One ofthe most important aspects in research fields where mathematics is "applied is the construction of a formal model of a real system. As for structural relations, graphs have turned out to provide the most appropriate tool for setting up the mathematical model. This is certainly one of the reasons for the rapid expansion in graph theory during the last decades. Furthermore, in recent years it also became clear that the two disciplines of graph theory and computer science have very much in common, and that each one has been capable of assisting significantly in the development of the other. On one hand, graph theorists have found that many of their problems can be solved by the use of com puting techniques, and on the other hand, computer scientists have realized that many of their concepts, with which they have to deal, may be conveniently expressed in the lan guage of graph theory, and that standard results in graph theory are often very relevant to the solution of problems concerning them. As a consequence, a tremendous number of publications has appeared, dealing with graphtheoretical problems from a computational point of view or treating computational problems using graph theoretical concepts."

What we do and do not know about evolution, by one of the field's pioneering thinkers. Evolution is the most important idea in biology, with implications that go far beyond science. But despite more than a century's progress in understanding, there is still widespread confusion about what evolution is, how it works and why it is the only plausible mechanism that can account for the remarkable diversity of life on Earth. Now, for the first time in a book aimed at a general audience, one of the founding fathers of modern biology tells us what we know - and what we do not know - about evolution. In showing how evolution has gone from theory to fact, he explores various controversial fads and fallacies such as punctuated equilibrium, the selfish-gene theory and evolutionary psychology. He ends by looking at what we know about human evolution and how, in turn, this knowledge has affected the way in which we view ourselves and the world.

It is now generally recognized that the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 not only decisively altered the basic concepts of biological theory but had a profound and lasting influence on social, philosophic, and religious thought. This work is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever printed. The first edition had a freshness and uncompromising directness that were considerably weakened in subsequent editions. Nearly all reprints were based on the greatly modified sixth edition (1872), and the only modern reprint changes pagination, making references to the original very difficult. Clearly, there has been a need for a facsimile reprint. Professor Mayr's introduction has a threefold purpose: to list passages in the first edition that Darwin altered in later editions; to point out instances in which Darwin was clearly pioneering; and to call attention to neglected passages that show Darwin as a much deeper thinker than has been recognized. No one can fail to be impressed by the originality of Darwin's treatment and by the intellectual challenge his work presents even to the modern reader.

This collection of revised and new essays argues that biology is an autonomous science rather than a branch of the physical sciences. Ernst Mayr, widely considered the most eminent evolutionary biologist of the 20th century, offers insights on the history of evolutionary thought, critiques the conditions of philosophy to the science of biology, and comments on several of the major developments in evolutionary theory. Notably, Mayr explains that Darwin's theory of evolution is actually five separate theories, each with its own history, trajectory and impact. Ernst Mayr, commonly referred to as the "Darwin of the 20th century" and listed as one of the top 100 scientists of all-time, is Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. What Makes Biology Unique is the 25th book he has written during his long and prolific career. His recent books include This is Biology: The Science of the Living World (Belknap Press, 1997) and What Evolution Is (Basic Books, 2002).

Preface By Robert Cushman Murphy. Edited By Margaret B. Hickey.

Ernst Mayr is one of the principal architects of the 'neo-Darwinian synthesis', which has been the dominant perspective in 20th century evolutionary biology. Jared Diamond is one of the most wide-ranging minds in biology, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for "Guns, Germs, and Steel". Mayr and Diamond decided in 1970 to collaborate on an authoritative monograph presenting their data and interpretations of the evolution of the birds of the Solomon and Bismark Islands. Mayr's numerous expeditions to do fieldwork in this area, beginning in 1929 and continuing through 1976, form the core of his scientific work. Diamond has made four expeditions to the region since 1970 to fill in gaps in the data.

This collection of revised and new essays argues that biology is an autonomous science rather than a branch of the physical sciences. Ernst Mayr, widely considered the most eminent evolutionary biologist of the 20th century, offers insights on the history of evolutionary thought, critiques the conditions of philosophy to the science of biology, and comments on several of the major developments in evolutionary theory. Notably, Mayr explains that Darwin's theory of evolution is actually five separate theories, each with its own history, trajectory and impact. Ernst Mayr, commonly referred to as the "Darwin of the 20th century" and listed as one of the top 100 scientists of all-time, is Professor Emeritus at Harvard University. What Makes Biology Unique is the 25th book he has written during his long and prolific career. His recent books include This is Biology: The Science of the Living World (Belknap Press, 1997) and What Evolution Is (Basic Books, 2002).

"Ein einzigartiges Buch, das nur von einem Mann wie Ernst Mayr geschrieben werden konnte, der nicht nur einer der bedeutendsten Evolutionsbiologen dieses Jahrhunderts, sondern auch ein grosser Philosoph, Biologiehistoriker und aussergewohnlicher Schriftsteller ist. Kein anderes Buch erzahlt so klar und kritisch die Evolution der Ideen, die zur modernen Biologie fuhrten."
("Nobelpreistrager Francois Jacob")"

