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RR 2012/132 Wiley-Blackwell Encyclopedia of Human Evolution Edited by Bernard Wood Wiley-Blackwell Oxford and Malden, MA 2011 2 vols ISBN 978 1 4051 5510 6 (print); ISBN 978 1 4443 4246 8 (e-PDF) £350/$560
Keywords Encyclopedias, Evolution
Review DOI 10.1108/09504121211211451
This two volume hardbound set aims to provide a fairly comprehensive reference work to the fascinating area of human evolution; or as the book terms it "an authoritative and accessible source of information about the hominin clade of the tree of life". Drawing on an international team of talented evolutionary scientists with broad and comprehensive coverage, at first glance it seems that this would be an excellent addition to any science or institutional library. And then I caught sight of the price tag.
We will return to that later. The book opens with a list of the writers which is followed by a seven page opening essay on the field of human evolution by Francisco J. Ayala. This is followed by a three-page preface, which sets out the scope and structure of the work, and then two pages of acknowledgements. Next there is a 65 page topic entry list grouping major entries and subentries alphabetically; for example all the concepts related to anatomy are listed in sequence. This is a useful aid in terms of identifying key topics and subtopics...