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History of Life, 4^th Edition

Richard Cowen, 2004, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, 324 p. (Softcover, US $79.95) ISBN 1-4051-1756-7.

At many universities, large survey classes in geology remain a staple offering with which students can fulfill a distribution requirement in the sciences. While such courses may result in an occasional geology major, they mostly serve to expose non-scientists (i.e., the soon-to-be general public) to a discipline of which they are, at best, vaguely aware. Within the genre, courses outlining the history of life are particularly attractive because they allow a great deal of flexibility to suit an instructor's interests and expertise. Moreover, the subject can be used to demonstrate how different scientific disciplines may be integrated in the pursuit of knowledge. Finally, biological history, when delivered as a seamless narrative, informs the lay public about its origins and relationship to the biological world and geological past.

Richard Cowen hits all of these nails on the head with the 4^th edition of History of Life. Written for an introductory course Cowen has taught for over three decades at UC Davis, the book serves to delineate many critical events in the evolution of animals. Throughout, Cowen is careful to distinguish fact from interpretation, and explains how, in paleontology, a pecking order of more- to less-robust interpretations (the latter including guesses) exists. Cowen encourages the reader to analyze critically the interpretations that are offered for various observations. I like especially the integration of many chemical, biologic, paleontologic, and geologic principles within the narrative. As a result, the book deviates from a more standard format of having the first third cover principles while the latter two-thirds cover the subject at hand.

The integration across scientific disciplines is expressed especially well in the early chapters. For example, Chapter One outlines the primary hypotheses relevant to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

BENJAMIN J. GREENSTEIN¹

¹ Department of Geology Cornell College Mt. Vernon, IA 52314