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Review title: excellent book for biologists, likely a difficult read for laypersons
Product review: I read this book as part of my preparation for preliminary exams for my Ph.D.. It is largely written for biologists. Much of the parlance employed will be difficult to understand for the layperson without at least some biology education. If you are a biologist or biology student and would like a firm grounding in the historical development of the science, its philosophical underpinnings, and our current evolutionary paradigm, then this book is for you. Ernst Mayr is a very proficient, clear writer. Some of the thinking about certain subfields and some concepts have changed somewhat in the 30 years since this book was published, but for the most part the book holds up incredibly well. Mayr is both a scientist and a historian of science, so familiarity with important ideas in the study of the history of science is helpful (Kuhn, Popper, etc...), but not essential.
