The Blue Book is in PDF 10 Sep 2009 Systematists know the tome by Gareth Nelson and Norman Platnick, Systematics and Biogeography (1981), as the Blue Book (shades of Wittgenstein!). It was published once and is now so hard to get that I have been unable to find a copy in ten years of looking. Now, Malte Ebach tells me, the series at UCP of which my book is part, is making a legal PDF available here. I’m taking it to the local print shop for a physical copy. It’s not searchable (but give me a copy of Acrobat and I’ll make it so), but at least it’s there. The core historical narrative of it started me off on what became my book. If anyone can send me a scan of the cover and spine, I’ll upload it on my box.net page. History Species and systematics Species concept Systematics
Evolution Evolution quotes: Diderot 14 Aug 201115 Aug 2011 It seems that nature has taken pleasure in varying the same mechanism in a thousand different ways. She never abandons any class of her creations before she has multiplied the individuals of it in as many different forms as possible. When one looks out upon the animal kingdom and notes… Read More
Ecology and Biodiversity The ontology of biology 3 – phenomena 14 Nov 200818 Sep 2017 As I have argued before, there is a class of objects in the biological domain that do not derive from the theory of that domain, but which are in fact the special objects of the domain that call for a theoretical explanation. The example I have given is mountain, which… Read More
Evolution A blast from my past is reasonable – shock! 14 Aug 2008 As I sit here, dying slowly and loudly from a dose of gastro and probably ‘flu (Australian male: we don’t do sick well), trying to distract myself from the efforts of my lower intestines to escape to Jamaica, I came across a name I recall all too well from my… Read More
In morphometrics (my field), the “blue book” is a different book entirely. We also have the orange book, the black book, the red book …
Now there’s a meme, John. “Decode the book:” I add “the white book” and “the camel book.” For bonus points, pick the field as well.
Not to brag, but I got myself a copy of the blue book, dust jacket and all, after only 8 years of looking. I got Platnick to sign it before I left the AMNH (ok, now I am bragging). I’ll get you a scan next week after I return home from holidays [/brag]