The Myth of the Missing Link

In his book, The Top 10 Myths About Evolution, Cameron M. Smith tackles the myth of the missing link head on.  Before I give you a glimpse of a portion of his book I want to mention the first thing that caught my eye from his narrative: how common it has been for scientists and reporters to use the term "missing link" over the years.  It is so deeply ingrained in our lexicon and our collective consciousness that it makes sense that there would have been so many of us who erroneously referenced it while doing the Piltdown man assignment. In fact, I believe after reading this, that you would be hard pressed to be able to teach this course without "addressing the monkey in the room" so to speak.  I believe this chapter of this book might be a great tool to use because the author traces the history of the term while simultaneously showing why it cannot be true.  I have provided a link to the online book as well as an excerpt.

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_tHnw-njcsAC&oi=fnd&pg=PT10&dq=Evolution+and+the+missing+link+myth&ots=6jEAsDBdeD&sig=pMH0L9HwsqlvvrrcfzwaQkRIsPQ

Here is a taste of what Smith writes:

Smith, C. M. (2007). The Top 10 Myths About Evolution. Prometheus Books. New York, NY.