Animals Without Backbones has been considered a classic among biology textbooks since it was first published to great acclaim in 1938. It was the first biology textbook ever reviewed by Time and was also featured with illustrations in Life. Harvard, Stanford, the University of Chicago, and more than eighty other colleges and universities adopted it for use in courses. Since then, its clear explanations and ample illustrations have continued to introduce hundreds of thousands of students and general readers around the world to jellyfishes, corals, flatworms, squids, starfishes, spiders, grasshoppers, and the other invertebrates that make up ninety-seven percent of the animal kingdom.
This new edition has been completely rewritten and redesigned, but it retains the same clarity and careful scholarship that have earned this book its continuing readership for half a century. It is even more lavishly illustrated than earlier editions, incorporating many new drawings and photographs. Informative, concise legends that form an integral part of the text accompany the illustrations. The text has been updated to include findings from recent research. Eschewing pure morphology, the authors use each group of animals to introduce one or more biological principles.
In recent decades, courses and texts on invertebrate zoology at many universities have been available only for advanced biology majors specializing in this area. The Third Edition of Animals Without Backbones remains an ideal introduction to invertebrates for lower-level biology majors, nonmajors, students in paleontology and other related fields, junior college and advanced high school students, and the general reader who pursues the rewarding study of the natural world.
Ralph Buchsbaum was professor emeritus of biology at the University of Pittsburgh. Mildred Buchsbaum has collaborated on previous editions of Animals Without Backbones. John Pearse, a professor of biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Vicki Pearse, a research associate in biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are coeditors with A. C. Giese of the multivolume Reproduction of Marine Invertebrates and have published many papers in invertebrate zoology.
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这部书的深度和广度简直令人惊叹,尤其是对于那些希望深入了解无脊椎动物世界的读者来说,它简直就是一座宝库。我记得当初拿到这本书时,就被它详尽的分类学描述和精美的插图深深吸引。书中对不同门类的介绍详尽入微,从最基本的形态结构到复杂的生态功能,都有独到的见解。阅读过程中,我发现作者在描述复杂概念时,总是能用一种既专业又不失生动的方式来呈现,这极大地降低了学习门槛。例如,在讨论棘皮动物的血管系统时,作者不仅清晰地描绘了其独特的结构,还巧妙地联系到它们如何在海洋环境中实现运动和营养吸收,这种联系非常具有启发性。书中对化石记录的梳理也做得非常出色,能够帮助读者建立起从古老祖先到现代物种的演化脉络,这种宏大的视角让人对生命的复杂性和适应性有了更深层次的理解。我个人最欣赏的是,它并没有停留在简单的物种罗列上,而是深入探讨了无脊椎动物在地球生态系统中扮演的关键角色,无论是作为食物链的基础,还是作为生态系统健康的指示剂,都有详尽的论述。对于任何一个严肃的海洋生物学爱好者或地质学学生来说,这本书都是案头必备的参考书。
