Melanism: Evolution in Action (ISBN 0-19-854982-2) is a book by Dr Mike Majerus, published in 1998. It is an update of Bernard Kettlewell's book The Evolution of Melanism.
The book contains a very useful summary of Majerus' work on melanism in ladybirds and a review of the peppered moth story, including observations on moth behavior which sparked controversy. It has been criticised for being unevenly edited so as not to suit any one audience in its entirety. For example, it explains the basic principles of evolution such as the Hardy-Weinberg law in earlier sections, and in later sections includes graduate level concepts.
Jerry Coyne reviewed the book for Nature, calling attention to the importance of the new moth behavior observations, and how they shook Bernard Kettlewell's original hypothesis.
This review has been criticised by Majerus and others of not being representative of the work. Other reviews such as by Laurence Cook fail to see the controversy coming.
Famous quotes containing the words evolution and/or action:
“The more specific idea of evolution now reached is—a change from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity to a definite, coherent heterogeneity, accompanying the dissipation of motion and integration of matter.”
—Herbert Spencer (1820–1903)
“It is most pleasant to commit a just action which is disagreeable to someone whom one does not like.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)