Die deutsche Ausgabe meiner Aufsatze begrli e ich mit besonderer Freude, da die Anfange meiner Gedankengange oft bis zu den Zei- ten zurlickreichen, als ich noch in Berlin am Zoologischen Museum der Universitat tatig war. Die Probleme, mit denen ich mich in die- ser Sammlung auseinandersetze, werden nicht nur in der wissen- schaftlichen, sondern auch in der philosophischen Literatur eifrigst erortert. Besonders wichtig fUr die Behandlung dieser Probleme ist das Auftauchen v611ig neuer Denkrichtungen in der modernen Evo- lutionsbiologie. In der Wissenschaftsphilosophie, und besonders bei den Positivisten, war die Uberzeugung weit verbreitet, alle Pro- bleme der Biologie konnten letzten Endes auf die Gesetze der Physik und Chemie zurlickgeflihrt werden. Wer widersprach, dem wurde vorgeworfen, Vitalist oder Mystiker zu sein. Da jedoch diese Auffassung der Positivisten falsch ist, wird in einigen meiner Aufsatze nachgewiesen. Bei der Zusammenstellung dieses Bandes habe ich mich von dem Prinzip leiten lassen, so1che Aufsatze zu wahlen, die sich mit neuen Entwicklungen in der Gedankenwelt der Biologen beschiifti- gen. Ais besonders wichtige Themen erschienen mir die Wirksam- keit der natUrlichen Auslese, der Populationsgedanke, das Prinzip der Teleonomie, die Rolle des genetischen Programms und andere gedankliche Entwicklungen der modernen Biologie, mit denen nicht nur Wissenschaftler und Philosophen, sondern auch jeder gebildete Laie vertraut sein soUte, denn ohne dieses Verstandnis ist eine moderne Weltanschauung eigentlich undenkbar. Oft wird, und leider zu Recht, auf die gedankliche Kluft zwi- schen Wissenschaftlern und Humanisten hingewiesen.

Preface By Robert Cushman Murphy. Edited By Margaret B. Hickey.

Additional Contributors Are Verne Grant, John Imbrie, Ernst Mayr, John A. Moore, C. Ladd Prosser, And T. M. Sonneborn. December 28-29, 1955.

At once a spirited defense of Darwinian explanations of biology and an elegant primer on evolution for the general reader, What Evolution Is poses the questions at the heart of evolutionary theory and considers how our improved understanding of evolution has affected the viewpoints and values of modern man. Science Masters Series

A collection of twenty-eight essays, five previously unpublished, grouped into nine categories: Philosophy, Natural Selection, Adaptation, Darwin, Diversity, Species, Speciation, Macroevolution, and Historical Perspective. The book, Ernst Mayr notes in the Foreword, is an attempt "to strengthen the bridge between biology and philosophy, and point to the new direction in which a new philosophy of biology will move."

No one in this century can speak with greater authority on the progress of ideas in biology than Ernst Mayr. And no book has ever established the life sciences so firmly in the mainstream of Western intellectual history as The Growth of Biological Thought. Ten years in preparation, this is a work of epic proportions, tracing the development of the major problems of biology from the earliest attempts to find order in the diversity of life, to modern research into the mechanisms of gene transmission.

The diversity of living forms and the unity of evolutionary processes are themes that have permeated the research and writing of Ernst Mayr, a Grand Master of evolutionary biology. The essays collected here are among his most valuable and durable: contributions that form the basis for much of the contemporary understanding of evolutionary biology.

The result of a lifetime in the field and in the classroom, "Chance and Change" challenges many of the tenets of establishment ecology. Charging that most of the environmental movement has ignored or rejected the changes in thinking that have infiltrated ecological theory since the mid 70s, William Drury presents a convincing case that disorder is what makes the natural world work, and that clinging to romantic notions of nature's grand design only saps the strength of the conservation movement. Drury's training in botany, geology, and zoology as well as his life-long devotion to work in the field gave him a depth and range of knowledge that few ecologists possess. This book opens our eyes to a new way of looking at the environment and forces us to think more deeply about nature and our role in it. "Chance and Change" is intended for the serious amateur naturalist or professional conservationist. Drury argues that chance and change are the rule, that the future is as unpredictable to other organisms as it is to us, and that natural disturbance is too frequent for equilibrium models to be useful. He stresses the centrality of natural selection in explaining the meaning of biology and insists the book and the laboratory must be checked at all times against the real world. Written in an easy, personal style, Drury's narrative comes alive with the landscape - the salt marshes, dunes, seashores, and forests - that he believed served as the best classroom. His novel approach of correlating landscape evolution with ecological principles offers a welcome corrective to discordance between what we observe in nature and what theory tells us we should see.

Biology until recently has been the neglected stepchild of science, and many educated people have little grasp of how biology explains the natural world. Yet to address the major political and moral questions that face us today, we must acquire an understanding of their biological roots. This magisterial new book by Ernst Mayr will go far to remedy this situation. An eyewitness to this century's relentless biological advance and the creator of some of its most important concepts, Mayr is uniquely qualified to offer a vision of science that places biology firmly at the center, and a vision of biology that restores the primacy of holistic, evolutionary thinking. As he argues persuasively, the physical sciences cannot address many aspects of nature that are unique to life. Living organisms must be understood at every level of organization; they cannot be reduced to the laws of physics and chemistry. Mayr's approach is refreshingly at odds with the reductionist thinking that dominated scientific research earlier in this century, and will help to redirect how people think about the natural world. This Is Biology can also be read as a "life history" of the discipline--from its roots in the work of Aristotle, through its dormancy during the Scientific Revolution and its flowering in the hands of Darwin, to its spectacular growth with the advent of molecular techniques. Mayr maps out the territorial overlap between biology and the humanities, especially history and ethics, and carefully describes important distinctions between science and other systems of thought, including theology. Both as an overview of the sciences of life and as the culmination of a remarkable life in science, This Is Biology will richly reward professionals and general readers alike.