Robert McArthur was on he knew was his last speaking trip across the country when I heard him in Boulder in the winter of 1974. He didn't talk about death; he talked about life and how it works. He wrote one short equation on the blackboard, then talked about it for an hour. No long after he was dead, but he was the real young lion, he changed ecology forever. His start was simple: look at avifauna in terms of foliage height diversity, but he did not stop there.

Wilson? He's brilliant in his own way, of course, but I'm betting his contribution to Island Biogeography was criticism and editing.

People have spent a lot of time attacking parts of this book, an equation here, an equation there. And if you don't like equations at all, skip them and go for the ideas. This was the seminal book, the start of the New Era, where complex ideas can be encapsulated in a brief expression, then turned around and it's implications tested. It will teach you how to think.

Originally published as part of the Princeton University Press' Monographs in Population Biology series, Robert MacArthur's and Edward O. Wilson's "Theory Of Island Biogeography" is regarded by many as the most influential tome in theoretical ecology published in the latter half of the 20th Century. Its importance is due to its success in predicting the causes and outcomes of variations in species diversity across a wide range of habitats, not only tropical islands. Furthermore it is the underlying theory behind current research in conservation biology. And it has played a magnificient role in analyzing fluctuations in taxonomic diversity from both marine and continental fossil records across the span of more than half a billion years of Earth history. MacArthur and Wilson conceived of a simple, yet conceptually fruitful equilibrium model of species diversity, recognizing that species diversity is often in a state of flux between varying rates of species immigration (or perhaps, speciation) and extinction. This then novel way at looking at species diversity combined MacArthur's sound mathematical reasoning with Wilson's excellent field biogeographic research (Yet those who are not mathematically inclined should not feel intimidated; their theoretical arguments are made through lucid, exquisite prose.). Without a doubt, their equilibrium theory of island biogeography is one of the finest achievements of 20th Century ecology.

I was given this book as a gift by a friend who knows that I like to know every side to each story. I have read this book and many others on both sides of the Evolution vs. Creation debate. This book and three others by this author left me wondering where this individual comes from! I found so many passages of failed logic, contradiction, and out-right lies, it wasn't funny! After forcing myself to read the last 3/4 of the book I was left wanting the time I had spent reading this garbage back. If you aren't brain-washed, you'll want to throw this book in the trash after the first few chapters.

This man, Carl Baugh, is simply a huxter looking to suck money from the wallets of the unsuspecting public. Please, don't let yourself be fooled by this book if you chose to read it. Afterwards, I suggest you purchase a book by Stephen Jay Gould. Though he uses very complex English, if you take the time, you'll get much more appreciation for the validties and errors of both sides of the arguement.

This book makes no attempt at presenting "facts" in a non-biased, scientific fashion.

The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because it's a bit hard to read: the scientific things are well done, but some of them can be a bit hard for a non-scientist to get into.

The pictures are excellent, (photos), the documentation is relentless... all in all a good resource for people interested in Creationism or dinosaurs. There's clear documentation of the human and dinosaur footprints being together -- even overlapping. It's a fascinating book, even though the writing is scholarly and occasionally inaccesible. Extremely well-documented.

Especially intriguing were the things about giant footprints... I wish they'd talked even more about these!

If you're interested in this subject at all, you should probably check it out.

Very inciteful book! This isn't for just Christians. Presents clear FACTS that dinosaurs and man walked together. It's a must read!