Book: In Search of Deep Time

["Bruce Woollatt" <brucewoollatt@hotmail.com>]

Hello all (again);

I've just finished reading a book which might be of interest to List 
members. It's called  -In search of Deep Time: beyond the fossil record to a 
new history of life-. The author, Henry Gee, presents a basic introduction 
to cladistics and its utility for reconstructing the branching pattern of 
inter-relationship among all life on earth. He spends most of the time 
showing how cladistics obviates the need for "just so stories" by 
sidestepping the (in his view unknowable)
chains of ancestry and descent which have been the staple of much of 
paleontolgy. Such assertions, he claims, depend not on the evidence of the 
fossils, which, as he says, don't come conveniently labeled with pedigrees, 
but on the authority of the person making the assertion. Such assertions are 
not testable (you weren't there to witness the actual breeding of the 
lineage) and therefore unscientific. He looks at several examples from 
paleontology to make his point including the origin of tetrapods, the origin 
of birds and the origin of humans. Given the often vigorous discussion of 
these very topics on the List, I thought that this book might be of interest 
to its members, particularly to other non- scientists like myself who are 
innocent bystanders when these discussions rage. The book is not a technical 
one, but I found it very helpful in clarifying some of the philosophical 
issues which frequently arise in these debates. I would be curious to hear 
the views of others on the List who are actually  practitoners of cladistic 
analysis as to what they think of this book.

That's all for now'
Bruce.

P.S. Okay , that's not all. On Wednesday, Oct. 18 I'm going to be going to 
the Field Museum to hear a presentation by Chris Brochu. The exact title of 
the talk escapes me at the moment, but it has to do with looking at Sue from 
an educator's view. How do we know what we know and where can we go from 
there (if I remember rightly). If any other List members happen to be there, 
say 'hello'; I'll be the balding guy with beard, moustache, ponytail and 
glasses wearing a dark vest over a light-coloured shirt.

Hope to see people there- (I'm sure I will...)

Bruce Woollatt
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