Reviews for Aspects of Old English poetic syntax

The average rating for Aspects of Old English poetic syntax based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2009-10-16 00:00:00 Thomas Beresnak I am not much wiser about moths, it seems nobody is, and the men are dislikable chaps, they usually are. Parts of this are interesting but it seems to take a while to get there, I think anybody picking this up is already going to know about Darwin and natural selection so it could have been gone through a bit less thoroughly to get to the heart of the story a bit quicker. The moral seems to be most of what you were taught in school was just plain wrong. Also I think the information given about Siamese cats and Himalayan rabbits is wrong, it's cold that brings out the points not heat as stated here. If you keep a Himalayan rabbit in a cold place, you can turn it black, so there you go I can share my useless information too.

Review # 2 was written on 2014-05-01 00:00:00 Danielle Gaskin Hooper's book first appeared to me to be a creationist tract, thus not worthy of reading. In reality, it is not only a critique of the "melanic moth" work done by Kettlewell and others, but a brief review of genetic theory trends - mutationism, selectionism, neutralism, and molecularism, if that term might be used. As a young graduate student I was wooed by E. B. Ford's ecological genetics, or the less radical form - theory plus empiricism to see how the damned thing (evolution) actually worked. I am a minimalist, working on specific genes in humans (cerumen, phenylketonuria, now hemochromatosis). I knew or casually met a number of the people mentioned in the book and wished I had met more. The book is perhaps a brief introduction to the history of the field, a damning critique of studies of "melanism" in lepidoptera and an introduction to some very interesting if eccentric/flawed geniuses. It has hunan drama so may appeal to the general audience on that score but it is really a history of a small number of people attached to very prestigious institutions in England and in the US. I think she is a bit heavy in her critique if the Brits, but she is also sympathetic. The book is well-written and can be read in 2 or 3 easy nights. I shall read it again as there is much to digest for those interested in natural selection in any species.