The Animal Kingdom: A Very Short Introduction by Peter W H Holland
wide ranging, insightful and a pleasure to read
Like so many of the VSI series, this book has a fresh and informative style that allows the assimilation of cascade of information to be a pleasant experience. The definition of an animal is approached from a modern viewpoint with an important and interesting emphasis on epithelial cells sheets. A classification of the animal kingdom uses historical perspectives on bilateralism and coeloms to explain the most modern synthesis of animals into the basal phyla, the Lophotrochozoa, the Ecdysozoa and the Deuterostomia. This derives from the latest molecular evidence, an area where Holland is expert, and provides a lucid and engaging introduction. Holland then works methodically through these super-phyla.
Working through the super-phyla inevitably requires a degree of listing. Many of the listings are accompanied by key points of interest: the emergence of the ubiquitous homeobox region in the genome of the Bilateria; the deep sea pogonophoran worm's troposome organ which allows chemosynthesis of hydrogen sulphide; uric acid storage in the wings of Pieris butterflies; a little story about nematomorph horse-hair worms that answered a perennial question from my childhood; and an evolutionary explanation for temperature dependent sex determination in the Tasmanian Snow Skink - these are but a few of the enlightening points which punctuate this survey of the animal kingdom. Holland's extensive walk-through of the whole kingdom necessarily leaves only twenty pages to cover the terrestrial deuterostomes with which we are familiar from day to day. Perhaps there is scope for a VSI on the vertebrates. The Further Reading and Index are both helpful.
Holland achieves a thorough and insightful exposition on some complex topics which is often beyond expensive text books. It is a must-read for biology students and those who wish to refresh their knowledge of zoological classification through an inspiring VSI.