Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution

In most respects, Abigail and Brittany Hensel are normal American twins. Born and raised in a small town, they enjoy a close relationship, though each has her own tastes and personality. But the Hensels also share a body. Their two heads sit side-by-side on a single torso, with two arms and two legs. They have not only survived, but have developed into athletic, graceful young women. And that, writes Mark S. Blumberg, opens an extraordinary window onto human development and evolution. In Freaks of Nature, Blumberg turns a scientist's eye on the oddities of nature, showing how a subject once relegated to the sideshow can help explain some of the deepest complexities of biology. Why, for example, does a two-headed human so resemble a two-headed minnow? What we need to understand, Blumberg argues, is that anomalies are the natural products of development, and it is through developmental mechanisms that evolution works. Freaks of Nature induces a kind of intellectual vertigo as it upends our intuitive understanding of biology. What really is an anomaly? Why is a limbless human a "freak," but a limbless reptile-a snake-a successful variation? What we see as deformities, Blumberg writes, are merely alternative paths for development, which challenge both the creature itself and our ability to fit it into our familiar categories. Rather than mere dead-ends, many anomalies prove surprisingly survivable-as in the case of the goat without forelimbs that learned to walk upright. Blumberg explains how such variations occur, and points to the success of the Hensel sisters and the goat as examples of the extraordinary flexibility inherent in individual development. In taking seriously a subject that has often been shunned as discomfiting and embarrassing, Mark Blumberg sheds new light on how individuals-and entire species-develop, survive, and evolve.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Blumberg, Mark

Psychology & Counseling

Oxford University Press

AIDS: The Impact on the Criminal Justice System

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

Pearson

Exploration of riveting issues in the criminal justice field! This much-acclaimed volume challenges many popular preconceived notions of crime, criminals, and crime control as it provides an insightful exploration of factors that shape popular conceptions of crime. The roles of the media, government, and other special-interest groups in promoting myths are highlighted. It demystifies images of child abduction, serial murder, organized crime, white-collar crime, and drugs. In addition, it discusses popular attitudes on the "lenient" criminal justice system and the death penalty.

The Mythology of Crime and Criminal Justice

Kappeler, Victor E.

Potter, Gary W.

Social Sciences

Waveland PRess

This refreshing, illuminating volume offers students of crime and justice an innovative alternative to traditional criminal justice texts. Each of the authoritative, well-written chapters questions our most basic assumptions of crime and justice, covering relevant issues such as juvenile crime, the death penalty, and serial murder. Each crime problem is carefully traced from its creation to society's integration of a myth into popular thinking and eventually social policy. Refined through two best-selling editions, the Third Edition continues to offer broad applications in the classroom. Its provocative viewpoints challenge habitual perspectives, thus making this text an excellent starting point for understanding the realities of criminal justice and an engaging alternative to reinforcing crime myths.

Waveland Pr Inc.

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Books by Blumberg, Mark