This is probably a good book. It’s the sort of thing I would really enjoy. But the way it was written and organized just didn’t grab me. It got annoyed with it pretty quickly and in the end, my verdict is: BORING.

An interesting hypothesis, though alternative ones aren’t really addressed and the writing can be dry at times.

strangely enough, i picked this up in the bargain bin at HEB grocery. The book fleshes out the authors theory about the cause of the Cambrian explosion (described as 'evolution's Big Bang). Basically, Parker is saying that the Cambrian Explosion was caused by the sudden evolution of vision in primitive trilobites. I found the theory fascinating and convincing. Especially after reading so many expositions on the period, like Stephen Jay Gould's Wonderful Life. Gould's emphasis on contingency seems desperate in the light of Parkers elegant solution. Unfortunately, Parkers prose is a little less than engaging, when compared with other authors on evolution (Darwin, Dawkins, Gould, Diamond etc..) but this can be forgiven, since its his first book.

Slow going, and I'm not familiar with all the varieties of fossils, but the author makes a compelling case that the development of vision/the eye was one of the spurs to evolution in the Cambrian period. Prey, or be preyed upon. There are still species, however, who do not have vision and don't need it in their environment.

This is a fascinating book about how light has guided the evolution of life on earth, focussing on the big bang of evolution that happened during the Cambrian period (543 - 490 million years ago).


It is full of fascinating details including:


* angel fish can use their silver scales as mirrors to blind their predators;


* how the camouflage of both predators (such as lions) and their prey (including wildebeeste) is an adaptation guided by light;


* how the cave fish has developed different forms depending on where it lives, such that those that live in caves have lost both their eyes and their silver colouration.



The book is as simply written as the subject matter allows and goes into detail about how light stimulated the development of vision which stimulated the course of evolution itself. It also details the physics that lies behind the production of colour in animals and the pre-historic development of functional eyes as evidenced from the fossil record.

Fascinating journey through Pre-Cambrian evolution (one of my favorite time periods) about how the development of the eye may have caused diverse coping strategies to evolve. Loved the line drawings.

THE CAMBRIAN EXPLOSION WAS BECAUSE OF THE NEURONS !!!!!!!

great

I bought this because I once worked in the same institution as the author, and was on nodding terms with him. I was delighted to discover that he had written an excellent book, though having heard him present some of his work, I had great hopes . . .

The theory that 545 million years ago the Cambrian Explosion (the sudden expansion of animal diversity) was triggered by the emergence of the first eye.

It loses one star for annoying name dropping (most of the time he is rightly referencing prior work which is fine, but sometimes we get a rambling Person-Institute-date/time/place he met them for no strong reason).

It loses another star for general rambling about himself when he should be getting on with the science.

Despite those two complaints I found the book interesting and informative. I'm not a scientist but I grasped most of the biology and physics discussed, although some paragraphs required a second read before I got there. I learnt a lot of about evolution, natural selection, and the enormity of the process that has led us to where we are today. These are aspects of the world around us that most of us are aware of but are unlikely to have considered in any depth. I especially liked the chapter detailing how the eye evolved from primative light sensitive cells.

Had he not tried so hard to turn the book into a suspense thriller it would have worked better - but his theory is convincing and thorough and once I got used to his style I found it a pleasure to read.

Great theory and well written.

I seek out books that teach me something new, and 'In the Blink of an Eye' brought the goods over and over.

The cause of the Cambrian Explosion—the sudden radiation of animals from 3 to 38 distinct phyla, the number that exist to this day—had been a mystery since Darwin. Zoologist Andrew Parker has come up with the most viable theory to date—the evolution of vision. As an optometrist, this was particularly fascinating to me.

Here are the facts: 544 million years ago all animals were soft-bodied, blind, and only carried out passive predation. 543 million years ago the lights were turned on—soft-bodied trilobites had vision (an efficient, image-forming eye can evolve in less than half a million years). They then became active predators, and this selective pressure caused them and their prey to rapidly develop hard parts, shells and armor. By 538 million years ago, several of the now 38 animal phyla also evolved eyes—including our own ancestors, the early chordates (worm-like animals with a notochord).

That is the gist, but Andrew Parker cleverly sleuths out so much more from his studies of the Burgess Shale fossils that the book simply must be experienced in its entirety to fully appreciate its implications. Should be required reading for any student of biology.