2004, Primates and Philosophers includes responses by the philosophers Peter Singer, Christine M. Korsgaard, and Philip Kitcher and the science writer Robert Wright. They press de Waal to clarify the differences between humans and other animals, yielding a lively debate that will fascinate all those who wonder about the origins and reach of human goodness.
Customer Reviews:
Plausible.......2007-09-19
This is a very short book. The main essay has just about over 50 pages. The rest is introduction, some responses, and a closing statement.
Who says that important books need to be long? Possibly it is not all that important, but the main idea is new to me, therefore I am glad that I picked it up, after a recommendation in Der Spiegel.
Let me also say, I don't find the main hypothesis really compelling, in the sense of thoroughly thought through and explained. But I think it is plausible, and as I had been used to think in different directions and categories, this is a new paradigm for me.
Simply put, FdW challenges the conventional view that morality is part of civilization, that morality is a 'veneer' over our animal core, which is generally assumed to be selfish and immoral. He rejects the view that mankind developed as individuals and then became socialites, requiring rules for co-existence. Rather, homo evolved as a social animal and started his career on Earth with a set of rules for social life. I.o.w., the whole question how a human society without a creator can have morality, is superfluous, baseless, a waste of energy.
On the way to this hypothesis, FdW gets into arguments with the 'selfish gene' theory and with the Dawkins direction of neo-Darwinism. My suspicion is, that this conflict is as useless as a goitre (as we say in German). I don't think that Dawkins really meant the gene to be literally 'selfish', hence let's drop this linguistic bickering. (However I am too lazy to look it up in Dawkins.)
Only 4 stars, not because it is not important, but because it remains below its potential. The discussion part is not always to the point.
I am tempted to give an extra star for the foto of Georgia admiring her own reflection in the camera lens. But maybe an Oscar is more appropriate?
Welcome new perspectives on moral theorizing.......2007-09-06
This book is an interesting confrontation between primate research and professional moral philosophers. The aim is to discuss De Waal's attack on `veneer theory', the idea that moral behaviour is not really grounded in our nature but just a thin cultural overlay, but the discussion quickly becomes way more general.
In fact, we quickly see familiar dividing lines appear. Some, like Korsgaard, see morality as based on reason alone, and therefore purely human. Others, like De Waal, see it as primarily based on inborn capacities like empathy, and maintain that we share a lot of our morality with primates.
The truth is probably somewhere in between. Actually almost all the contributors confirm this in some way, but this is obscured by the fact that the authors do not seem to be able to agree on the meaning on the word`morality'.
Semantic confusion and untenable extremes: Nothing new in the world of discussions of morality then? What does make this book interesting, is that this time the discussions are informed by empirical evolutionary research, which means that even the philosophers have to keep their feet on the ground. Apart from the ape-stories being interesting to read, the result is a welcome new perspective on existing moral theories.
Critically Important Research.......2007-08-25
Teleologically oriented theologians and pompous philosophers need to read this book. New empirical research offers dramatic insights as to the how's and why's of the bilogoical origins of human values and morality. The more this book is read and digested, the faster the phony televangelists will disappear from popular and uninformed culture.
Excellent .......2007-07-29
I do not have the required background knowledge to really make a judgment as to the fundamental claim here i.e. that moral behavior, including decision-making is not an exclusively human prerogative but in fact is the natural condition of a wide variety of species for whom cooperatrive and and altruistic behavior can be collectively advantageous. De Waal's critique of what he calls 'veneer theory' the idea that human morality is a thin layer which comes over and above our fundamentally aggressive, selfish nature is I believe, even when one considers humans in isolation, quite convincing.
He brings certain evidence and examples to show that other species' outside the human, including such stereotypically cruel and mean creatures as wolves engage in mutually advantageous group behavior. The question however of the degree of conscious decision involved in this is one not really solved here. Clearly the human capacity for language- use and symbolic - communication extends not only modes of cooperation, but complexities in consciousness. One feels that deliberation and decision in human action work in ways other animals cannot come close to.
Our hertitage deepens.......2007-06-10
Succinct, quotable, accessible and scholarly ( in the best sense!)- Dr De Waal never disappoints.
