Carl Zimmer (@carlzimmer) and Doug Emlen just released a new textbook on evolution, Evolution: Making Sense of Life. I haven't had a chance to study it closely yet, but it looks as if it could be the text that finally replaces Doug Futuyma's Evolution in our undergraduate evolution course. It has decent coverage of paleontology and systematics; excellent coverage of population genetics, quantitative genetics, natural selection, and adaptation; and good coverage of the evolution of sex, speciation, life history evolution, coevolution, macroevolution (chapter by Kevin Padian), the evolution of behavior, and human evolution (including evolutionary medicine).
I won't be making the decision on whether to switch by myself. I teach the course with several other faculty members in my department, and we'll all have to agree. We won't make the decision for another month or so. Even if we decide not to switch I am delighted to have a serious alternative to consider, and I'm delighted to have this book as a resource. I'm sure I will turn to it often.1
1Of course, as long as I stay in my current position I won't be teaching undergraduate evolution. My colleagues may well decide that I don't have any say about what text they decide to use, and that would be entirely fair.
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