The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance (Belknap Press)

no One In This Century Can Speak With Greater Authority On The Progress Of Ideas In Biology Than Ernst Mayr. And No Book Has Ever Established The Life Sciences So Firmly In The Mainstream Of Western Intellectual History As The Growth Of Biological Thought. Ten Years In Preparation, This Is A Work Of Epic Proportions, Tracing The Development Of The Major Problems Of Biology, From The Earliest Attempts To Find Order In The Diversity Of Life, To Modern Research Into The Mechanisms Of Gene Transmission. frederic L. Holmes - Washington Post Book World the Growth Of Biological Thought Will Be A Richly Rewarding Experience...mayr's Vivid Manner, His Clear Analytical Distinctions, His Candor In Meeting Controversial Issues Head On, Make His Discussions As Stimulating As They Are Valuable. Explores The Development Of The Ideas Of Evolutionary Biology, Particularly As Affected By The Increasing Understanding Of Genetics And Of The Chemical Basis Of Inheritance. Introduction : How To Write History Of Biology -- The Place Of Biology In The Sciences And Its Conceptual Structure -- The Changing Intellectual Milieu Of Biology. Diversity Of Life. Macrotaxonomy, The Science Of Classifying -- Grouping According To Common Ancestry -- Microtaxonomy, The Science Of Species. Evolution. Origins Without Evolution -- Evolution Before Darwin -- Charles Darwin -- Darwin's Evidence For Evolution And Common Descent -- The Causation Of Evolution : Natural Selection -- Diversity And Synthesis Of Evolutionary Thought -- Post-synthesis Developments. Variation And Its Inheritance. Early Theories And Breeding Experiments -- Germ Cells, Vehicles Of Heredity -- The Nature Of Inheritance -- The Flowering Of Mendelian Genetics -- Theories Of The Gene -- The Chemical Basis Of Inheritance. Epilogue : Toward A Science Of Science. Ernst Mayr. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 893-955.