Book Description
iGenetics: A Mendelian Approach reflects the dynamic nature of modern genetics by emphasizing an experimental, inquiry-based approach with a solid treatment of many research experiments.
1. Genetics: An Introduction, Mendelian Genetics, Chromosomal Basis of Inheritance, Extensions of Mendelian Genetic Principles, Quantitative Genetics, Gene Mapping in Eukaryotes, Advanced Gene Mapping in Eukaryotes, Variations in Chromosome Structure and Number, Genetics of Bacteria and Bacteriophages, DNA: The Genetic Material, DNA Replication, Gene Control of Proteins, Gene Expression: Transcription, Gene Expression: Translation, DNA Mutation, DNA Repair, and Transposable Elements, Recombinant DNA Technology, Applications of Recombinant DNA Technology, Genomics, Regulation of Gene Expression in Bacteria and Bacteriophages, Regulation of Gene Expression in Eukaryotes, Genetic Analysis of Development, Genetics of Cancer, Non-Mendelian Inheritance, Population Genetics, Molecular Evolution
For all readers interested in learning the central concepts of genetics.
Customer Reviews:
Genetics is interesting, but this book makes me dread the subject........2007-03-16
The most useful features in this book are "analytical approaches to solving genetics problems" and "questions and problems" at the end of each chapter. Many of the pictures and diagrams are also nice.
However, the writing style tends to be rather dreary and over wordy, which is great for insomniacs, but horrible for those who actually want to learn something. Most of the material is presented in a manner best "learned" by memorization, rather than understanding. As seems to be typical of many biology texts, the "what" is emphasized over the "how" and "why". The sections that approach genetics from a molecular level tend to be better than the others, but the writing style is still too verbose.
Probabilities are treated in a fast and loose manner, but I am willing to concede that such use may be common among geneticists.
I also found several errors and typos in many of the chapters.
I tend to find genetics intrinsically interesting and this book could be worse, but if my only exposure to genetics were through this book, I would probably like the field about as much as I would like to work with potassium cyanide.
Good Text Book.......2005-09-28
I think this is one of my favorite text books that I've encountered to this point. It's wonderfully straight forward and has beautiful diagrams that clearly illustrate the subjects being taught. It's also very nice reading, which is more than I can say about most text books!
Average customer rating:
- The Evolution of Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History from Ancient Tiems to the Twentieth Century
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The Evolution of Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History from Ancient Times to the Twentieth Century (Norman Surgery Series)
John, M.D. Kirkup
Manufacturer: Norman Pub.
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ASIN: 0930405862 |
Book Description
The Evolution of Surgical Instruments is the first comprehensive work on the subject published in over sixty years and arguably the most important general history of surgical instruments ever published. The only prior work on the subject, C. J. S. Thompson's The History and Evolution of Surgical Instruments (1942) attempted to cover the entire history in only 113 pages. Elisabeth Bennion's Antique Medical Instruments (1979) concentrated chiefly upon the aesthetic aspects of medical and surgical instruments to 1870. James Edmonson's comprehensive history, American Surgical Instruments (1997), focused on instruments manufactured in the United States up to 1900.
xviii, 510 pp. 579 illus., 30 in color. 8 1/2" × 11". Index. Cloth, dust jacket, acid-free paper. ISBN 0-430405-86-2. Norman Surgery Series No. 12.
Customer Reviews:
The Evolution of Surgical Instruments: An Illustrated History from Ancient Tiems to the Twentieth Century.......2006-11-04
As an advanced collector of pre-1900 surgical instruments and sets, I have found this text very valuable as a reference and research source. It covers English, European, and American instruments which allows comparative analysis of instruments for identification and dating. Since I specialize in Civil War surgical instruments, I have found the information invaluable in making decisions about instruments which are of Civil War or earlier production and thus correct or incorrect for a given maker or set.
