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Martin Nowak is undeniably a great artist, working in the medium of mathematical biology...Nowak has seemingly effortlessly produced a stream of remarkable theoretical explorations into areas as diverse as the evolution of language, cooperation, cancer and the progression from HIV infection to AIDS. Evolutionary Dynamics, based on a course he gives at Harvard, is a comprehensive summary of this work...This is a unique book. It should be on the shelf of anyone who has, or thinks they might have, an interest in theoretical biology. -- Sean Nee Nature 20061101 The lucid presentation, drawing frequently on the author's own research, provides a uniquely compelling introduction to mathematical biology. Nowak aims to demonstrate the power of simple mathematics to illuminate diverse aspects of evolutionary analysis...Evolutionary Dynamics provides a new generation with an opportunity to draw from the masters. -- Steven A. Frank Science 20061222 The book will be a valuable resource both for those familiar with evolutionary dynamics and for those who are interested in learning the subject. -- Ross Cressman Mathematical Reviews 20070101 Two of the crucial processes that drive evolution, mutation and selection, can be described with mathematical equations. This book introduces the reader to the basic mathematical laws that govern the evolution of life...This is a fascinating treatment of evolutionary theory, with many fresh insights. -- S.E. Southeastern Naturalist 20071201
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At a time of unprecedented expansion in the life sciences, evolution is the one theory that transcends all of biology. Any observation of a living system must ultimately be interpreted in the context of its evolution. Evolutionary change is the consequence of mutation and natural selection, which are two concepts that can be described by mathematical equations. "Evolutionary Dynamics" is concerned with these equations of life. In this book, Martin Nowak draws on the languages of biology and mathematics to outline the mathematical principles according to which life evolves. His work introduces readers to the powerful yet simple laws that govern the evolution of living systems, no matter how complicated they might seem. Evolution has become a mathematical theory, Nowak suggests, and any idea of an evolutionary process or mechanism should be studied in the context of the mathematical equations of evolutionary dynamics. His book presents a range of analytical tools that can be used to this end: fitness landscapes, mutation matrices, genomic sequence space, random drift, quasispecies, replicators, the Prisoner's Dilemma, games in finite and infinite populations, evolutionary graph theory, games on grids, evolutionary kaleidoscopes, fractals, and spatial chaos. Nowak then shows how evolutionary dynamics applies to critical real-world problems, including the progression of viral diseases such as AIDS, the virulence of infectious agents, the unpredictable mutations that lead to cancer, the evolution of altruism, and even the evolution of human language. His book makes a clear and compelling case for understanding every living system - and everything that arises as a consequence of living systems - in terms of evolutionary dynamics.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is serious in content and rigorous in approach, yet humorous and light-hearted in style. Prof. Nowak shows how important it is for biologists to have a command of mathematics -- or, actually, more than just a command of it. He shows how many topics of present-day biology can only be analyzed, pursued and researched by using a range of mathematical techniques. Many topics are covered, some of which are from the range in which Prof. Nowak has published ground-breaking research papers.
Make no mistake: this is not one of the "popularizations" that attempt to explain or elaborate on the necessity of mathematics in biology but do so "without any math..." implying that one can use words to portray the mathematics. The book does not, however, present intricate formalism(s) and detailed proofs, etc. This latter part is both its strength and its drawback: in order to avoid long proofs, clarifications, examples, etc., Prof. Nowak simply states results (and some are certainly not intuitively obvious), thereby, alas, leaving the careful reader in a quandary: "where did he get that from?" I suggest that referencing of the pertinent literature (where a more elaborate presentation can be found! not the original, technical publications!) would help many readers who really want to use mathematics in order to pursue biology.
I myself am a biomathematician, and I praise/envy Prof. Nowak's style and his breathtaking clarity; his ability to summarize an exact result in a few lines after perhaps one or two paragraphs introducing the topic. When comparing the wordiness of some non-mathematical biologists (Stephen Jay Gould, for example) with his presentation of the same logical structure of biology, it becomes clear why much wordiness in biology is apparently due to lack of mathematics expertise. Take, as a simple example, one presentation by Prof. Nowak: why a simple, straightforward mathematical proof (by Jenkins) shows that Charles Darwin's view of mixed heredity cannot lead to selection (as genetic variance disappears). All the heavy, wordy tomes that have been written without seriously considering the implications of this "obvious" feature for evolution become lightweight in content.
Incidentally, one is inclined to more than smile at Prof. Nowak's quoting Charles Darwin (the one of Beagle fame) as having said he (Darwin) would have liked to have had a better "grasp" of mathematics. Why he said this I do not know, but I concur with Darwin, and by implication, with Prof. Nowak.
I would want all biologists, particularly those involved in population ecology, in evolution, in game theory, as well as those those studying predation, selection mechanisms, genetics, traits, etc. to read and understand this book.
Make no mistake: this is not one of the "popularizations" that attempt to explain or elaborate on the necessity of mathematics in biology but do so "without any math..." implying that one can use words to portray the mathematics. The book does not, however, present intricate formalism(s) and detailed proofs, etc. This latter part is both its strength and its drawback: in order to avoid long proofs, clarifications, examples, etc., Prof. Nowak simply states results (and some are certainly not intuitively obvious), thereby, alas, leaving the careful reader in a quandary: "where did he get that from?" I suggest that referencing of the pertinent literature (where a more elaborate presentation can be found! not the original, technical publications!) would help many readers who really want to use mathematics in order to pursue biology.
I myself am a biomathematician, and I praise/envy Prof. Nowak's style and his breathtaking clarity; his ability to summarize an exact result in a few lines after perhaps one or two paragraphs introducing the topic. When comparing the wordiness of some non-mathematical biologists (Stephen Jay Gould, for example) with his presentation of the same logical structure of biology, it becomes clear why much wordiness in biology is apparently due to lack of mathematics expertise. Take, as a simple example, one presentation by Prof. Nowak: why a simple, straightforward mathematical proof (by Jenkins) shows that Charles Darwin's view of mixed heredity cannot lead to selection (as genetic variance disappears). All the heavy, wordy tomes that have been written without seriously considering the implications of this "obvious" feature for evolution become lightweight in content.
Incidentally, one is inclined to more than smile at Prof. Nowak's quoting Charles Darwin (the one of Beagle fame) as having said he (Darwin) would have liked to have had a better "grasp" of mathematics. Why he said this I do not know, but I concur with Darwin, and by implication, with Prof. Nowak.
I would want all biologists, particularly those involved in population ecology, in evolution, in game theory, as well as those those studying predation, selection mechanisms, genetics, traits, etc. to read and understand this book.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is written by Martin Nowak to heads up the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University. In recent years his group have published several influential papers in the most prestigious science journals such as Science and Nature. In this book he presents an overview of that work. The book is beautifully produced with exceptionally clear presentation of diagrams, equations and text. It does contain a substantial amount of mathematics and thus will not be of use for anyone who cannot follow at least some of that reasoning. However the introductory sections to each chapter are in themselves exemplars of how to introduce and give an overview of a subject, the first few pages of the chapter on the evolution of cancer describes the functions of tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes in a far clearer manner than any biomedical textbook I have read. Although specialist, I would recommend this textbook extremely highly to anyone who is interested in the mathematics of evolution and I would expect it to become a classic text.
2 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book will teach you nothing about evolution or biology; it is purely a collecting together of the mathematics relating to biology and evolution. The book is for the pure mathematician.
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