Taking Wing : Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight - Hardcover

Shipman, Pat

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0684811316 ISBN 13: 9780684811314

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1998

Synopsis

Presents an examination of the scientific implications and continuing controversy over Archaeopteryx, a bird-reptile fossil discovered 130 years ago that many scientists believe offers tangible proof of Darwin's theory of evolution. 15,000 first printing.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In 1861, just a few years after the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, a scientist named Hermann von Meyer made an amazing discovery. Hidden in the Bavarian region of Germany was a fossil skeleton so exquisitely preserved that its wings and feathers were as obvious as its reptilian jaws and tail. This transitional creature offered tangible proof of Darwin's theory of evolution.

Hailed as the First Bird, Archaeopteryx has remained the subject of heated debates for the last 140 years. Are birds actually living dinosaurs? Where does the fossil record really lead? Did flight originate from the "ground up" or "trees down"? Pat Shipman traces the age-old human desire to soar above the earth and to understand what has come before us. Taking Wing is science as adventure story, told with all the drama by which scientific understanding unfolds.

About the Author:

Pat Shipman, an anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University, is the author of The Evolution of Racism and, with Alan Walker, The Wisdom of the Bones. She has written extensively on evolution and anthropology for such magazines as Discover, Natural History, New Scientist, and Focus. She lives in State College, Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0684811316
• ISBN 13: 9780684811314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336