Dr. Michael Echols
American Surgical Antiques
Book Description
This book investigates the question of how matter has evolved since its origin in the Big Bang, from the cosmological synthesis of hydrogen and helium to the generation of the complex set of nuclei that comprise our world and our selves. A central theme is the evolution of gravitationally contained thermonuclear reactors, otherwise known as stars. Our current understanding is presented systematically and quantitatively, by combining simple analytic models with new state-of-the-art computer simulations.
The narrative begins with the clues (primarily the solar system abundance pattern), the constraining physics (primarily nuclear and particle physics), and the thermonuclear burning in the Big Bang itself. It continues with a step-by-step description of how stars evolve by nuclear reactions, a critical investigation of supernova explosion mechanisms and the formation of neutron stars and of black holes, and an analysis of how such explosions appear to astronomers (illustrated by comparison with recent observations). It concludes with a synthesis of these ideas for galactic evolution, with implications for nucleosynthesis in the first generation of stars and for the solar system abundance pattern. Emphasis is given to questions that remain open, and to active research areas that bridge the disciplines of astronomy, cosmochemistry, physics, and planetary and space science. Extensive references are given.
Customer Reviews:
A must for graduate students.......2000-06-11
"Supernovae and Nucleosynthesis" is not a textbook, but it is extremely useful for astronomy students, especially in stellar and chemical evolution. There are lots of formulae, tables and figures, helping to understand the basics of synthesis and evolution of nuclei in our Cosmos. The thermonuclear reactions are well-explained, but less emphasis was taken in chemical evolution (especially in the observational part). In some parts is similar to the classic stellar evolution textbook by Clayton, but with update material. This book is a must for any astronomy library, serious students and professional astronomers.
Average customer rating:
- Good introduction book for DE
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Differential Evolution: A Practical Approach to Global Optimization (Natural Computing Series)
Kenneth V. Price ,
Rainer M. Storn , and
Jouni A. Lampinen
Manufacturer: Springer
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Multi-Objective Optimization Using Evolutionary Algorithms
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Introduction to Evolutionary Computing (Natural Computing Series)
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Ant Colony Optimization (Bradford Books)
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Genetic Algorithms in Search, Optimization, and Machine Learning
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Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory And the Search for Unity in Physical Law
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DNA Computing: 12th International Meeting on DNA Computing, DNA12, Seoul, Korea, June 5-9, 2006, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
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STACS 2007: 24th Annual Symposium on Theoretical Aspects of Computer Science, Aachen, Germany, February 22-24, 2007, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
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Membrane Computing: 7th International Workshop, WMC 2006, Leiden, Netherlands, July 17-21, 2006, Revised, Selected, and Invited Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
ASIN: 3540209506 |
Book Description
Problems demanding globally optimal solutions are ubiquitous, yet many are intractable when they involve constrained functions having many local optima and interacting, mixed-type variables. The differential evolution (DE) algorithm is a practical approach to global numerical optimization which is easy to understand, simple to implement, reliable, and fast. Packed with illustrations, computer code, new insights, and practical advice, this volume explores DE in both principle and practice. It is a valuable resource for professionals needing a proven optimizer and for students wanting an evolutionary perspective on global numerical optimization. A companion CD includes DE-based optimization software in several programming languages.
Customer Reviews:
Good introduction book for DE.......2006-03-01
Some one who wants to beagin with DE. This the good starting point. Book started with good conceptual backgroud and carried away with codeing details of DE. Kenneth puts enough efforts to clear concept behind DE. Only thing missing is that book demands little background with GAs, EAs and optimization theory.Other wise nice book for those who are familiarized with concept of evolutionary techniques.
Book Description
The field of molecular evolution has experienced explosive growth in recent years due to the rapid accumulation of genetic sequence data, continuous improvements to computer hardware and software, and the development of sophisticated analytical methods. The increasing availability of large
genomic data sets requires powerful statistical methods to analyse and interpret them, generating both computational and conceptual challenges for the field.
