Book description
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.
"Raff has written his story, he tells us, to inspire others
to be excited and ask questions and become scientists. Science is fun,
and real people do it, he shows us with his stories about the
perfectly ordinary and enticing world of nature, science, and
discovery." -Jane Maienschein, author of Whose View of Life?
Embryos, Cloning, and Stem Cells
Rudolf A. Raff is James H. Rudy Professor of Biology at Indiana
University and one of the founders of the field of evolutionary
developmental biology (evo-devo). He is director of the Indiana
Molecular Biology Institute, editor-in-chief of Evolution &
Development, Guggenheim Fellow, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts
and Sciences, and Fellow of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. He is author of The Shape of Life: Genes,
Development, and Evolution of Animal Form and author (with Thom
Kaufman) of Embryos, Genes, and Evolution.
