Physical Books - Page 6

Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Building on the success of their groundbreaking anthology Evolutionary Medicine (OUP, 1999), Wenda R. Trevathan, E. O. Smith, and James J. McKenna provide an up-to-date and thought-provoking introduction to the field with this new collection of essays. Ideal for courses in evolutionary medicine, medical anthropology, and the evolution of human disease, Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives presents twenty-three original articles that examine how human evolution relates to a broad range of contemporary health problems including infectious, chronic, nutritional, and mental diseases and disorders. Topics covered include disease susceptibility in cultural context, substance abuse and addiction, sleep disorders, preeclampsia, altitude-related hypoxia, the biological context of menstruation, and the role of stress in modern life. An international team of preeminent scholars in biological anthropology, medicine, biology, psychology, and geography contributed the selections. Together they represent a uniquely integrative and multidisciplinary approach that takes into account the dialogue between biology and culture as it relates to understanding, treating, and preventing disease. A common theme throughout is the description of cases in which biological human development conflicts with culturally based individual behaviors that determine health outcomes. Detailed, evidence-based arguments make the case that all aspects of the human condition covered in the volume have an evolutionary basis, while theoretical discussions using other empirical evidence critique the gaps that still remain in evolutionary approaches to health.
Evolutionary Medicine and Health: New Perspectives features an introductory overview that covers the field's diverse array of topics, questions, lines of evidence, and perspectives. In addition, the editors provide introductions to each essay and an extensive bibliography that represents a state-of-the-art survey of the literature. A companion website at www.oup.com/us/evolmed offers a full bibliography and links to source articles, reports, and databases. Written in an engaging style that is accessible to students, professionals, and general readers, this book offers a unique look at how an evolutionary perspective has become increasingly relevant to the health field and medical practice.

Our Origins: Discovering Physical Anthropology

Clark Spencer Larsen

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Editorial Review:

With an unparalleled art program, Our Origins is an accessible, up-to-date text that focuses on anthropology's big questions and the scientific process. A leader in the field and an experienced teacher, Clark Larsen focuses not on encyclopedic details but on the "big picture," getting students to see and think like anthropologists. Larsen covers all the major aspects of physical anthropology, including genetics, primatology, and the fossil record. He also provides the strongest coverage of bioarchaeology on the market.

The descent of woman

Elaine Morgan

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Total reviews: 19 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

And Now for Something Completely Different.... 4 out of 5 stars.
29 of 32 people found this review helpful.

I found Elaine Morgan's "The Descent of Woman" to provide some highly interesting concepts to think about, and I have no doubt that her outsider "alternative" view of evolution caused a considerable uproar in the scientific community when the book was first published in 1972.

At the core of Morgan's theory is the idea that women played an equal (or possibly superior) role in human evolution, and were NOT just submissive second-class childbearers while the "strong and brave hunter men" ("Tarzanists") were shaping the evolution of the species. In presenting her case, Morgan draws heavily on the Aquatic Ape Theory (first presented by Sir Alister Hardy in the 1920's) for explanations of how humans moved from the trees to walking upright, how they became hairless, the development of speech, and the physiological factors that make us radically different from other primates.

The book doesn't portray the male half of humanity in a very favorable light-- which, in itself, I don't really have a problem with. However, the tone of the writing sometimes crosses the line from scientific to slightly condescending and "preachy," and in doing so, the work perhaps loses a bit of credibility from a scientific standpoint-- almost as if the author couldn't quite decide between "Science" and "Feminism." Nonetheless, Morgan should be commended for questioning male-centric evolutionary theories put forth by a historically male-dominated scientific community, and readers should not lose sight of the fact that she is more of an "outsider" than a member of the "establishment."

I am not sure if the designation "Classic Study of Evolution" is deserved-- the core CONCEPTS were somewhat revolutionary at the original time of publishing, but the actual presentation tastes more of "pseudoscience" than hard science. At the end of the book, I felt that I had been presented with a very interesting (and plausible) POSSIBILITY, but without being CONVINCED that This Is How It Is. That, of course, is just my OPINION-- I am not a scientist.

Overall rating: Recommended (7 bookmarks out of a possible 10). Women readers will feel good/vindicated; open-minded men will hopefully feel somewhat enlightened. The writing style is eloquent, at times humorous, at times somewhat dry and scholarly. A well-developed is vocabulary recommended!

