Taking wing

by Pat Shipman

In 1861, just a few years after the publication of Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species, a scientist named Hermann von Meyer made an amazing discovery. Hidden in the Bavarian region of Germany was a fossil skeleton so exquisitely preserved that its wings and feathers were as obvious as its reptilian jaws and tail. This transitional creature offered tangible proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. Hailed as First Bird by its champions and dismissed by detractors as just another ancient reptile - or even a grand hoax - Archaeopteryx has remained the subject of heated debates in the scientific community for nearly 140 years. In Taking Wing, Pat Shipman offers a compelling account of how scientific thinking about the mysteries of flight developed up to the present day. Flight, it seems, evolved three times - in birds, bats, and pterosaurs. Shipman's story unfolds twice - through the braided tales of the evolutionary record and the scientists who have so painstakingly pieced it together.