The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life (Modern Library (Paperback)) - Softcover

Darwin, Charles

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0375751467 ISBN 13: 9780375751462

Publisher: Random House USA Inc, 1998

Synopsis

In the Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply held beliefs of the Western world. Arguing for a material, not divine, origin of species, he showed that new species are achieved by 'natural selection'. Development, diversification, decay, extinction and absence of plan are all inherent to his theories. Darwin read prodigiously across many fields; he reflected on his experiences as a traveller, he experimented. His profoundly influential concept of 'natural selection' condenses materials from past and present, from the Galapagos Islands to rural Staffordshire, from English back gardens to colonial encounters. The Origin communicates the enthusiasm of original thinking in an open, descriptive style, and Darwin's emphasis on the value of diversity speaks more strongly now than ever.

About this title

Review

It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. But it's true: this is indeed one of the most important and influential books ever written, and it is one of the very few groundbreaking works of science that is truly readable.

To a certain extent it suffers from the Hamlet problem--it's full of clichés! Or what are now clichés, but which Darwin was the first to pen. Natural selection, variation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest: it's all in here.

Darwin's friend and "bulldog" T. H. Huxley said upon reading the Origin, "How extremely stupid of me not to have thought of that." Alfred Russel Wallace had thought of the same theory of evolution Darwin did, but it was Darwin who gathered the mass of supporting evidence--on domestic animals and plants, on variability, on sexual selection, on dispersal--that swept most scientists before it. It's hardly necessary to mention that the book is still controversial: Darwin's remark in his conclusion that "Light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" is surely the pinnacle of British understatement. --Mary Ellen Curtin, Amazon.com

Review

"Why does Darwin's theory matter now? Because it is the basis of modern biology and much medical research; it provides a tool with which to understand the natural world; it offers a deeper, if imperfect, understanding of our behaviour, about where we came from and where we might be going" (Observer)

"The single best idea anybody ever had" (Daniel Dennet, philosopher)

"The most important book ever written" (New Scientist)

"No other book has so transformed how we look at the natural world and mankind's origins" (Sunday Telegraph)

"There are few books that I read more than once but The Origin Of Species by Charles Darwin is one" (David Attenborough)

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0375751467
• ISBN 13: 9780375751462
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 720