Computational Molecular Evolution provides an up-to-date and comprehensive coverage of modern statistical and computational methods used in molecular evolutionary analysis, such as maximum likelihood and Bayesian statistics. Yang describes the models, methods and algorithms that are most useful for
analysing the ever-increasing supply of molecular sequence data, with a view to furthering our understanding of the evolution of genes and genomes. The book emphasizes essential concepts rather than mathematical proofs. It includes detailed derivations and implementation details, as well as numerous
illustrations, worked examples, and exercises. It will be of relevance and use to students and professional researchers (both empiricists and theoreticians) in the fields of molecular phylogenetics, evolutionary biology, population genetics, mathematics, statistics and computer science. Biologists
who have used phylogenetic software programs to analyze their own data will find the book particularly rewarding, although it should appeal to anyone seeking an authoritative overview of this exciting area of computational biology.
Customer Reviews:
A useful review of statistical work in the area.......2007-09-16
I bought a copy of this book with high expectation that I will learn something new in this area. I was disappointed in that it essentially covers all the statistical techniques, with little account on the biological background and genetic evolution contexts. I think, for the statistics-sophisticated, they should be better served by other books, such as Wen-Hsiung Li's two books on Molecular Evolution. Anyway, this book may be written for biologists, and for experimentalists. For people with adequate mathematical background, I recommend other books which have more dicussions on the biological motivations and experimental facts.
Book Description
Evolutionary Computing is the collective name for a range of problem-solving techniques based on principles of biological evolution, such as natural selection and genetic inheritance. These techniques are being increasingly widely applied to a variety of problems, ranging from practical applications in industry and commerce to leading-edge scientific research.
This book presents the first complete overview of this exciting field aimed directly at lecturers and graduate and undergraduate students. It is also meant for those who wish to apply evolutionary computing to a particular problem or within a given application area. To this group the book is valuable because it presents EC as something to be used rather than just studied.
Last, but not least, this book contains quick-reference information on the current state-of-the-art in a wide range of related topics, so it is of interest not just to evolutionary computing specialists but to researchers working in other fields.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent textbook.......2006-10-31
I have used evolutionary programming in my research in the past and have read several books on the topic. This is one of the most well written books available, that can easily be read by a beginner despite its depth. The conclusions that they draw are logical and supported by the appropriate references. If you had to read only one book in evolutionary programming, consider this as a candidate.
Evolution as a practical tool.......2006-04-04
The authors emphasise from the get-go that this book is meant as a practical introduction to the application of evolutionary computing. It is not a high brow, abstruse monograph. (Which indeed Springer texts often are.)
The level of discussion can be adequately understood by someone with a good background in computing and hopefully also in some science or engineering field. Certainly, there are important abstractions that must be mastered. Like how the evolutionary search can be seen as a path across a fitness landscape or potential energy surface. But there appears to be a careful explanation of the minimum necessary maths to convey an idea. And where a chapter's references might point to more specialised texts or journal papers that give a fuller math treatment.
It may well be, as another reviewer remarked, that there is insufficient detail in some passages of this book. But perhaps the text is not meant to be a low level "user's manual" type of discussion.
If you do find this book useful, consider a more advanced text, "Foundations of Genetic Programming" by Langdon and Poli, also published by Springer. It takes you deeper into the subject.
Excellent introduction.......2005-02-02
I taught our introduction to evolutionary computation class from this book. It is a well rounded introduction to the topic covering most of the introductorty material you would expect. There is an real dearth of good introductory books for EC. This is probably the best because of its breadth. Its weakness is its lack of detail. It would not hurt if they covered the same material in about 50% more pages. As soon as they start a topic its over and on to the next topic. But if you are new to the field they give plenty of references and touch on most topics in enough detail for students to implement. All in all a good solid job.
An excellent textbook suitable for all levels.......2004-06-06
This is an excellent textbook which covers most aspects of the Evolutionary Computing. It's suitable for all levels. It's easy to follow, rich in content and has many references (439 to be precise) for further information. The table of contents from the book's web site is as follows:
1. Introduction
2. What is an Evolutionary Algorithm?
3. Genetic Algorithms
4. Evolution Strategies
5. Evolutionary Programming
6. Genetic Programming
7. Learning Classifier Systems
8. Parameter Control in Evolutionary Algorithms
9. Multi-Modal Problems and Spatial Distribution
10. Hybridisation with Other Techniques: Memetic Algorithms
11. Theory
12. Constraint Handling
13. Special Forms of Evolution
14. Working with Evolutionary Algorithms
15. Summary
16. Appendices
17. Index
18. References
Recommended to everyone interested in EC.
an excellent introduction.......2004-01-29
The book is easy and refreshing to read. Assuming only a minimum of prior knowledge, all the relevant aspects are covered. The focus is on practical applications, with numerous examples, simple equations and plenty of practical advise for the user.
