First copy of the Species book! 7 Aug 2009 It arrived this afternoon. Looks great. This must mean they are about to start selling it, so go order! I’ll sign any copy that is presented to me, of course. Look at it: my dreams made real… Book Science
Epistemology You and me, baby, ain’t nothing but mammals 7 Apr 2010 The song of the title of this post is a catchy and highly amusing piece that suggests that if we’re just mammals we should have sex. It’s sort of a low brow version of Andrew Marvell’s To his coy mistress. Instead of Time’s wingéd chariot, we should do what mammals… Read More
Biology Social dominance psychology in humans 2 Jul 200922 Jun 2018 There is a syllogism I call the Phylogenetic Inference: All members of clade X are F Species S is a member of clade X S is F It’s not infallible, but it is a good inductive rule, because monophyly acts as a kind of Straight Rule for biological induction. Let’s… Read More
Creationism and Intelligent Design Carroll v. Craig – a telling comment 25 Feb 2014 Sean Carroll just debated William Lane Craig. In his summing up, Sean wrote In terms of style, from my perspective things got a bit frustrating, because the following pattern repeated multiple times: Craig would make an argument, I would reply, and Craig would just repeat the original argument. For example,… Read More
This book I think will arrive for me at Robinson Bookshop soon. I will let you know when it arrives John.
John, I’d love to be able to get you to sign a copy. I’m in Adelaide; any chance you’re heading down this way? I notice that the link on the UC Press website is still to the old blog, too…
Not in the near future, but I’d love to go visit some friends there sometime soon. I told ’em about the blog change. *sigh*
Congratulations! This must be a very proud moment for you. All that hard work come to fruition. Just imagine generations of future biologists citing ‘Wilkins on species’ as a classic text in the field. Savour it for all it’s worth. You’ve earned it.
“Wilkins on species”? You make it sound like I have to buy two copies. One to be preserved (never opened), and one to be read.
“This is not the potted history that one usually finds in texts and review articles. It is a fresh look at the history of a field central to biology, but one whose centrality has changed in scope over the centuries. Wilkins’ book will be a standard source for all kinds of people working in systematics. There is not another book on the subject, amazingly enough, and his perspective is so comprehensive and well-taught that it will replace any standard review articles and older histories.”—Kevin Padian, University of California, Berkeley Awesome. You’ve carved out your very own literary niche all to yourself!
“Expected to ship August 11.” So when are you going to be in New York on the world-wide book tour? I expect to be invited to publisher’s party. Where’s it going to be … Le Cirque? … The Rainbow Room? … The Hard Rock Cafe?
Sure thing. Just send the tickets today, and I’ll get on the plane tomorrow. Include hotel costs as well…
Yahbbut I don’t like cold showers. I have seen the homeless in Central Park have them. I felt enormously sorry for the poor bastard, and it was 100°F at the time.
Just imagine generations of future biologists citing ‘Wilkins on species’ as a classic text in the field. “Wilkins on species”? You make it sound like I have to buy two copies. One to be preserved (never opened), and one to be read. Copies of real classics are dog-eared and well-thumbed with greasy and torn pages, broken spines and disintergrating covers from the constant use to which they are put over many, many years and even generations.
I’ll buy a copy if you come to Germany to sign it! Actually I’ll wait till it has officiall apeared before I order it as I have noticed that the price on Amazon Germany for academic books tends to fall about a month to six weeks after publication.
Oh good – I might be able to get a signed copy via a mutual friend. Are you sending out review copies?