Product Description

In his inimitably upbeat and irreverent style, Dr. Arndt von Hippel demonstrates how the latest scientific findings confirm a tortuous progression of events from the universal Big Bang to you.

This book is
* timely - there are no others
* up-to-date - includes recent discoveries
* complete - it provides an essential overview as well as a detailed explanation of human body systems
* exciting - because it presents a great deal of information in a more meaningful fashion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #787741 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 548 pages

Professor Lynn Margulis, Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, member of the National Academy of Sciences
Arndt von Hippel in his irreverent and entertaining text, Human Evolutionary Biology tells it like it is: Man's place in nature is far less exalted and supreme than our rapacious and greedy culture would have us believe. This dense, accessible fact-filled tome should be in the hands of anyone curious about people as animals - which means all of us. From the plethora of bodily fluids to the big bang and the nature of scientific truth, von Hippel informs, amuses and clarifies but never trivializes. His unillustrated text is totally distinguishable from... the biology textbook market by its fearless honesty, the directness of its tone and its replacement of glitz by meaning and content. This bibliophilic and charming author tells us what every citizen should know about his or her ancestry, body parts, biological affinities, predictable behaviors and taste. Tongue in cheek, it is the conglomeration of know-nothing obfuscating authors and editors who are the stone age presses while von Hippel represents the enlightenment. Buy it, read it, and pass it to your friends.

From the Publisher
Following retirement, Dr. von Hippel taught a popular course in human anatomy and physiology at the University of Alaska -- that course gradually evolved into this book. It will equally engross the struggling biology student and the educated layperson. Dr. von Hippel's three previous books were enthusiastically received.

About the Author
Arndt von Hippel was born in Germany in 1932 and arrived in the United States in 1936. He comes from a multigenerational scientific family that recently was featured in The Scientist. Dr. von Hippel acquired a B.S. in Biology from M.I.T. and an M.D. from Harvard. In 1965, after eight years of surgical training, he moved to Anchorage with his pediatrician wife and their children. His broad and varied Alaskan medical experience included starting a very successful heart surgery program.