"Brian Hall’s preface and introductory essays by Mary P. Winsor, Jennifer Coggon, Ron Amundsen and Kevin Padian bring out the subtleties of Owen’s arguments and place them in a historical and social context, among the philosophical turmoil of biology in the early to mid-nineteenth century....A contentious character, Owen is all too easily dismissed as the self-promoting, vitriolic critic of Darwin. On the Nature of Limbs is a timely reminder that his work was— is—of real value."
— Michael Coates, Nature
"This book's importance goes almost without saying, for it is the classic discourse in which Owen defined the key concepts of homology and analogy, and developed the modern understanding of the vertebrate skeleton.. . . . Recommended to anyone interested in nineteenth-century biology, palaeontology and evolutionary thought."
— Michael A. Taylor, Archives of Natural History
"[This] is one of the most important primary sources for idealistic morphology as it existed in Victorian England. The publishers deserve our gratitude for making the book widely available to the modern reader."
— Michael T. Ghiselin, History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
"It is well to be reminded of the debt modern evolutionary biology, particularly comparative anatomy, owes [Owen]. This volume admirably serves this valuable purpose."
— Marian Dagosto, Journal of Mammalian Evolution