Aug. 30: Introduction; structure, scope, content and expectations (yours and ours)

Sept. 4: READING: M. Shermer. 1997. "How thinking goes wrong: Twenty-
five fallacies that lead us to believe weird things" (chapter 3 in Why People Believe Weird Things, pp. 44-61)

Sept. 6 READING: J. Hanken. 1999. Why are there so many new amphibian
species when amphibians are declining? Trends in Ecology and Evolution 14 (1):7-8.

Sept. 11 READING: S. J. Gould, "Ever Since Darwin", chapter 18 (pp. 147-152)

READING: W. B. N. Berry, 1987, “A need for a time scale”, pp. 1-10 in Growth of a Prehistoric Time Scale by W. B. N. Berry.

Sept. 13 READING: TEXT: "A new introduction,” pp. 1-5

Sept. 18 READING: TEXT: Preface, pp. 6-21

Sept. 20 READING: TEXT: pp. 22-35

Sept. 25 READING: TEXT: pp. 37-45

Sept. 27 READING: TEXT: pp. 45-63

Oct. 2 READING: R. Folk and F. Lynch, 1997. "Nannobacteria are alive on Earth as well as Mars". Pp. 406-419 in Instruments, Methods, and Missions for the Investigation of Extraterrestrial Microorganisms. SPIE Proceedings volume no. 3111.

Oct. 4 READING: Dingus and Rowe, 1998, "Dinosaurs and the hierarchy of life" (chapter 11 in The Mistaken Extinction, pp. 141-149 (you can finish the chapter if you wish, but the rest is assigned for next time)

Oct. 9 READING: Dingus and Rowe, 1998, "Dinosaurs and the hierarchy of life" (chapter 11 in The Mistaken Extinction, pp. 149-159.

Oct. 11 READING: TEXT: pp. 65-77.

Oct. 16 READING: Darwin, 1859, "Introduction". Pp. 1-6 in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

Oct. 18 MID-TERM EXAM #1

Oct. 23 READING: S. J. Gould, "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes", chapter 24, pp. 313-319

Oct. 25 READING: May, R. M. 1986. How many species are there? Nature 324:514-515.

Oct. 30 READING: K. Padian, 1986, “Some background to the Triassic” pp. 3-4 in “The beginning of the age of dinosaurs”

READING: S. J. Gould, 1985, "Sex, drugs, disasters, and the extinction of dinosaurs" (chapter 28, pp. 417-426 in The Flamingo's Smile)

Nov. 1 READING: M. E. Williams, 1994, “Catastrophic versus noncatastrophic extinction of the dinosaurs: testing, falsifiability, and the burden of proof,” Journal of Paleontology 68:183-190.

Nov. 6 READING: Dingus and Rowe, 1998, "Crossing the boundary" (chapter 15 in The Mistaken Extinction, pp. 229-235)

Nov. 8 READING: S.J. Gould, 1989, "An epilogue of Pikaia" (pp. 321-323 in Wonderful Life)

Nov. 13 READING: TEXT: pp. 79-87

Nov. 15 READING: TEXT: pp. 87-101

Nov. 20 MID-TERM EXAM #2

Nov. 22 Thanksgiving: no class; remember your extra credit

Nov. 27 READING: TEXT: pp. 102-125

Nov. 29 READING: TEXT: pp. 127-167

Dec. 4 READING: TEXT: pp. 169-196

Dec. 6 READING: TEXT: pp. 196-251

FINAL EXAM -- Thursday, December 13 -- 2 pm – 5 pm.