Evolution and the New Biology</Article-Title>
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advocates "the development of the modeling. Examples of ways the career counseling. I have seen much capacity for intelligent nonmanipula- teacher may help his students and solve worse, but I wish I could claim to have tion." He says, "We need more people to problems of school and vocational ad- seen much better. say: 'I'm sorry, but I can't work on that, justment are included. The style is clear Howard J. Stein I'm busy thinking and living as simply and to the point, and there is a Grand Valley State Colleges and nondestructively as I can.' Such an thorough glossary and an annotated Allendale, Mich attitude," Kozlovsky continues, "com- bibliography. Most important, the book bined with a general enlightenment of takes into account the real situations a what is destructive, is the only thing teacher may face in a busy day and Evolution that can get us out of this mess." suggests solutions. This retreat from aspects of social re- Monroe Cravats sponsibility is the crux of Kozlovsky York College of the ethic. Escape, he says, to your own self City University of New York THE LIFE GAME: EVOLUTION AND and family in a serene and non- Jamaica THE NEW BIOLOGY, by Nigel threatened environment and live a full Calder. 1974. Viking Press, New animal and human existence. "All you York. 141 p. $12.50. have to do is learn to say to hell with it!" Marijuana may help you. "Dope. From such diverse fields as molecu- lar biology, anthropology, geology, lets you see the simple 'is-ness' of CAREERS IN ENVIRONMENTAL things and of yourself." game theory, computer technology, and PROTECTION, by Reed Millard and zoological field research the author of Despite the inconsistencies (don't in- editors of Science Book Associates. work has woven a worth Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/37/1/58/32641/4445063.pdf by guest on 26 September 2021 gest preservatives, but trip on dope), New York. this story 1974. Julian Messner, reading. Here is a volume so beauti- oversimplifications ("we must stop be- 188 p. $5.79 (hardback). ing ignorant, superstitious, and fully illustrated as to be a collector's greedy"), and distortions ("a good item, so sprinkled with delightful pearls is at best biology course should teach you why it Sound career counseling of information that scanning it should in periods of rapid change it feels so good to climb into bed with difficult; be forbidden. may seem impossible. Particularly someone of the opposite Calder reports on a journey under- sex"), when job markets decline, coordinated Kozlovsky manages to taken for BBC television and coproduc- achieve some nationwide efforts to counsel can and concise and lyrical prose, bursting with ing organizations from seven other do create dislocations in the supply- countries. Creationists may take urgency and anger. He trusts "we can demand tug-of-war. Predictions of rela- and will, as a people, offense to the opening paragraph, tell the present demand in the various careers are destructive culture to stick it." With a tive wherein they are referred to as Bible great deal especially likely to cause long-term thumpers, but a moment's reflection left unsaid, Kozlovsky problems. Fortunately, this book avoids delivers his outrageous should bring to mind the authority injunction that pitfall. decorated with some fine eipgrams under which they have placed them- Over half of the book describes some selves. Perhaps some readers will be selected from his outspoken predeces- of our environmental problems along sors-Whitman and Thoreau. newly advised of the suggestion by with some of the attempts to solve Cavalli-Sforza that Europeans ac- A to-hell-with attitude has both its them. The author, apparently trying to quired a white skin as an adaptation uses and abuses. Kozlovsky's rather be evenhanded, relates both ex- for vitamin D production, when rickets poorly printed book is daring, his ploitationist and conservationist views. seemed to threaten survival. A section casuistry understandable, if arguable, He went too far in such cases as devot- called without Fossils" intro- and his "Doing indignation honest. But he has ing nearly three pages to the virtues of duces protein chemistry as the living written neither a biology nor a clearcutting by the lumber industry and link between the drifting continents philosophy book. Instead, he has put in extolling the advantages of both res- from fragmented Pangaea, while also some together arguments for a radical tored and unrestored strip-mined lands. to the roughly constant rate of life style that will referring probably exorcise the He also states (p. 96) that the "use of change in working molecules. The latter familiar ecological devils for the fortu- [offshore] oil rigs ... for fish habitats is nate few who can topic relates the 17 chemical differences get their kicks from the kind of achievement