This book is clear and precise. It compliments other orthopaedic examination texts that students will use in orthopaedic type fields of study such as athletic training and physical therapy. All PT and AT,C students should have this and keep it for reference.

This is a great textbook. I am an athletic training student who has used this book. Other good books to use with this one are Evaluation of Orthopedic and Athletic Injuries by Chad Starkey and Special Tests for Orthopedic Examination.

This book by Hoppenfeld is a truly a standard for the athletic training profession. The text is easy to follow and the figures and diagrams are very clear. The book is laid out well and lends itself to study easily. Every athletic training student should have a copy--to study for the NATABOC exam and to use as a daily reference in the "real world" following certification.

This is the companion volume to the seven part PBS series about evolution. It presents an excellent overview of the rise of evolutionary thought, and how evolution was at first attacked by early conservative scientists in Darwins' day, up to our own time when evolution is accepted by mainstream science, moving beyond a mere theory. Carl Zimmer along the way explains how evolution came to be and the mechanisms it uses, and he gives us many examples. Topics include the dawn of life, the age of microbes, mutation, genetics, disease, the evolution of sex, coevolution, extinctions, the Cambrian explosion of species, geology, fossils, evolution in action today, our own primate evolution, and more.

As a scientist myself I am already familiar with the tenants of evolution, still I found this volume fascinating with it's many examples and stories. The life of Charles Darwin is covered in detail, his voyage in the Beagle is sketched, and his personal life as well, as he struggled with his ideas of evolution in an oftentimes hostile social climate.

The final chapter of this book illuminates the battle the creationists today are waging against the 'fact' of evolution. As Zimmer points out their latest effort centers around an idea called Intelligent Design. The claim here is that there is an irreducible complexity to some of the molecular mechanisms of life. Carl Zimmer examines this idea over several pages and finds nothing of substance. The creationists will do nearly anything to discredit evolution, but as Zimmer points out several times, science proceeds by someone first forming a hypothesis and this hypothesis has to stand up against evidence, for and against, surviving or not on the basis of this evidence and always being subject to peer review. The theory of evolution has survived this for over 150 years in great shape, and as Zimmer says here it is accepted as fact by the vast majority of scientists, the evidence is indisputable.

Carl Sagan once said that we are made of "Star stuff", and Carl Zimmer here documents, with passion, how we have arisen from simple atoms and molecules over billions of years, a beautiful story indeed.

I just got through reading this book the other day and I must say that is was a great book for both the layman and the seasoned veteran of evolutionary study (I myself have quite a decent amount of knowledge on the subject). It was easy to read and had plenty of illustrations. Definitely one of the best in recent years.

Evolution certainly is a triumph of science, but any good idea has the potential for controversy. Such is Darwin's theory, which still draws harsh criticism even after about a century and a half since its formulation. It just doesn't sit well with many people. For example, the reviewer from Boston (Dec. 7, I believe) that only gave this book one star points out a recent Gallup poll where only a small percentage of people believed in evolution as a totally naturalistic process. What he didn't point out is that a likewise small percentage had a "good understanding" of the theory. So it seems that the majority of the people in the poll have no reason to make a judgement in the matter. Also, the motivations and methods of creationism/ID are totally pseudoscientific.

In any case, one thing can always be said as being true of science: You can't vote on the truth. No matter how unpopular a theory is (with either the public or even the scientific community), if the evidence says what something is, then it is that. And since the evidence points that evolution is true, then evolution is true. It is a totally naturalistic process that doesn't require divine intervention. Besides, all the people who gave this book a bad review for their ideological concepts must have not read the last chapter. It appears that their negative views of Darwin's grand masterpiece are not even close to unanimous with other religious people (even the Pope, who always warns about confusing science and religion, says there is no conflict with evolution and Christianity). But like I said, it doesn't matter what the Darwin bashers say--evolution is fact.

I suggest reading Michael Shermer's recent article on evolution vs. creationism in Scientific American magazine . [...]

I first checked Zimmer's book out of the library and now I need to buy a copy. It is an excellent presentation of the history of evolutionary thought that is easily read and understood by almost anyone. I realize that many creationist will be put off and spend some time pointing out supposed "flaws" in the book and evolutionary theory generally. However, despite their difficulties and the lamentable inability of many Americans to take evolution and the concepts of deep time seriously, the idea has triumphed within the science of biology (and in much of the non-American world.) No amount of attempted suppression or "equal time" demands will change that and such attempts only make the proponents of "intelligent design" look foolish. It is possible that they will win out politically for a while, but so did Lysenko in the former Soviet Union until his ideas about "vernalization," among others, were later shown to be totally false. There was a huge cost to agriculture in the USSR because of Lysenko's ideas and we would face a similar cost in molecular biology, medicine, geology and similar fields if the creationists should "win," based on the weak "evidence" they currently present.

If the "intelligent design" proponents want to discount biochemical, geological, anatomical, and even astronomical evidence, or discredit evolution by bringing up already discarded ideas and hoaxes (like Piltdown Man) as straw men, they are free to do so, but such perversity does not validate their argument.

This is not to say that evolutionary theory is static or should be free from criticism- far from it! New ideas within the evolutionary framework are being proposed all the time. Gould and Eldredge some years ago brought up the punctuated equilibrium idea, expanding it somewhat on similar ideas of Mayr. More recently Margulis has proposed a symbiotic evolutionary mechanism. There is an ongoing argument over evolutionary psychology (well reviewed by Zimmer in this book!) and more and more discoveries in the areas of molecular biology, behavior, paleontology, geology, ecology and systematics are constantly altering and changing the landscape of evolutionary theory.

This is in fact what distinguishes science from pseudo-science like "creationism" or "intelligent design." It is, despite individual scientist's egos and definite human flaws, a self-correcting system. If true empirical evidence for "intelligent design" should appear, eventually the scientific community would (perhaps after some time) accept it. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for creationists, even in their new guise as practitioners of "intelligent design" theory. Science cannot deal with the supernatural explanations of the creationists, which are based on faith, because science has to be dedicated to the material world in order to function. Zimmer demonstrates these problems pretty graphically and I applaud for this magnificent effort!

I recommend this book highly to anyone with an open mind.