By Frank Ryan

Chelsea Green Publishing

264 pages

 

Author Frank Ryan is an accomplished author, physician, and evolutionary biologist, with a passion for exploring the mysteries of science. In The Mystery of Metamorphosis, Ryan takes the reader on an intertwined journey from the birth of a concept with examples leading back to the times of Greek Mythology to Darwin’s studies and how these relate to the findings of prominent scientists dedicated to the research of metamorphosis.

 

The Mystery of Metamorphosis is deeply scientific yet very well written to engage the most novice of science enthusiasts.  Most of us are introduced to metamorphosis in the second grade with the transformation of a butterfly from the caterpillar stage. Understanding the concept, Frank Ryan takes the reader into the life of various sea creatures, explores possibilities and challenges beliefs. He introduces us to scientists like Don Williams who studied metamorphosis is sea urchins. Williams proposed that metamorphosis was the “joining of genomes of completely different species in new.”

 

In reading two of Frank Ryan’s books, Virolution and The Mystery of Metamorphosis, I’ve come to understand that scientific concepts and theories are constantly evolving. Frank Ryan is a fantastic writer and his passion for science and quest for understanding comes through. Any science enthusiast will dive into this read. I’m not educated in the scientific fields yet I found The Mystery of Metamorphosis to be fascinating, especially with concept relating to humans and puberty.   I walked away from this book with a load of interesting and useful facts. I find myself thinking beyond the cusp of what I see everyday and questioning the origin and evolution of the simplest things. This is a book I will keep on my bookshelf and pull out from time to time to reexamine metamorphosis.

 

 

Jackie Miller

Co-Founder AuthorsDen