September 2015
NEW BIOLOGICAL BOOKS
single entity having only one adaptive function.
The book shines, in my opinion, in the chapter in
which Curtis discusses the use of disgust to fight
disease, which is where the author’s field experience percolates with compelling passion.
Alfredo Fontanini, Neurobiology & Behavior,
Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
NEUROBIOLOGY
Feeling Beauty: The Neuroscience of Aesthetic Experience.
By G. Gabrielle Starr. Cambridge (Massachusetts):
MIT Press. $25.00. xx ⫹ 259 p. ⫹ 16 pl.; ill.;
index. ISBN: 978-0-262-01931-6. 2013.
The Making of the Mind: The Neuroscience of
Human Nature.
By Ronald T. Kellogg. Amherst (New York): Prometheus Books. $20.00 (paper). 293 p.; index. ISBN:
978-1-61614-733-4 (pb); 978-1-61614-734-1 (eb).
2013.
ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Primate Comparative Anatomy.
By Daniel L. Gebo; illustrated by Mat Severson. Baltimore (Maryland): Johns Hopkins University Press.
$84.95. xi ⫹ 187 p.; ill.; index. ISBN: 978-1-42141489-8 (hc); 978-1-4214-1490-4 (eb). 2014.
Prior to the scientific breakthroughs of the 20th
century, comparative anatomy was the most important discipline for evaluating claims for Darwinian
evolution. Morphological comparisons between
species were, and still are, key for understanding
the relationships between taxa. Anatomical comparisons with fossils have made it clear that there
has been tremendous diversity and species turnover throughout geological time. Primates today
still sample much of this morphological diversity,
displaying an array of body sizes, locomotor behaviors, and dietary adaptations. Primate comparative
anatomy is essential to understanding human biology, and remains relevant even today, in an era
of constant scientific innovations.
Primate Comparative Anatomy by Daniel L. Gebo is
a great resource for anyone interested in a functional and phylogenetic view into primate anatomy. It is particularly well suited to introductory
339
readers who need a simplistic but comprehensive
background on primate bony anatomy. The author
provides a broad overview of extant primates—relationships, behavior, and ecology (Chapters 1-3)—to contextualize the comparative anatomy described in
later chapters. This is followed by a clear and succinct explanation of the development and function of the musculoskeletal system (Chapter 4),
although discussion of specific muscles is usually
limited to general actions throughout the book.
The subsequent chapters describe the head and
teeth (Chapters 5-6), the back and limbs (Chapters 7-9), and specific anatomies of great apes and
humans (Chapter 10). The illustrations of cusps in
teeth in different primate groups will be very useful
for teaching. Unfortunately, the key importance of
body size in primate comparative anatomy, locomotion, and overall adaptation and biology of an animal
is rarely discussed outright and is unlikely to be
impressed upon most readers. However, synthesizing the extensive and detailed anatomical literature related to primate bony morphology is no
small task, and Gebo does a fantastic job of summarizing important anatomies and oddities, and
how these relate to functional demands.
This engaging volume will be a hit in undergraduate courses in primate anatomy, and biological
anthropology more broadly. The figures are clear
and informative, and appropriate for a general
audience. One clear advantage of this book is that
it surveys across primates, including strepsirrhines
(lemurs, galagos, lorises) and South American primates, whereas many other introductory primate
anatomy books are limited to catarrhines (humans, apes, and Old World monkeys). I would be
remiss if I did not point out that this volume
focused on hard tissue morphology rather than
organs, the nervous system, and other soft tissues,
and readers interested in these structures should
consider supplementing this publication with
species-specific dissection atlases. Given the target
audience, however, Gebo hits the mark. The next
generation of scholars learning from this textbook
will almost certainly come to the same realization
as Darwin, Cuvier, and Linnaeus—that comparative anatomy is essential for understanding our
place within primates.
Ashley S. Hammond, Anatomical Sciences, Stony
Brook University, Stony Brook, New York
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