Customer Reviews

BRUSCA:INVERTEBRATES (German Edition)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This invertebrate text is a mixed bag. Although the date on the Author's Preface is 2002, very few references more recent than 1997 are cited. The treatment is also very uneven. As expected given the authors' interests, the Arthropod treatment is done pretty well, but pretty much all the other major phyla are poorly treated. For example, reading the mollusk section is like entering a time warp; the gastropod systematic treatment is straight out of 1970s and the minor classes are perhaps worse. Within the molluscan overall framework, seminal works such as the Ponder and Lindberg treatment of gastropods are ignored, and the minor molluscan groups far no better; nothing more recent than references in the 1970s have obviously been consulted for the Scaphopods and although more recent references are listed for the Aplacophora and other minor classes the treatment is equally weak.

Similar problems are apparent within other major taxa as well.

Although the authors have tried to include some modern phylogentic analyses, the more recent data (from say, 1998 through at least 2000) that should have been included are totally absent.

Compared to the first edition, the text has many new illustrations; in fact, that seems to be the major positive addition over the earlier addition.

The book seems to have relatively few typographical errors.

This large, comprehensive book is actually very suitable for the general reader. Concepts are explained well. Excellent line drawings accompany the text. The book starts off with general concepts, then covers the protozoa and then the placazoa (Trichoplax). It is suggested, as others have also speculated, that Trichoplax perhaps represents a surviving descendant of a premetazoan ancestor. The book then goes on to cover the sponges, cnidaria, ctenophora, platyhelminthes, pseudocolelomates, numerous chapters on worms, arthropoda, mollusca, etc, and finishes off with the invertebrate deuterostomes (including echinodermata, hemichordata and chordata). This book lacks recent molecular results, but nonetheless remains an excellent reference on the invertebrates.

This is a really amazing book. Goes way beyond the usual listing of features often found in comparative zoology type books, and pulls out underlying themes. Moreover, it is written in a way that makes for relaxing reading. Even the obligatory section on "why we should care about taxonomy" was an interesting read, not the chore that it tends to be in books like this. Excellent illustrations, good enough to make it a coffee-table book, but also has clear explanations and a wealth of information. This book will be a classic.

Brusca and Brusca's book, INVERTEBRATES, presents a wonderful treatment of this extremely diverse group of animals. The continuous themes of body plan, development, and evolutionary relationships provide a continuous focus for the book.

There is ample material in this book for any most groups of invertebrates. This book would work well for an undergraduate or a graduate level course. The line drawings and BW photos are great. The text is well written, and comprehensive taxonomic information is included.

I hope Brusca and Brusca come out with a 2nd edition, since this book was published ten years ago. If they do, it will be a top candidate for my invert zool course in the future.

5 stars.

This is one of the best general invertebrate books available. Every time I open it I find a new group I was not aware of previously. Each chapter covers the general features, taxonomy, locomotion, nutrition and reproduction to a degree appropriate for each group. The line drawings and photographs used are excellent and the reader can find plenty of further reading for each group. If you have a query about an invertebrate this is the first place to look. Students also love this wonderful text book because it is huge and reasonably priced.

This is a very well organized, beautifully illustrated, comprehensive review of the invertebrates. I wish I had it when I studied biology, but I'm glad I can have it now on my shelf.

This is a really good book to have on your shelf. I will not be selling this textbook back!