评分从比较生物学的角度来看,这本书提供了一个无与伦比的平台,用以审视生命设计的多样性与趋同演化。我花费了大量时间对比不同无脊椎动物门在应对相似环境压力时所采取的截然不同的生物学策略。比如,在处理渗透压调节时,软体动物和甲壳类动物的生理机制差异巨大,书中对这些差异进行了细致的比较分析,并解释了这些机制是如何受其栖息地环境(淡水、海洋、陆地)所塑造的。这种“为什么是这样,而不是那样”的探讨,才是真正的高级科学教育。此外,书中对无脊椎动物神经系统的渐进演化路径的追踪也令人印象深刻,从简单的神经网到集中化的神经节,再到复杂的头部神经系统,每一步的演化飞跃都有充分的化石和胚胎学证据支持。它不仅仅是在“描述”生物,更是在“解释”生物的形态和功能是如何在漫长的地质时间中被筛选和优化的。这种动态的、历史的眼光,极大地拓宽了我对生命起源和适应性的理解边界。
评分我必须承认,初次翻阅时,我感到了一丝挑战,这本书的学术严谨性远超我预期的入门读物。它的叙事节奏偏向于教科书式的严谨,对于某些高度专业化的主题,比如环节动物的体腔发育或者节肢动物的外骨骼化学成分分析,作者直接采用了高度浓缩的专业术语和复杂的图表。这对于经验丰富的研究人员来说无疑是效率的保证,但对于一个刚接触这门学科的新手而言,理解的难度是陡增的。我花了很多时间去查阅辅助资料,才能完全消化其中关于线虫神经系统的详细解剖描述。然而,一旦克服了初期的理解障碍,你会发现这种深度带来的回报是巨大的。它提供了一个近乎百科全书式的框架,很少有哪本同类书籍能在如此多的类群中保持如此一致的细节水平。特别是关于微生物与无脊椎动物共生关系的章节,那是相当精彩,它揭示了这些看似简单的生物体内蕴含的惊人生物化学复杂性。这本书的价值在于其作为“标准参考”的地位,它不会为了迎合大众阅读习惯而稀释科学的精确性,这在学术出版物中是难能可贵的品质。
评分我必须提及这本书在近乎“冷门”物种方面的处理态度——那种近乎偏执的详尽和尊重。许多同类型的综合性著作,往往会把关注点集中在诸如昆虫、头足类或大型甲壳类等“明星”物种上,对于那些在分类学上显得较为边缘、或是生活史相对不那么引人注目的类群,往往一带而过。然而,在这本书中,即便是对苔藓虫、腕足动物或者某些深海片蠕虫的介绍,也给予了相当的篇幅和严谨的分析。作者似乎有一种强烈的信念,即所有生命形式都同等重要,都值得被精确记录和研究。这种对“全面性”的追求,使得这本书在专业领域内几乎无可替代。它像一个忠实的档案管理员,确保了即便是最晦涩的生物学分支也能在这个宏大的知识体系中找到自己的位置。对于致力于某一特定无脊椎动物类群的研究生来说,这本书提供的基础背景知识的扎实程度,是其他任何教材都无法比拟的,它确保了你的研究基础建立在最坚实可靠的知识之上。
评分这本书的排版和图文配合方式,简直是艺术品级别的呈现。我特别喜欢它在处理大型分类群时的视觉组织逻辑。每一章都以一张高度概括性的流程图或树状图开始,清晰地标明了接下来将要讨论的谱系分支及其关键的演化特征,这使得读者在进入具体细节之前,就已经对宏观结构有了清晰的认知地图。而那些手绘的解剖图,线条流畅,标注清晰,即便是那些结构极其微小的生物,如桡足类或水螅虫,其内部器官也能被描绘得一览无余,这比很多仅依赖模糊照片的书籍要有效得多。更不用说那些跨页展示的生态场景图,它们不仅仅是装饰,更是对文字描述的完美视觉补充,比如对珊瑚礁生态中腔肠动物捕食行为的动态描绘,简直是栩栩如生。这种对视觉信息的重视,体现了作者团队对跨学科传播的深刻理解——生物学,尤其是形态学,是离不开图像支持的。即便是十年后再次审视这些插图,其清晰度和科学准确性也丝毫没有褪色,足见其制作之精良。
评分I read the first edition in paperback print by Penguin Press during the 70's, not knowing that the book would change me forever, rendering me lifelong interests in science and biology.
评分I read the first edition in paperback print by Penguin Press during the 70's, not knowing that the book would change me forever, rendering me lifelong interests in science and biology.
评分I read the first edition in paperback print by Penguin Press during the 70's, not knowing that the book would change me forever, rendering me lifelong interests in science and biology.
评分I read the first edition in paperback print by Penguin Press during the 70's, not knowing that the book would change me forever, rendering me lifelong interests in science and biology.
评分I read the first edition in paperback print by Penguin Press during the 70's, not knowing that the book would change me forever, rendering me lifelong interests in science and biology.
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