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This is the definitive edition of R.A. Fisher's classic work--probably the best known book in evolutionary biology after Darwin's Origin of Species. The book was the first attempt to assess and explain Darwin's evolutionary theories in terms of genetic evolution. Based on the original 1930 edition, the book incorporates the many changes Fisher made for the second edition as well as unpublished material taken from Fisher's own copy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

AN INTERESTING AND SIGNIFICANT ADDITION TO EVOLUTIONARY THEORY
Ronald A. Fisher(1890-1962) was an English geneticist, and one of the founders of population genetics.In the Preface to this 1930 book, he states, "The present book, with all the limitations of a first attempt, is at least an attempt to consider the theory of Natural Selection on its own merits."He articulates a number of principles such as, "The rate of increase in fitness of any organism at any time is equal to its genetic variance in fitness at that time."

He states that Natural Selection "affords a rational explanation of structures, reactions and instincts which can be recognized as profitable to their individual possessors.It affords no corresponding explanation for any properties of animals or plants which, without being individually advantageous, are supposed to be of service to the species to which they belong."He further argues, "the widely observed fact that mutations are usually recessive should not lead us to assume that this is true of mutations of a beneficial or neutral character."

However, he also admits, "A mutation, even if favorable, will have only a very small chance of establishing itself in the species if it occurs once only.If its selective advantage is only 1 per cent, it may well have to occur 50 times, but scarcely in mature individuals as many as 250 times before it establishes itself in a sufficient number of individuals for its future prospects to be secure."

He is nevertheless optimistic about the possibilities of variation: "It has not so often been realized how very far most existing species must be from such a state of stagnation, or how easily with no more than one hundred factors a species may be modified to a condition considerably outside the range of its previous variation, and this in a large number of different characteristics."He holds that "In this way it is by no means a supposition to be excluded as impossible that a character first manifested equally by the two sexes should, by the action of natural selection, later become sex-limited in its appearance."

Fisher was also a fervent believer in Eugenics; the last five chapters of the book offer Fisher's thoughts on "Reproduction in relation to social class," "Conditions of Permanent Civilization," "race-mixing," etc.He suggests that the decline of civilizations is related to lowered fertility of the upper classes.These ideas will certainly limit the appeal of his book to a modern reader.

An outdated classic
This book provided much of the theoretical foundation for the evolutionary theory known as the "modern synthesis," an attempt to reconcile Darwinian theory with Mendelian inheritance. It is written for the academic rather than for the lay reader.
Sadly, Fisher (a legend in mathematics for his contributions to statistics) did a poor job of digesting the consequences of Mendellian inheritance. He does an exquisite job of quantifying population dynamics but not of recognizing the practical implications of his equations.
For all that, this book is a staple of many college biology courses. ... Read more

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This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 368 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

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This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

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From the reviews: "This collection of essays surveys the most important of Fisher's papers in various areas of statistics. ... ... the monograph will be a useful source of reference to most of Fisher's major papers; it will certainly provide background material for much vigorous discussion." #Australian Journal of Statistics#1 ... Read more