Evolution

Donald R. Prothero has taught college paleontology and geology for almost four decades at the California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Occidental College, Vassar College, and Knox College. He is adjunct professor of geological sciences at California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, adjunct professor of astronomy and earth sciences at Mt. San Antonio College, and research associate in vertebrate paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. His Columbia University Press books include The Story of Life in 25 Fossils: Tales of Intrepid Fossil Hunters and the Wonders of Evolution (2015) and Abominable Science! Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids (2013).

• Foreword: Why People Do Not Accept EvolutionTo the Reader: Is Evolution a Threat to Your Religious Beliefs?Prologue: Fossils and EvolutionPreface to the Second EditionAcknowledgmentsPart I: Evolution and the Fossil Record1. The Nature of Science2. Science and Creationism3. The Fossil Record4. The Evolution of Evolution5. Systematics and EvolutionPart II: Evolution? The Fossils say YES!6. Life’s Origins7. Cambrian “Explosion”—or Slow Fuse?8. Spineless Wonders of Evolution9. Fish Tales10. Fish Out of Water11. Onto the Land and Back to the Sea: The Amniotes12. Dinosaurs Evolve—and Fly13. Mammalian Explosion14. Bossies and Blowholes15. The Ape’s Reflection?16. Why Does It Matter?BibliographyIndex

If you're one of these people who likes to read Dawkins, Gould and Darwin, I would highly recommend this book. If you doubted that evolution was true before, and then you looked at this book, I don't see how you could possibly continue to question it. -- Jerry Coyne, author of Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible