>Dear Professor Mallet
>
>In the forthcoming exam, is it absolutely necessary to know the
further
>reading in great detail? I have the Futuyma book, but most of the
further
>reading references cite whole chapters of this book, and I am very
unsure
>as to my ability to learn all of this without jeopardising my 6
other
subjects!
>
>I hope you are having a good Easter,
>Olivia
Dear Olivia,
You may be relieved to know that you will be examined on the course
notes
that we presented during the term. Naturally, we don't expect students
actually to read hard-copy "books" in this day and age! The course notes
are available at:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbhdjm/courses/2007/timetab.html
In the case of my lecture notes, these have been deliberately kept
brief as
notes, rather than as a full exposition, such as found in Futuyma's
lovely,
although very complicated book (in the introduction, he affectionately
called his book a "Hopeful Monster" -- get it?). To be fair, in my
recommendation of the book, I stated: "If you are also interested in
knowing about evolution beyond the remit of this course, this is
currently
our top recommendation". My notes are not more than 2-3 pp per lecture,
and are intended for printing out should you want to bring them into
lectures to scribble on.
For a slightly fuller, more explanatory set of notes, see also:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucbhdjm/courses/2007/EvGenetics.html
You may find these more extensive pages helpful when the notes are too
telegraphic, though I would warn you that these longer notes (not
intended
for printing out) also some contain information which is no longer
relevant
to the course, or is now more relevant to BIOL B243.
Or of course, you still might like to look difficult topics up in
Futuyma. He
has a new book out now (2005) entitled simply: "Evolution". This
new book
is very abbreviated compared to his earlier book; it also has nice
colour
diagrams.
But his literary style doesn't quite leave him, aficionados will be
happy to find.
Futuyma says of the new edition: "...this book is specifically directed
towards
contemporary undergraduates ...I have attempted to make points more
explicitly, have (with some reluctance) reduced the quantitative
aspects of
our science, and have eschewed the Proustian sentences and Elizabethan
constructions with which I fain would play."
Hope this helps your problem.
All the best, Jim