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ShareIt's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome.
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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.
For more information about the title The Origin of Species, Revised Edition (Abridged), read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution (Great Discoveries) — A fresh look at Darwin's most radical idea, and the mysteriously slow process by which he revealed it.Evolution, during the early nineteenth century, ... > read more
From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals) — A gorgeous gift and a landmark work that is an essential addition to everyone's personal library.Never before have the four great works of Charles ... > read more
Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith (Philosophy in Action) — Charles Darwin has been at the center of white-hot public debate for more than a century. In Living With Darwin, Philip Kitcher peers into the flames ... > read more
Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design — Science is on the defensive. Half of Americans reject the theory of evolution and intelligent-design campaigns are gaining ground. Classroom by ... > read moreRecommend this page on Facebook, Twitter,
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