that results of present day animal cytochrome c to self-imposed poverty. The hard truth from the environmental scientist's the length of existence of those various Kozlovsky doesn't see is that this search for knowledge." nation's animals. people, to say nothing of the Descriptions of the careers, however, The reminder is stated that not even cannot return to world's, the tribe. are done well, indicating the need for the Stalinist geneticists could muster Charles H. Butterfield training and the relationships of any hard evidence to support Brattleboro Union High School educational level to job hierarchy. Lamarckism, which holds that experi- Brattleboro, Vt. There is a separate section for careers ence directly modifies heredity. The not requiring college degrees. Curiously, serious argument now is between the limnology is not mentioned, and marine selectionists and mutationists. The biology is referred to only obliquely. former hold that variations are normal Education and Otherwise, a wide range of careers is and healthy while the latter think that Professional Concerns listed. genetic variations are aberrant and In common with most career books, usually disadvantageous. Ernst Mayr there is an ample list of addresses to has represented the preponderance of CONSTRUCTIVE CLASSROOM BE- which one can presumably write for selectionists (or New Darwinists) in GUIDE TO HAVIOR: A TEACHER'S "further information." Actually, few of stating that although their theory is not MODELING AND ROLE-PLAY- the addresses will lead to any more de- controversial, its application some- ING TECHNIQUES, by Irwin G. Sar- tail than one finds in the book and times is. A new proponent of mutation- ason and Barbara R. Sarason. 1974. some are worthless in this respect. ism has arisen in Motoo Kimura, who York. Behavioral Publications, New Federal agencies concerned with en- suggests that most mutations are 56 p. $2.95 (softback). vironmental protection, regional offices nearly neutral in their effect; otherwise of the Environmental Protection Agen- the high rate of change in working This publication is a companion to cy, and regional offices of the U.S. Civil molecules would be lethal. To Kimura, Reinforcing Productive Classroom Be- Service Commission, are also identi- most evolutionary changes are escapees havior. The book is aimed at getting the fied. from the control of natural selection. He teacher to help his students through the Shortcomings of this book are largely and his colleague Tomoko Ohta con- effective use of role-playing and an indication of the state of the art of tinue their "heresy" by presenting 58 THE AMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER,JANUARY 1975 mathematical arguments which seem to eggs have had some cell divisions be- termining various genetic ratios. An in- negate the requirement of large num- fore the eggs are laid. Most specialists dex to the material in the text would be bers for a proper application of the will look at their own areas for accu- helpful, but the authors do include a Hardy-Weinberg equation. racy, and botanists, especially plant good literature list of both general and Eigen and Winkler have devised a morphologists, will be disappointed. human genetics titles. hypercycle game with the A,U,G,C com- There are international codes of nomen- The programmed approach and stress ponents of DNA to illustrate the help- clature in botany and microbiology as on the genetics of man, using the Men- ing hand given to chance in making the well as geology. Meiosis does not result delian principles, should make this leap to life from the chaos of the pri- in gametes in plants. Pollen is not book very useful as a supplementary mordial soup. Some very nicely sperm. Fig. 11-5 is a diagram of a root textbook for undergraduate college stu- rendered electron micrographs illus- cross section, not of a stem. Maple dents. It could also be used on the upper trate the theory of primitive microbe syrup is obtained from sap rising in xy- secondary school level. conglomeration to form more modern lem in the spring, not from phloem. Jean E. Cooper cells. The Britten-Davidson theory of And there are many more. East High School gene regulation is reviewed to show the It is unfortunate that so many errors Cheyenne, Wyo. probable relationships between master occurred. Sharply reducing vocabulary gene, control genes, and producer in biology courses for nonprofessionals genes. would help biology become as central to Next appear illustrations that well de- human consciousness as the environ- Microbiology pict the domination of Pangaea by the mental, nutritional, and population dinosaurs. The record of life would seem challenges demand. The vocabulary in FUNDAMENTALS OF MICROBIOL- to indicate that continental coalescence this textbook is reduced to the extent OGY, by Martin Frobisher, Ronald had led to radical change in life forms, that a glossary of 235 words is suffici- D.