Pp. ix, (4), 505; some text-figures (cladograms, bivariate plots, diagrams), numerous tables. Publisher's original gray cloth, spine with black panel lettered in gilt, pictorial dust jacket lettered in white, lg 8vo. An overview and synthesis by one of the greatest evolutionary biologists of the 20th Century. No ownership marks and no signs of use.

Genetics of the evolutionary process

Science & Math

Dobzhansky, Theodosius

Evolution

Columbia University Press

Why do smokers claim that the first cigarette of the day is the best? What is the biological basis behind some heavy drinkers' belief that the "hair-of-the-dog" method alleviates the effects of a hangover? Why does marijuana seem to affect ones problem-solving capacity? Intoxicating Minds is, in the author's words, "a grand excavation of drug myth." Neither extolling nor condemning drug use, it is a story of scientific and artistic achievement, war and greed, empires and religions, and lessons for the future. Ciaran Regan looks at each class of drugs, describing the historical evolution of their use, explaining how they work within the brain's neurophysiology, and outlining the basic pharmacology of those substances. From a consideration of the effect of stimulants, such as caffeine and nicotine, and the reasons and consequences of their sudden popularity in the seventeenth century, the book moves to a discussion of more modern stimulants, such as cocaine and ecstasy. In addition, Regan explains how we process memory, the nature of thought disorders, and therapies for treating depression and schizophrenia. Regan then considers psychedelic drugs and their perceived mystical properties and traces the history of placebos to ancient civilizations. Finally, Intoxicating Minds considers the physical consequences of our co-evolution with drugs -- how they have altered our very being -- and offers a glimpse of the brave new world of drug therapies.

Human Culture and Evolution

Politics & Social Sciences

Boesiger, Ernest

Anthropology

Human Culture: A Moment in Evolution

History

World

In this volume, the product of decades of study and research, the world's foremost geneticist surveys the major developments in what is emerging as the most important single area of scientific inquiry in the twentieth century: biological theory of evolution in particular. Noting that the theory of evolution in biology is more than a century old, Dr. Dobzhansky points out that it is nevertheless only in recent times that our knowledge of its physical basis as well as our understanding of its dynamics has progressed greatly. Yet, he notes, new problems have replaced the older ones at the forefront of scientific inquiry, problems which require entirely new approaches. It is to these manifold and exciting new questions that the author brings a lifetime of experience. Throughout, his goal is to create not a summary of all the available literature, nor a professional book written only for the scientific community, but rather a presentation of basic ideas, accompanied by the indispensable references which would enable interested readers to pursue the matter further. The book has been purposely kept short to enable it to be read as a whole, and above all, it has been written in a manner which will hold the attention as well as inform both the general reader and the professionally concerned scientist.

Genetics of the Evolutionary Process

Biological Sciences

Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution. This statement is an apt motto for the lifework of Theodosius Dobzhansky, whom Stephen Jay Gould has called "the greatest evolutionary geneticist of our times." Between 1937 and 1975, the year of his death, Dobzhansky and twenty-two of his collaborators published forty-three papers in a series called "The Genetics of Natural Populations." Taken as a whole, the series is perhaps the most important single corpus in modern evolutionary genetics. Dobzhansky's Genetics of Natural Populations, I-XLIII reproduces these forty-three articles. Because three of the four editor's of this volume are former students and long-time collaborators of Dobzhansky, they are able to set these important papers in critical perspective. The editors briefly evaluate the totality of Dobzhansky's work and summarize the views expressed in the series―including the historic development of Dobzhansky's ideas on genetic variation. Critical comments illuminate the relationship of the papers to each other and to Dobzhansky's other work. In addition, the editors discuss the role of Dobzhansky's interaction with Alfred Sturtevant and Sewall Wright. In particular, the book features Dobzhansky's pioneering field studies of Drosophila pseudoobscura, which were critical in the formulation of some of his most important conclusions about the genetic structure of populations and, more broadly, about the way evolution works.

Dobzhansky's Genetics of Natural Populations I-XLIII (Origins of the Genetics of Natural Populations)

The Silliman Lectures at Yale University have been responsible for many books which have greatly influenced the progress of scientific work in the twentieth century. One of the foremost scientists of our time, Theodosius Dobzhansky, recipient of the Elliot and Kimbler prizes, and Da Costa Professor of Zoology at Columbia University, delivered the Silliman Lectures given in honor of the Centennial of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. Based upon these lectures, Mr. Dobzhansky’s latest book, Mankind Evolving, now takes its place beside his other great works.
With a profound knowledge of the biological theory of evolution and modern genetics, Mr. Dobzhansky explores the possibilities of understanding mankind as a product of evolution and as an evolving whole. Human evolution, contends Mr. Dobzhansky, cannot be understood as a purely biological process, nor can it be adequately described as a history of culture; rather, it is the interaction between the two components of evolution—the biological, or organic, and the cultural, or superorganic. The interdependence of these two components is brought out most clearly if we consider that they both serve the same function—the adaptation to and control of man’s environment.
Drawing upon evidence from human biology, and the study of fossil ancestors of now-living mankind, Mr. Dobzhansky explains how the biological process led to the inception and advancement of culture as an instrument of adaptation. In producing the genetic basis of culture, biological evolution has transcended itself: it has produced the superorganic. The superorganic, Mr. Dobzhansky points out, has not annulled the organic; and human welfare, both in individuals and in societies, is predicated upon the health of the genetic endowment of human population. Man has not only evolved but is evolving, and Mr. Dobzhansky expounds the thesis that the genetic basis of culture should be improved, or at the very least should not be allowed to deteriorate. Mankind Evolving is of vital importance not only for scientists but for all who are concerned with the health of future generations. 
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Award and the Pierre Lecomte Du Nuoy Prize. "The most interesting . . . the most judicious scientific treatise that has ever been written on the nature of man . . . displays tremendous erudition over an even broader range of knowledge than is found in its author's previous works. . . . No one who is concerned with his own nature and that of mankind—and this included poets, philosophers, and theologians—can afford to miss this book."—George Gaylord Simpson.

Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human Species (The Silliman Memorial Lectures Series)

Social Sciences

Yale University Press

Acceptable+ vintage paperback, no marks.

Mankind Evolving: The Evolution of the Human Species

BANTAM BOOKS

This collection features five essays from noted theologians, philosophers, geneticists, and biologists who discuss the sweeping impact of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species on their respective fields. This volume, edited by Ralph Buchsbaum, professor of biology at the University of Pittsburgh, was published to celebrate the centenary of Darwin's announcement in 1858, along with Alfred Russel Wallace, of their independent discovery of the process of natural selection. Darwin's book was published one year later.

A Book that Shook the World: Essays on Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species

NIEBUHR, REINHOLD

Nikhilananda, Swami

Reiser, Oliver L.

Huxley, Julian S.

Philosophy

University of Pittsburgh Press

Evolutionary Biology: Volume 2

HECHT, Max K.

Steere, William C.

Springer

Evolutionary Biology: Volume 6

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Dobzhansky, Theodosius. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Dobzhansky, Theodosius