DOMINIC W. MASSARO, editor
University of California, Santa Cruz

Finding Babies in Many Baths

Evolution: The History of an Idea, 3rd ed.
By Peter Bowler. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. 464 pp. Paper, $24.95.

Peter Bowler°s 1984 book Evolution: The History of an Idea is a standard introductory history of theories of biological evolution. A minor revision in 1989 updated some of the material, but with the appearance of this third edition Bowler has completely rewritten the book to "reflect the large scale changes that were taking place in the way we view some aspects of the rise of evolutionism" (p. xi). The book presents an up-to-date yet accessible introduction for the nonexpert on the intellectual history of evolution and evolutionism, defined by Bowler as "any theory postulating a natural process for the development of life on earth" (p. xvi).