Re: Misconceptions about Evolution
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I'd recommend as the best introduction to evolution the various collections of essays by Stephen Jay Gould. These collections are readable, address many diverse topics in relation to evolutionary theory - hard to beat that combo....
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I'd recommend them as well, but I'd start with the earliest ones, such as The Panda's Thumb and Ever Since Darwin. They're in an intelligent, yet conversational style that just about anyone can read and enjoy. Gould's later collections are much more... verbose, often annoyingly so.
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Cooker sez:
This theory of punctuated equilibrium is fairly well supported in the fossil record and pretty widely accepted among evolutionists.
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Punctuated equilibrium is a lot more intuitive if you've read Ernst Mayr. Given that most of the best theoretical work on population genetics was already done by the late 1940s, I'm surprised it took another two decades to come up with punctuated equilibrium. I'm even more surprised that the idea was so controversial when introduced. I guess gradualism wasn't exclusive to geology.
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Read Stephen J. Gould's book "The Structure of Evolution Theory" to get a more modern view. There is a lot beyond natural selection in modern evolutionary theory.
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Sheesh! A fine book, true, but it's 1300+ pages! Have some compassion, man! Give 'em something to wade in before you throw 'em into the ocean.
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