title: Taking Wing : Archaeopteryx and the Evolution of Bird Flight
author:  Pat Shipman 
description: Applying skills honed in the controversial field of paleoanthropology, Shipman (The Evolution of Racism: Human Differences and the Use and Abuse of Science, LJ 6/1/94) draws from a diversity of scientific fields to present a comprehensive analysis of the ideas explaining how adaptations needed for animal flight came about. Using the well-known Archaeopteryx fossils as a keystone, she discusses historical and current hypotheses about bird evolution, along with the provocative debates they spurred. Shipman draws the reader into the debate by providing the science and physical evidence for each point of view, along with rebuttals of its critics. Highly recommended for interested lay readers and science buffs.?Frank Reiser, Nassau Community Coll., Garden City, N.Y.<br />Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: Chapter One
  The Peregrine-class scout ship looked much like the falcon that inspired her design, with a beaklike bow
  and sweeping wings that enabled her to streak through a planet's atmosphere. Her sleek lines were
  marred by various scorch marks and dents, which left her looking like an old raptor with many scars.
  Larger than a shuttlecraft yet smaller than a cruiser, she was better armed than most ships her size, with
  forward and rear torpedoes plus phaser emitters on her wings.
  Her bridge was designed to be operated efficiently by three people, allowing her to carry a crew of only
  fifteen. The engine room took up all three decks of her stern, and most of the crew served there. This
  proud vessel was state of the art for a scout shipabout forty years ago. Now she was practically the
  flagship of the Maquis fleet.
  "What's the name of our ship?" asked her captain, a man named Chakotay. His black hair was cut short
  and severe, which suited his angular face and the prominent tattoo that str