Once We All Had Gills: Growing Up Evolutionist in an Evolving World

by Rudolf A. Raff

In this book, Rudolf A. Raff reaches out to the scientifically queasy, using his life story and his growth as a scientist to illustrate why science matters, especially at a time when many Americans are both suspicious of science and hostile to scientific ways of thinking. Noting that science has too often been the object of controversy in school curriculums and debates on public policy issues ranging from energy and conservation to stem-cell research and climate change, Raff argues that when the public is confused or ill-informed, these issues tend to be decided on religious, economic, and political grounds that disregard the realities of the natural world. Speaking up for science and scientific literacy, Raff tells how and why he became an evolutionary biologist and describes some of the vibrant and living science of evolution. Once We All Had Gills is also the story of evolution writ large: its history, how it is studied, what it means, and why it has become a useful target in a cultural war against rational thought and the idea of a secular, religiously tolerant nation.

Genres: History

354 pages, Hardcover

First published June 7, 2012

Reviews

[Rick Elinson]

Raff was one of the leaders of a new area of biological investigation, called evo-devo for evolution and development. It is the study of embryos and their role in evolutionary change. As a fellow evo-devoist, I know Raff's work well, and I am happy to see his attempt to explain his work in evolution to the general public.

Stories about his investigations occupy the meat of the book, sandwiched between personal memoirs of his family and the public controversies of evolution vs. religion and of climate change. I had the feeling that Raff wanted one last shot at convincing the public of how evolution explains the diversity of life on earth and how there is a failure to recognize the evidence-based warnings from scientists about climate change.

I liked Raff saying that people go into biology either because of an interest in natural history as a kid or because they were excited by the intellectual activity of it as presented in school. For Raff and myself, it was the former. I still have the insect collection that I made more than 70 years ago. I liked his capturing the public's fascination with headlines that claim Darwin was wrong. Darwin's theory is the core of our biological understanding, and the evidence has grown immeasurably stronger with the use of DNA, genomics, and molecular biology.

[Tammy Vig]

Interesting book, although much of it beyond my dimwitted intellectual capabilities.