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The influence of George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) on paleoanthropology provides a well-documented, historical example of how one 'up to speed' without having to retrace ground covered by the former. Paleoanthropologists were bystanders during the formulation of the evolutionary synthesis (1936-1947). After World War II, the younger paleoanthropologists looked to George Gaylord Simpson as one of several mentors regarding the implications of the synthesis for their own discipline. But why Simpson? Having earlier defined the superfamily Hominoidea (1931) as holding the Pongidae and Hominidae adn monographed lower primate fossils (e.g., 'Studies on the earliest primates,' 1940), Simpson's 'Principles of classification and a classification of mammals' (1945) further solidified his reputation as a mammalian systematist. Simpson's Meaning of Evolution (1949) was widely read as an introduction to the synthesis, and his Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944) made accessible the more complex aspects. Consequently in the 1950s and 1960s paleoanthropologists invited Simpson to participate in their symposia (e.g., 'Some principles of historical biology bearing on human origins,' 1951; 'The meaning of taxonomic statements,' 1964), used his books as classroom texts, and cited his publications to support claims for their own work. Later in the 1960s, Simpson moved from mentor to apologist, as the paleoanthrpologists were by then familiar with the synthesis and incorporated its theoretical concepts in their interpretations of the many newly discovered hominoid fossils. Simpson now took special care to celebrate these results in his more general, less technical writings, acting as a forceful apologist for the materialistic view of human origins (e.g., 'The biological nature of man,' 1966; 'The evolutionary concept of man,' 1972). During the 1970s, Simpson's influence waned, and he became just another practitioner at the margin of the discipline. However, anthropologists acknowledged Simpson's earlier impact, for example, when he was invited, yet again, to address them at the 50th anniversay celebration of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in 1981.

William Diller Matthew, Paleontologist. The Splendid Drama Observed. EDWIN H. COLBERT. Columbia University Press, New York, 1992, xvi, 275 pp. + plates. $45. William Diller Matthew (1871-1930) represents the transition [...]

In the present era of 'dinomania' this work provides a very different sort of dinosaur book, written by one of the world's authorities on fossil amphibians and reptiles. Edwin H. [...]