One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought [Lincoln Brower's Copy]

Mayr, Ernest

ISBN 10: 0674639057 / ISBN 13: 9780674639058

Published by Harvard University Press, 1991

About this Item

Hardcover with green and black cloth over boards, gold lettering along spine. Green, white, and tan DJ with black and tan lettering across covers and along spine. Corners are bumped. Closed tears, each roughly a quarter inch long, at top right and bottom left corners of front cover. Open tear, about the same size, across crown of spine. No lettering marred. "ON EN" written discreetly near foot of spine on both the jacket and book itself, referring to former owner Lincoln Brower's bibliographical organization program, Endnote. "LPB" [Lincoln P. Brower] and "ON EN" written on front free endpaper, also from Brower, a notable conservationist and butterfly researcher. No date on title page. Copyright page dated only 1991. 195 pages. All clean and bright. Binding is neat and tight. We've got a wonderful bookcase or two of books from Lincoln Brower's collection listed here. Everything you know about Monarch Butterflies, you know because of Brower's work, both scientific and outreach. He was a great teacher, an important researcher, a torch-bearing conservationist, and a leading light in lepidoptery. We are extremely excited to offer his books. Note: if there is a photo beside this listing, it s a STOCK photo that ABE put there (for reasons that we cannot understand or control) and might not match this actual book. Please email us with questions or to request photos.

Seller Inventory # Brower-86

Bibliographic Details

• Title: One Long Argument: Charles Darwin and the Genesis of Modern Evolutionary Thought [Lincoln Brower's Copy]
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication Date: 1991
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674639057
• ISBN 13: 9780674639058
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Brower

About this title

Synopsis

Evolutionary theory ranks as one of the most powerful concepts of modern civilization. Its effects on our view of life have been wide and deep. One of the most world-shaking books ever published, Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," first appeared in print over 130 years ago, and it touched off a debate that rages to this day. Every modern evolutionist turns to Darwin's work again and again. Current controversies in the life sciences very often have as their starting point some vagueness in Darwin's writings or some question Darwin was unable to answer owing to the insufficient biological knowledge available during his time. Despite the intense study of Darwin's life and work, however, many of us cannot explain his theories (he had several separate ones) and the evidence and reasoning behind them, nor do we appreciate the modifications of the Darwinian paradigm that have kept it viable throughout the twentieth century. Who could elucidate the subtleties of Darwin's thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs--A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weismann, Asa Gray--better than Ernst Mayr, a man considered by many to be the greatest evolutionist of the century? In this gem of historical scholarship, Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Charles Darwin's scientific thought and his enormous legacy to twentieth-century biology. Here we have an accessible account of the revolutionary ideas that Darwin thrust upon the world. Describing his treatise as "one long argument," Darwin definitively refuted the belief in the divine creation of each individual species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor. He proposed the idea that humans were not the special products of creation but evolved according to principles that operate everywhere else in the living world; he upset current notions of a perfectly designed, benign natural world and substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival; and he introduced probability, chance, and uniqueness into scientific discourse. This is an important book for students, biologists, and general readers interested in the history of ideas--especially ideas that have radically altered our worldview. Here is a book by a grand master that spells out in simple terms the historical issues and presents the controversies in a manner that makes them understandable from a modern perspective.

Review

It is valuable to have �Mayr's� "mature reflections" expressed so concisely and elegantly. -- Peter J. Bowler "Nature" effortlessly as a living symbol of the breadth of evolutionary thought in the twentieth century? bits of evidence and inference that seeded Darwin's grand vision, and it illuminates his errors along with his insights. It is valuable to have [Mayr's] "mature reflections" expressed so concisely and elegantly.--Peter J. Bowler "Nature " This short book should be read by anyone with an interest in the development, impact, and meaning of Darwinism. It is well written and accessible, without skimping on scholarship.--Robert Schoch "Science Books and Films " Scientific theories...like living species, have forerunners and descendants, and they exhibit subtle changes over time..."One Long Argument" succeeds admirably in pinpointing the bits of evidence and inference that seeded Darwin's grand vision, and it illuminates his errors along with his insights.--Geoffrey Cowley "New York Times Book Review " You will read this book with great pleasure...Mayr simply admires Darwin to the hilt... Mayr's awe of Darwin is both illuminating and stimulating. It is also profoundly authoritative. Who else can present himself so effortlessly as a living symbol of the breadth of evolutionary thought in the twentieth century?--Jeffrey Levinton "BioScience "