Mayr vs Croizat

[John Grehan]

>ANIMAL SPECIES AND EVOLUTION (Mayr 1963) is in my opinion the most
>important book on evolution since ORIGIN OF SPECIES

>Bill Shear

Everyone has their favorate, but for me the most important book on
evolution since the
Origin would be Croizat's (1964) book "SPACE, TIME, FORM: THE BIOLOGICAL
SYNTHESIS."

This is a re-reading and rewriting of the text of Darwin's book. Darwin
opens the Origin
with a discussion of variation (ch1), then to species (ch2), competition
(ch3), natural selection (ch4), laws of growth (ch 5) behaviour (ch 7),
interbreeding (ch 8) and geology (ch 9, 10). Only in the closing chapters
is biogeography discussed, yet biogeography was central to the development
and formulation of Darwin's theory.

Croizat's text is a virtual mirror image, starting with discussions of
biogeography and its relations with geology (ch 1-3), followed by general
disucssions of evolution in relation to biogeography (ch 4), laws of growth
(ch 5, 6), through to species and interbreeding (ch 7). Discussion on the
relative importance of natural selection is left to chapter 8 and addenda.

Whatever position one might take on Darwinism, a reading of both Origin and
Space, Time, Form, would seem to be central to a critical understanding of
evolution.

I already know few will agree with this, but some might find the point of
interest.

John Grehan