As should be the costum with every scientific introduction, the authors are at great pains to clarify the relationship between the different flavours of EC and to show how they historically developed.
The book does not provide much on the mathematical level, though. Not even a basic graph theoretical analysis of mutation and recombination.
This said, the book is still perfect to get you started.
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Avian Incubation: Behaviour, Environment, and Evolution (Oxford Ornithology Series, 13)
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Avian Growth and Development: Evolution within the Altricial-Precocial Spectrum (Oxford Ornithology Series)
ASIN: 0198508107 |
Book Description
This is the first scientific review of all factors affecting incubation in avian nests. These range from nest construction, egg characteristics and patterns of embryonic development. There is an extensive section describing incubation behaviour of parents and embryos, and there are chapters reviewing brood patch physiology and the various factors determining the incubation environment, including nest microbiology. Another section provides chapters giving detailed descriptions of examples of unusual aspects of avian incubation, whilst the final section provides consideration of the ecological, energetic and fitness cost of incubation. Written by authorities in their respective fields from around the world, this provides a comprehensive review of this critical aspect of avian reproduction. Much of the data included has not been previously published, and so Avian Incubation is not only an extensive reference text but is also a valuable contribution to our basic understanding of incubation.
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- An essential reference
- The only "must-have" snake book
- Any garter enthusiast will want this in their library
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The Garter Snakes: Evolution and Ecology (Animal Natural History Series, Vol 2)
Douglas A. Rossman ,
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Richard A. Seigel
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The General Care And Maintenance Of Garter Snakes And Water Snakes (The Herpetocultural Library. Series 200)
ASIN: 0806128208 |
Customer Reviews:
An essential reference.......2001-08-17
For anyone interested in garter snakes, this book is the Holy Grail. Its chapters summarize a tremendous amount of work done on the genus, and make this book the one reference to consult first when doing any research on garters. It covers all thirty species, including many from Mexico and Central America for which data is limited and that I had never heard of before. I'm very pleased with it, and refer to it often.
But bear in mind that this a scientific monograph. As monographs go it is surprisingly accessible, but it does not pull any scholarly punches, and some parts of it will be beyond some readers, particularly children. The species key, for example, refers to measurements that no amateur or casual observer would be able to make, but it does so in order to be correct rather than easy.
That garter snake researchers need to own a copy of it goes without saying; amateurs with a serious interest in garters ought to buy it as well.
The only "must-have" snake book.......1999-11-21
There is far too much information in this book to be summarized in a review. Suffice it to say that the book is fascinating: the writing is clear, the conclusions sound, and the research extensive. For most other varieties of snake--other colubrids, boidae, vipers, even elapids--there is no shortage of books, and books covering even individual species are plentiful (think how many books are devoted exclusively to Boa constrictor ssp., for example). And while most of these books are worth reading once, the majority say little that all the others don't say, too. Garter snakes, however, seldom rate more than a paragraph or two in any snake book, and there are very few books devoted exclusively to garters (I can think of only one, offhand). This book, however, gives garters the attention--and gives the reader the information--that the species deserves. If one is a ratsnake enthusiast, or a python person, or mad about milksnakes, there are plenty of books worth reading, but few that are indispensable. If one is a breeder, researcher, or simply an interested layperson regarding garter snakes, however, this book is one that simply cannot be done without.
Any garter enthusiast will want this in their library.......1999-06-29
This wonderful compendium of gartersnake information is a treasure for lovers of Thamnophis. The color plates are wonderful, and the biological information is fascinating. Who would have guessed that some garters actually brumate (hibernate) in water? A great gift for any gartersnake keeper.
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