Fossils and Evolution [Paperback]

Tom Kemp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 8, 1999

Rather than survey of the extensive data, this book focuses on the ideas, methodology and scope of contemporary palaeobiology. It examines the complex interdependence of evolutionary theory and the interpretation of the fossil record. The author demonstrates that this is not the circular argument between pattern and process sometimes alleged, but a matter of understanding carefully the interrelationship between palaeontological and neontological evidence. The first part of the book consists of four chapters outlining the central principles: the nature of the pattern/process relationship, taxonomic methods and the analysis of pattern, evolutionary theory and the analysis of process, and the nature of incompleteness of the fossil record and what to do about it. The second part is then devoted to five central areas of contemporary research in evolutionary palaeobiology: fossils and phylogenetic inference; the mechanism of speciation; taxonomic turnover on the geological time-scale; mass-extinctions; and the origin of new higher taxa. In each case the nature of the questions and the relevant kinds of evidence, including such new sources as molecular sequence data and stable isotope ratios, are reviewed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`'This extended essay is expansive, well researched and broad in scope...It is one of the more compact and literate treatments of the major features of evolution since George Gaylord Simpson's magisterial works of the 1940s and 1950s.'' Kevin Padian, Trends in Ecology and Evolution --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

T. S. Kemp is at Oxford University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 296 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (April 8, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198504241
• ISBN-13: 978-0198504245
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,978,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pattern and Process, March 25, 2001

By 

John C. Landon "nemonemini" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fossils and Evolution (Paperback)

This is a very good and not too technical summary by an expert in the Darwinian field not only of the current state of evolutionary theory, but of the real difficulties, stated with a succinct clarity often absent in other such works. A sort of Neo-Neo-Darwinian Synthesis emerges from the presentation of the complexities of the pattern and process debate, with good treatments of many issues, from cladistics, to punctuated equilibrium, and much else. The book is very clear, and, without parting ways with conventional Darwinism, highlights the complexities of the 'epistemological gap'as revealed in the actual state of our knowledge of the fossil record. As the author notes, there is "no single universally applicable theory of the cause of evolution that all agree explains all aspects of all cases". Such statements are more effective in the Darwin debate than the blank wall of massive denial that attends too many treatments. Very clear, rigorous, and with excellent references. Good book to get one's bearings in a changing field, whatever one's views of evolution.