GEERAT J. VERMEIJ, Ph.D., is Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of California at Davis. Vermeij was born in the Netherlands and came to the United States with his family in 1955. He has received the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal by the National Academy of Sciences and was honored as a MacArthur Fellow. He has published more than two hundred scientific papers and five books and served as editor for "Evolution "and "Paleobiology," the foremost journals in their respective fields.
"To earn the title of distinguished professor of geology at the
University of California, Vermeij had to be an astute and careful
observer, an original thinker and analyst, and a skilled teacher
and communicator. All of these qualities are on display in his new
book ... This naturalistic bent is coupled with literary
flair."--"The Dallas Morning News""A transcendent view of evolution
as adaptation, not only accounting for the origin of species but as
the force that can explain the accumulation of knowledge, economies
and civilization itself."--"Kirkus Reviews""An absorbing joy to
read."--"Booklist""A marvel ... Vermeij writes personably, and his
arguments are detailed but free of jargon.... "The Evolutionary
World" is very accessible even to rigorously non-scientific readers
like this reviewer. Such attention is richly
rewarded."--"Bookpage""Outstanding theoretical biologists are rare,
but Geerat Vermeij is more than "just" a superb theoretician. His
writing combines impressive rhetorical skills, deep insights into
evolutionary theory and ecology, encyclopedic breadth and depth of
knowledge in contemporary natural history and paleontology, and a
welcome absence of ego. He fills "The""Evolutionary World "with
delights for the mind ranging from astute observations of
morphological minutiae to intriguing hypotheses and syntheses--all
selected to show how an evolutionary perspective can yield "an
emotionally satisfying, aesthetically pleasing, and deeply
meaningful worldview in which the human condition is bathed in a
new light." The book is a joy to read, both for its often lyrical
prose, and for its provocative hypotheses."--"Reports of the
National Center for Science Education""A bold, brash, and
magisterial account of the fundamental mechanisms that built our
bodies, our genes, and our society. A culmination of decades of
thinking by one of our leading scientists, this is a book that is
sure to stir the pot."---Neil Shubin, author of
"A transcendent view of evolution as adaptation, not only
accounting for the origin of species but as the force that can
explain the accumulation of knowledge, economies and civilization
itself."--"Kirkus Reviews""An absorbing joy to read."--"Booklist"“A
bold, brash, and magisterial account of the fundamental mechanisms
that built our bodies, our genes, and our society. A culmination of
decades of thinking by one of our leading scientists, this is a
book that is sure to stir the pot.”---Neil Shubin, author of "Your
Inner Fish" “From why grass evolved to why insects do not
inhabit the sea, Geerat Vermeij answers questions that most of us
have forgotten even to ask. He does so in a style of such warm
humanity and light informality that the reader can find himself
grappling with great evolutionary conundrums without discernible
effort.”---Matt Ridley, author of "Genome: The Autobiography of a
Species in 23 Chapters" “In V
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