75 of 82 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Clear, correct, & important constraints on evolution, February 27, 2000
This review is from: 'Mathematics of Evolution' (Hardcover)
I thoroughly enjoyed it. This aptly titled book is indeed on the mathematics of evolution. Hard hitting material that places constraints on evolutionary arguments.
First, it is explicit, it takes nothing for granted. Every (or virtually every) assumption, model, and math step is explained. He explains it clearly and completely, rather than just stating his say-so as so many other evolution books do. Based on the text, I was able to re-derive virtually all its math and verify that it is based on his stated models and assumptions. The math techniques are especially valuable for researchers in this field. He gives the clearest explanation of the use of diffusion equations I have found anywhere. Kimura, for example, throws diffusion equations around a lot, but does not explain them nearly as clearly, even in his detailed published papers, which I have read.
Also, Hoyle deals with some highly relevant issues, which other evolution books tend not to do. Evolution books ordinarily try to sell evolution to the public, and to accomplish that they tend to under-discuss the touchy issues. Hoyle's book goes after the touchy central issues unflinchingly. I wish more evolution books were like it. For example, the cost of harmful mutation, and issues like error catastrophe, are almost always avoided or under-discussed in evolutionary genetics books - they assume away this issue, often without even acknowledging it. But it is a key issue and ought be a regular participant in evolutionary discussions. Hoyle approaches it boldly as a centerpiece of his book. Bravo!
Armed with a clear mathematical analysis, Hoyle enters the contentious issue of sexual reproduction, to argue, with compelling strength, that asexual populations have difficulty evolving because they are overwhelmed by harmful mutation. Sexual reproduction provides a way to more readily shed harmful mutations. This argument elsewhere goes by the name of Muller's Ratchet, but Hoyle gives it clear, mathematical armament.
Maynard-Smith (in his Feb. 10 review in Nature) had to press to the very fringes of the book to find much to disagree with. This is noteworthy because he is a leading expert on these very issues of sexual reproduction and the cost of harmful mutation. His review instead faulted the book for not being "new". He missed the point: The book is good because it is clear, correct, and important - more-so than comparable evolution books.
Hoyle discusses his mathematical results in readily understandable terms. The book has many juicy statements that are sure to be quoted in the origins debate. The book's posture is doubtful of Darwinian macroevolution, and for this reason I suspect the book might not be read widely (or promoted) by avid Darwinians. That is unfortunate, because the book has so much to offer, no matter which side of the origins debate one is on.
On the flip-side, Hoyle is mistaken about Haldane's Dilemma. I can (and will in future publications) explain in detail just where his errors occur (there are several, as he takes several lines of argument on this issue - which I admire). Maynard-Smith's review, to his credit, acknowledges that Hoyle's dismissal of this famous evolutionary problem is unconvincing. This is not a serious failing of Hoyle's book however, as the mistakes he made are not uncommon, and there is much confusion about this issue, even in Haldane's original papers. So, I do not fault Hoyle badly on this point.
Hoyle's book touches on eugenics some (which may perhaps raise eyebrows). The book also briefly ties in with his ideas of panspermia. Yet I do not find it improper for him to include such discussion. I would merely say the strength of the book lay in the material I mentioned earlier.
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20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Crisp language and plausible mathematics consider Darwinism, November 4, 1999
This review is from: 'Mathematics of Evolution' (Hardcover)
Sir Fred Hoyle, credited with coining the term 'Big Bang', turns his extraordinary mathematical prowess to consideration of the claims of neo-Darwinism.
His results support the Darwinian findings that 'explain the fine details of the matching of many species to their environment', and undermine the extrapolation of those findings 'to broader taxonomic categories, to kingdoms, divisions, classes, and orders'.
Professor Hoyle states explicitly that he has no theistic faith, but forthrightly (attention, please, all sides of the creationist debate) challenges that the Darwinian theory 'is wrong, and that continued adherence to it is an impediment to discovering the correct evolutionary theory'. He continues: 'To the extent that one is deflected by socioreligious considerations from correcting what is wrong, one hands a victory to opponents'.
Advanced mathematical capability is necessary to follow the book's argument closely, but the text is written in lucid and engaging language which will carry any interested reader along.
This vital work was available only in a few manuscript copies for many years, and the publication by Acorn Enterprises in Memphis Tennessee is a service to the future. I recommend the book for its argument, its nobility, and its value to your great-grandchildren.
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20 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
ALWAYS TO BE ADMIRED AND MUCH TO BE LOVED, February 25, 2000
This review is from: 'Mathematics of Evolution' (Hardcover)
Hoyle, one of the most brilliant people to go through Cambridge, may have the delightful range of English character that reaches toward eccentricity in its freedom of thought, but he has never failed to be interesting and deep. I admit it is much easier to fall asleep in one's assumptions than to be genuinely and deservedly puzzled by problems not yet solved or situations that promote embarrassment for the casualness of their treatment by the common imitative herd.
This book is very much in character for Hoyle, and I highly recommend it. Few minds in the twentieth century have provided such a constant challenge to the intelligent as has Hoyle throughout his many books and papers in a long career.
It is often a person outside a great field who sees it the most clear-eyed way and knows where it needs to blush because it has cheated.
- Patrick Gunkel
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