Editorial Review:

This pioneering work, originally published in 1972, was the first to argue irrefutably the equal role of women in human evolution.

Forensic Taphonomy: The Postmortem Fate of Human Remains

William D. Haglund, Marcella Harnish Sorg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Overview of the field of forensic taphonomy 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 15 people found this review helpful.

Haglund and Sorg have done an excellent job of compiling and assembling information about the diverse field of taphonomy. The authors chosen to contribute to this volume are the leaders in their respective sub-disciplines and are illustrative of the many forms taphonomy can take. They further demonstrate that taphonomy is no longer considered just as: the study of skeletal assemblages in paleoecological and archaeological settings. It is a growing, diversifying, multi-faceted field. Students of taphonomy will find references in this book invaluable. In short: it will be your greatest resource in taphonomical studies.

Editorial Review:

Links have recently been established between the study of death assemblages by archaeologists and paleontologists (taphonomy) and the application of physical anthropology concepts to the medicolegal investigation of death (forensic anthropology). Forensic Taphonomy explains these links in a broad-based, multidisciplinary volume. It applies taphonomic models in modern forensic contexts and uses forensic cases to extend taphonomic theories. Review articles, case reports, and chapters on methodology round out this book's unique approach to forensic science.

Development of the Nervous System

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Development of the Nervous System presents a broad outline of neural development principles as exemplified by key experiments and observations from past and recent times. The text is organized along a development pathway from the induction of the neural primordium to the emergence of behavior. It covers all the major topics including the patterning and growth of the nervous system, neuronal determination, axonal navigation and targeting, synapse formation and plasticity, and neuronal survival and death. This new text reflects the complete modernization of the field achieved through the use of model organisms and the intensive application of molecular and genetic approaches. Original, artist-rendered drawings combined with clear, concise writing make Development of the Nervous System well suited to anyone approaching this complex field for the first time.

Key Features
* Provides a synopsis of concepts and experimental strategies
* Includes designs of critical experiments that are easy to understand
* Outlines the molecular and genetic bases for many developmental events
* Presents new information on the function of the developing central nervous system
* Richly illustrated with original drawings
* Treats the field as an experimental rather than a descriptive science
* Written at a level that is appropriate for undergraduates and beyond

Principles of Brain Evolution

Georg F. Striedter

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Brain Evolution is a complex weave of species similarities and differences, bound by diverse rules or principles. This book is a detailed examination of these principles, using data from a wide array of vertebrates but minimizing technical details and terminology. It is written for advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and more senior scientists who already know something about 'the brain,' but want a deeper understanding of how diverse brains evolved. The book opens with a brief history of evolutionary neuroscience, then introduces the various groups of vertebrates and their major brain regions. The core of the text explores: what aspects of brain organization are conserved across the vertebrates; how brains and bodies changed in size as vertebrates evolved; how individual brain regions tend to increase or decrease in size; how regions can become structurally more (or less) complex; and how neuronal circuitry evolves. A central theme emerges from these chapters-that evolutionary changes in brain size tend to correlate with many other aspects of brain structure and function, including the proportional size of individual brain regions, their complexity, and their neuronal connections. To explain these correlations, the book delves into rules of brain development and asks how changes in brain structure impact function and behaviour. The final two chapters demonstrate the application of these rules, focusing on how mammal brains diverged from other brains and how Homo sapiens evolved a very large and 'special' brain.

