Freaks of Nature: What Anomalies Tell Us About Development and Evolution

341 Pages·2008·3.88 MB·English

by  Mark S. Blumberg

Freaks of Nature
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F r e a k s
of
N at u r e
What Anomalies Tell Us about
Development and Evolution
MARK S. BLUMBERG
1
2009
1
Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further
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Copyright © 2009 by Mark S. Blumberg
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Blumberg, Mark S., 1961-
Freaks of nature : What anomalies tell us about development and
evolution / Mark S. Blumberg.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-532282-8 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Abnormalities, Human. 2. Monsters. I. Title.
QM691.B63 2008
616’.043—dc22
2008028207
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
. . . it is often through the extraordinary that the philosopher gets
the most searching glimpses into the heart of the mystery of the
ordinary. Truly it has been said, facts are stranger than fi ction.
—George M. Gould and Walter L. Pyle
Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine (1896)
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For my mother, Goldene Zalis Blumberg,
Forever the gal in the red dress
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CONTENTS
-
List of Illustrations xi
Introduction 3
One
A Parliament of Monsters
On the Breadth and Scope of Developmental Anomalies 15
Two
Arresting Features
Development is All about Time 53
Three
Do the Locomotion
How We Learn to Move Our Bodies 105
Four
Life and Limb
How Limbs are Made, Lost, Replaced, and Transformed 141
Five
Anything Goes
When it Comes to Sex, Expect Ambiguity 191
Epilogue
Monstrous Behavior
We Still Have Much to Learn from the Odd and Unusual 251
Acknowledgments 257
Notes 259
Sources and Suggested Reading 283
Author Index 309
Subject Index 315
IX