This is a beautifully written philosophical book on the nature of the developmental process, and on both past and current thinking about its relationship with evolution. I would urge all developmental and evolutionary biologists to read it. You will probably find, as I did, that there are some things you agree with and some that you don't. But of course,'twas ever thus.
I'll start with the things that I liked. Jason Scott Robert is enthusiastic about the new `evo-devo' approach, and he emphasizes its philosophical significance, rather than its minutiae. In particular, he notes the possibility that development may `bias' (p. 32) or `drive' (pp. 101-102) evolution in particular directions – something that I have long felt to be important(Arthur, 2004). However, he also draws attention to `developmental systems theory' (DST), the existence of which had entirely escaped me, as it seems to have been a...
