A Cornucopia of Darwinian Gems
In 1990, Richard Milner published The Encyclopedia of Evolution: Humanity’s Search for its Origins (Facts-on-File Publications, New York, 481 pp.) With a charming foreword by his childhood friend and classmate Stephen Jay Gould, the book was a smorgasbord of delightful anecdotes and stories about not only science and evolutionism, but also a startling array of other related topics as well. It was organized in an encyclopedia format, with separate topics arranged in alphabetical, rather than thematic order, so it was ideal for browsing. Its quirky but engaging approach was unique among all the books about evolution, most of which are more scholarly tomes that march through only serious topics in a natural, logical order. As such, it was sui generis, a book unlike any other, reflecting both Milner’s erudition and also his love of pop culture as well as science. In 1990, it was named by Choice “the best reference book of the year.”
Milner’s new book preserves much of the charm and scholarship of the original, but contains many new entries that bring the original book up-to-date. Many of the illustrations have been replaced or updated, often with equally quaint images from archival sources. The image quality in this edition is much better than the muddy reproductions of the first version. There are articles on the recent discoveries of Flores man, the “Toumai skull”, “Kennewick Man”, the “Iceman”, and all the other entries on fossil hominids are updated. The other new articles reflect the developments of the past two decades. These include such topics as: “Evo-Devo”, “Biological Exuberance: the kingdom of gay animals”, “Caveman”, the Kentucky Creation Museum, the “Darwin Fish”, “Darwinian Medicine”, “Richard Dawkins: Darwin’s Rottweiler”, “Feathered Dinosaurs”, “Intelligent Design: Creationism’s Trojan Horse”, “Flint Jack: Greatest faker of prehistoric tools,” t