Human Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us about Ourselves

Rob Desalle, Ian Tattersall

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ever since the recognition of the Neanderthals as an archaic form of human in the mid-nineteenth century, the fossilized bones of extinct humans have been used by paleoanthropologists to explore human origins. These bones told the story of how the earliest humans - bipedal apes, actually - first emerged in Africa some 6 to 7 million years ago. Starting about 2 million years ago, the bones reveal that as humans became anatomically and behaviorally more modern, they swept out of Africa in waves into Asia, Europe, and finally into the New World. Even as paleoanthropologists continued to make important discoveries - Mary Leakey's Nutcracker Man in 1959, Don Johanson's Lucy in 1974, and most recently Martin Pickford's Millennium Man, to name just a few - experts in genetics were looking at the human species from a very different angle. In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick first envisioned the double helix structure of DNA, the basic building block of all life. In the 1970s it was shown that humans share 98.7 percent of their genes with the great apes - that in fact genetically we are more closely related to chimpanzees than chimpanzees are to gorillas. And most recently the entire human genome has been mapped - we now know where each of the genes are located on the DNA strands that make up our chromosomes. In "Human Origins: What Bones and Genomes Tell Us about Ourselves", two of the world's foremost scientists, geneticist Rob DeSalle and paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall, show how research into the human genome confirms what fossil bones have told us about human origins. This unprecedented integration of the fossil and genomic records provides the most complete understanding possible of humanity's place in nature, its emergence from the rest of the living world, and the evolutionary processes that have molded human populations to be what they are today. "Human Origins" serves as a companion volume to the American Museum of Natural History's new permanent exhibit, as well as standing alone as an accessible overview of recent insights into what it means to be human.

Human Heredity: Principles and Issues

Michael R. Cummings

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

An accurate and concice look into Human Genetics. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a wonderful book for a college level exploration of Human Genetics. The chapters introduce every topic well, and in such a way that science majors will remain interested while non science majors aren't left behind. It is a great book to begin to explore the wonders of Human Genetics.

Great book on genetics 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This book effectively conveys interesting, detailed material without confusing the reader. It is not the typical staugy textbook that we college students are so use to as this book made me want to read it, it was so enjoyable. I recommend it to all college students or anyone interested in genetics that would like to understand our genetic principles.

Good Into Book 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

One of the better intro books I've read. Has a lot of info in an easy to read manner.

Editorial Review:

Introductory textbook on the basic concepts of human genetics. For undergraduates with little or no background in biology, chemistry, and mathematics. Previous edition: c1994. Softcover.

Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, The (2nd Edition)

Karen Ramey Burns

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A comprehensive text for my students. Highly recommended! 4 out of 5 stars.
35 of 42 people found this review helpful.

I am using this text in the anthropology lab with my students of Introduction to Forensic Sciences. As a former student of Dr. Ramey Burns, I am convinced she is an excellent educator who enjoys working with new generations of forensic scientists. Students from First World societies find chapter 15 extremely helpful in our seminar discussions about the importance to learn and to respect local cultures when investigating all sort of crimes. For the next edition of the manual, I would like to recommend the inclusion of scientific advancements in Latin America the author has contributed to develop. For instance, normative standards from populations with Latin American biological affiliation may be used in the identification of skeletal remains here in North America.

Editorial Review:

The Forensic Anthropology Training Manual, 2/e  is designed to serve three purposes: to be used as a general introduction to the field of forensic anthropology; as a framework for training; and as a practical reference tool. This book will make readers aware of the challenges and responsibilities of the forensic scientist, the multidisciplinary nature of the work, and the international potential for the forensic sciences. The manual examines physical evidence, death investigation specialists, forensic anthropology, human Osteology, human Odontology, laboratory analysis, field methods, professional results, and human rights applications. For those seeking basic knowledge necessary to collect and process skeletonized human remains.

What's Wrong with My Mouse?: Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice

Jacqueline N., PhD Crawley

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Transgenic and knockout mutations provide an important means for understanding gene function, as well as for developing therapies for genetic diseases. This engaging and informative book discusses the many advances in the field of transgenic technology that have enabled researchers to bring about various changes in the mouse genome. Equal emphasis is given to both the principles of transgenic and knockout methods and their applications. A clear and concise format provides researchers with a comprehensive review of the behavioral paradigms appropriate for analyzing mouse phenotypes.

What's Wrong with My Mouse? explains the differences between transgenic knockout mice and their wild-type controls, while providing critical information about gene function and expression. This volume recognizes that newly identified genes can provide useful insights into brain functioning, including brain malfunctioning in disease states. Written by a world-renowned expert in the field, the material also covers:
* How to generate a transgenic or knockout mouse
* functions (open field, holeboard, rotarod, balance, grip, circadian activity, etc.)
* Sensory abilities (olfaction, vision, hearing, taste, touch, nociception)
* Reproductive behavior, social behavior, and emotional behavior

Researchers in neuroscience, pharmacology, genetics, developmental biology, and cell biology will all find this book essential reading.