About this title: The classic that exploded into public controversy and revolutionized the course of science is now available in this Signet Classic edition. Features include a complete glossary, index, and an Introduction by noted biologist Sir Julian Huxley.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Signet Classics
Date Published: 2003
ISBN-13:9780451529060ISBN:0451529065
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Description: New. The classic that exploded into public controversy and revolutionized the course of science is now available in this Signet Classic edition. Features include a complete glossary, index, and an Introduction by noted biologist Sir Julian Huxley. read more
"So wonderful to read, in ways I can't even explain but that have to do with confronting what Darwin actually says after years of being exposed only to hearsay through the cultural ubiquity of his ideas. To feel informed, to come face-to-face with the actual words, is both relieving and empowering. The problematic implications of his ideas--eugenics, etc.--are almost entirely absent here; they surface far more troublingly in the Descent of Man, and surface even more in work inspired by but not connected to Darwin himself.
The Origin is at once, as my professor puts it, more ordinary and more radical than one expects. Darwin emerges as a smart, funny narrator--a gentleman scientist storing pigeon carcasses in the bathtub and gutting fish at the dinner table. He knows what he's doing is groundbreaking, and yet he tries, for very personal reasons given his wife's religiosity, to minimize the controversy. His figurative language is beautiful, and his dual audience of scientists and laymen makes this a smooth read and a fascinating venue for thinking about the literary qualities of scientific explanation.
I highly recommend the Oxford World's Classics edition because: a) beautiful cover! b) Gillian Beer's introduction is one of the most helpful introductions of anything that I have ever read; c) I liked reading from the second edition, which followed closely on the heels of the first--Darwin changed little here, but the changes were significant gestures towards the religious uproar over the implications of his theory, and this edition was widely read. The later editions strip out even more of the figurative language."
"This is a great book for its historical significance. It is Darwin's work that argues for Natural Selection as the process that produces new species. Above all else, Darwin was an observer of nature (and collector of others' observations). He uses his (and other scientists') observations of everything from various plants to ants to pigeons to donkeys to elephants. It gets a bit tedious reading about all of his examples of variations within different species, but his reasoning process, considered within the scientific knowledge of his day, is very interesting.
Darwin does not present a theory for the cause of variation within species but does present arguments for how the production of variations and nature's selection of those better fit for survival leads an improved species over time. He deals with producing variations, both by man and by nature, natural selection, instincts, etc.
The chapter on hybridization was not very interesting to me. But, in order to justify why we don't have complete records of intermediate variations between species, Darwin made several good points were made in the chapter on the geographical record and how incomplete our records are and why. He also discusses the criteria for identifying variations v. new species and how they are dispersed over changing geography and climate.
This is not great literature. But because of its importance in the advancement of science, it was a must read for me.
Spoiler: Intelligent Design is ridiculously bad science (but as a religious belief, it's fine)"
"The Origin of Species is an amazing book. Reading it, I felt as though I was looking in at Darwin's life--experiencing his anxiety over publishing such controversial work and feeling his excitement as he unraveled the theory. It surprised me how much Darwin covered and the lengths to which he was able to flesh out the theory of Natural Selection without the use of genetics. At times, it almost seemed as if he was on the verge of actually discovering it! The language is a little hard to get through--very eloquent but also very...shall I say...stuffy old man English? After the first couple chapters though, I found that I adapted to it and was able to understand most of what he was saying. The book is thorough. In the sixth edition, he added a whole chapter to deal with the various objections that people had made against his theory, including the lack of transitional fossils (no longer a problem). He dealt with all of these arguments fairly and articulately. To anyone who wants to learn more about evolution, I would say this: Don't start with the Origin because there is outdated information in it. I would start with the Ancestor's Tale by Richard Dawkins. But THEN: READ THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES, because it is a wonderful book and probably one of the most controversial and revolutionary books in the field of biology (it also takes center stage in the creationism debate, being popularly quote mined). It is also a good lesson in history and the evidence and arguments that he makes clearly demonstrates the mood in the scientific community at the time."
"Darwin brought us a revolution that has swept aside mythology
I wish this were required reading for every student in high school. It is the perfect example of reasoned argument based on years of study and experience with the subject. Far from an arm-chair theorist, Darwin experimented and traveled constantly, driven by a desire to know.
That there was such an uproar in response to this work is testimony that our emotions rival, if they do not surpass, our reason.
Written in a clear style without assuming the reader to be a scientist, Darwin carefully lays out his theory and the objections raised to it. He is cautious and anything but arrogant (as have been so many of his opponents) while making his thinking clear.
Yet, several of the points of argument against natural selection are maintained to this day (the incomplete fossil record, for example) in spite of the fact that the results of scientific investigation in so many areas have only reinforced Darwin's theory.
What most impressed me in the book is that Darwin's thinking on the cause of change in life-forms through inheritance came so close to the target, since revealed to be contained in the chromosomes, of which he had no knowledge.
Clear thinking here for all to read, from precocious 12-year-olds to octogenarians, but only if their minds are open to reason. Why do we think this theory is superior to others? Simply because it makes sense in light of everything we have been able to discover on the subject of where we, and all life on earth, come from."
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