Extinction:

bad genes or bad luck?

W W Norton & Company Incorporated, 1992 - Science - 210 pages

In the geological record, there are five major mass extinctions--the "Big Five." The most famous happened at the end of the Cretaceous Period, when the dinosaurs and two-thirds of all marine animal species were wiped out, opening the door for the age of mammals and the rise of Homo Sapiens. Using this example as a springboard, David M. Raup leaps into an egaging discussion of the theories, assumptions, and difficulties associated with the science of species extinction. Woven is along the way are stories of the trilobite eye, tropical reefs, flying reptiles, and the fate of the heath hen on Martha's Vineyard, a very modern extinction.

This is the first major book to present a comprehensive overview of the current state of extinction studies. At the end of the journey, Raup has put forward the best science of the day to answer the question posed by the title: Bad genes or bad luck?

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2010-2011 Environmental Science student:
I think that I would recommend this book to people that are interested in the topic of extinction. You don�t need to know much about the dinosaurs or of historic eras. In this book, Raup uses fairly comprehensible language and explains to you a summary of basic but important events. He also uses good anecdotes to explain theories. He appeals to the common man and explains things in a way anybody can fully understand. He talks about a plethora of theories like the K-T theory of extinction and other mass extinctions throughout history. He explains of how every species will eventually die, as told by the Gambler�s Ruin problem. He helps the reader understand what scientists think about extinction and species. He used many graphs to help the reader interpret the data. Raup also touches upon some problems that need to be solved. At the beginning of the book he talks about how extinction hasn�t been fully investigated and how even though extinction plays a big part in our lives, it doesn�t have its own specialty. It�s a good book that hopefully can help you understand the good side of extinction.

Review: Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck?

User Review - Tycoon - Goodreads

Slightly out of date, lots of focus on the causes of KT extinction. I liked the ambiguity expressed, however. Read full review

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References from web pages

Extinction - bad genes or bad luck? - endangered-species - 14 ...
Many more species have existed than survive today � where did they all go
environment.newscientist.com/ channel/ earth/ endangered-species/ mg13117862.300

Extinction: Bad genes or bad luck? By David M. Raup. New York: ww ...
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF. PHYSICAL. ANTHROPOLOGY 88:563-569 (1992). Book. Reviews. THE. MINER�S. CANARY:. UNRAVELING. THE. MYSTER-. IES OF. EXTINCTION. ...
doi.wiley.com/ 10.1002/ ajpa.1330880410

Reference: Raup, dm, 1991, Extinction: bad genes or bad luck: New ...
Raup, dm, 1991, Extinction: bad genes or bad luck: New York, ww Norton and Co., 210 p. Catastrophic Events Conference. 3074.pdf.
www.lpi.usra.edu/ meetings/ impact2000/ pdf/ 3074.pdf

Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? by David M. Raup, reviewed by ...
Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? by David M. Raup, reviewed by Victor Niederhoffer. August 14, 2006 |. This book by David M. Raup, a biologist at the ...
www.dailyspeculations.com/ wordpress/ ?p=9

The Extinction of Darwinism(The Atlantic): Johnson, Phillip
The Extinction of Darwinism. Review of Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck by David M. Raup, (Norton 1991). Phillip E. Johnson ...
www.arn.org/ docs/ johnson/ raup.htm

Extinction (Main Page)
David M. Raup. Extinction. Bad Genes or Bad Luck? Introduction by Stephen Jay Gould In the geological record, there are five major mass extinctions�the "Big ...
www.wwnorton.com/ catalog/ backlist/ 030927.htm

Extinction: bad genes or bad luck (Raup, David M) -- Bibliography ...
Extinction: bad genes or bad luck (Raup, David M) -- Bibliography (issues) Online by the Union of International Associations (UIA), an international ...
www.diversitas.org/ db/ x.php?dbcode=re& sort=FM_19& sortad=desc& go=e& id=13512130

David M. Raup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? ISBN 0-393-30927-4; Raup, David 1999. The Nemesis Affair: A Story of the Death of Dinosaurs and the Ways of Science. ...
en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ David_Raup

JSTOR: Life's Revolutions Revisited
Books Life's revolutions revisited Extinction: Bad Genes or Bad Luck? David M. Raup. ww Norton, New York, 1991. 210 pp., illus. $19.95 (ISBN 0-393-03008-3 ...
links.jstor.org/ sici?sici=0006-3568(199205)42%3A5%3C368%3ALRR%3E2.0.CO%3B2-N

Extinction: bad genes or bad luck?
Extinction: bad genes or bad luck? Raup D. University of Chicago, USA. mesh Terms:. Adaptation, Biological · Animals · Evolution* · Fossils · Paleontology ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ pubmed/ 11540932

About the author (1992)

David M. Raup is the Sewell Avery Distinguished Service Professor and a statistical paleontologist at the University of Chicago.

Bibliographic information

Title	Extinction: bad genes or bad luck?
Author	David M. Raup
Edition	reprint
Publisher	W W Norton & Company Incorporated, 1992
ISBN	0393309274, 9780393309270
Length	210 pages
Subjects	Science › Life Sciences › Microbiology Science / Life Sciences / Evolution Science / Life Sciences / Microbiology Science / Paleontology

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