The pattern of evolution

by Niles Eldredge

In The Pattern of Evolution, Eldredge offers readers a fascinating view into this window of our world through time. As he and other researchers continue to uncover patterns in their respective fields, and as new disciplines emerge to straddle traditional scientific boundaries, the window grows wider. And some provocative questions arise: Are there connections between the ways the living and nonliving worlds function and evolve? In the aftermath of a tumultuous collision between the earth's biological and physical forces - a tropical storm of tremendous proportions - did the Cecropia tree Eldredge encountered merely survive the devastation, or did the storm clear its way? He examines the history of ideas on evolution from the beginning of the modern scientific era, about two centuries ago, to the present. Seizing on evidence of similar patterns across disciplines, he shows how important issues and events have brought us to the brink of a more comprehensive understanding of the earth. Le