- Hardcover: 432 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; First Edition edition (2 Sep 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0385409850
- ISBN-13: 978-0385409858
- Product Dimensions: 24.6 x 17.5 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 132,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Steve Jones describes Darwin's The Origin of Species as "the only bestseller to change man's conception of himself ... without doubt, the book of the millennium." That book's sensational central proposition, that speciation arose from descent with modification through the mechanism of natural selection, constituted a kind of Grand Unifying Theory of the biological sciences, allowing what had been until Darwin's time an essentially anecdotal practice to cohere into a modern discipline. In the century and a half since its publication, Darwin's big idea has been attacked many times, on many grounds, but has never convincingly been refuted. Yet, as Jones points out, hardly anybody reads The Origin of Species now for its science. It is celebrated as a landmark in the history of ideas, as a contribution to the philosophy of science and as a masterly work of high Victorian prose. The idea of evolution has pervaded almost every aspect of human thought. But it has almost been forgotten that it is primarily a work of science. Almost like a Whale is an attempt to redress the balance. Jones, himself a geneticist, assumes the mantle of Darwin and rewrites his masterpiece for the modern reader, borrowing the structure and thesis but writing with the benefit of 150 years' hindsight. Throughout the 20th century new sciences have emerged that have in all cases buttressed the central claims of evolution, chief among them embryology and Jones' own discipline of genetics. Almost Like a Whale draws widely on them for its arguments and many illuminating stories and case- studies.
It is a bold and ambitious project, carried off with considerable style and wit. Any suspicion of lightness is misplaced, though, as the seriousness and profundity of the underlying arguments are signalled early in the book: Jones destroys one of the main creationist objections to the theory of evolution--that no-one has ever seen it happen--with a devastating account of the well-documented 50-year evolution of the AIDS virus into its present varieties. The title is not a near-miss reference to Hamlet: it is Darwin himself, speculating on whether a bear seen swimming and catching food with its mouth as it swam, might represent the first, behavioural step on an evolutionary journey towards a new creature" almost like a whale." This is a powerfully entertaining book, engrossing in its science, erudite and cogent. --Robin Davidson
Product Description
Containing anecdotes, facts and humour, this work uses 20th-century science to update the theories presented in Darwin's "The Origin of Species".
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Steve Jones’ innovative approach vividly demonstrates how science has sustained the concept of evolution through natural selection. He deserves our praise for the effort he’s put into assembling a wealth of resources, while presenting the information with clarity and wit. After all, the presentation of 150 years of new information is no easy task. And that information must be given the widest possible exposure. The reluctance of Christianity [the term ‘creationist’ is meaningless distinction] to understand natural selection is depressing, but even Steve Jones is unlikely to heal that blight.
Charles Darwin’s THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES is the most important book ever written. Not the best known, of course, or most often read. Yet no other publication has changed so many aspects of human outlook. Daniel Dennett rightly calls Darwin’s idea ‘the universal acid’. The concept of change over time ranges over all science from quantum physics to cosmology. Steve Jones’ modernization of ORIGIN is necessarily limited to the biological realm, but as he aptly demonstrates, that’s complicated enough. Biology is a busy science these days, but Jones has brought us as up to date as writing and publication schedules permit. Addressing such a diversity of topics as AIDS, where whales came from [they’re not hairy fish!] and geological time scales, he’s provided us with a detailed scenario of evolution’s course.
There are some interesting omissions in this book. No listing of Mendel’s paper in the bibliography [although the synopsis of his work in the main text is valuable]; in fact, he doesn’t mention that Darwin had a copy of it in his library – unread. Nor is there anything on island biogeography. While it would be unfitting to give Albert Russell Wallace more space in the text, there are several excellent books on a subject ORIGIN was only touched lightly. More significant is the lack of reference to the Grant’s work on Galapagos Finches [see Jonathan Weiner’s THE BEAK OF THE FINCH]. If anyone needs confirmation that evolution works, this three-decade long study will provide it.
None of the lacks are significant shortcomings in this effort to ‘update’ ORIGIN. Jones has presented a stunning wealth of information, but put it together in a highly readable format. He deserves the widest possible readership for this book. With luck, Jones will perform the same service with THE DESCENT OF MAN. There’s little doubt it will be as valuable as this book.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Highly enjoyable as Steve Jones's prose is - and he's a fabulous stylist - I couldn't help feeling that he has been ham-strung by his own idea here: mirroring Darwin's structure but filling in and up-dating the gaps. IN THE BLOOD was wonderful for the plethora of short, fascinating stories which he introduced and operated almost like one of those old Beano or Dandy annuals: perfect grazing. Here Jones has to rely on shortish chapters when you can almost feel him wanting to flex his writing muscles more in contrast to that. I suppose my biggest cavil is, however, that 95% of this book's material is overly familiar from the writing of others, by which I mean that so many authors are these days having to follow the same old post-Darwinian tracks and research that those who read a lot of popular science have almost reached the stage where they feel they've already read the UR-Book: a body of knowledge so regularly run through and overlapped by different books that it's almost impossible to be fresh or come up with anything new. But Steve Jones is a superb writer so if you don't read much popular science you will probably enjoy this book. Next time, however, it would be great to see him ally new syntheses or ideas to the stylistic energy.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I suppose the first thing people think is "why buy a school textbook? And if it is not a textbook why buy an in accurate account of the well-travelled ground of Evolutionary Biology. Well, for a start you would be unfair to call it a textbook, as well as you would be incorrect to call it inaccurate. Almost A Whale is accurate in terms of the commonly agreed beliefs of the scientific community, so you should not be disappointed in the content. This is a book that avoids controversy quite happily as it never intended to break the frontiers of science. Instead of surging to the future it keeps its feet firmly on the ground, in the present and supported by the past.
Almost A Whale should not be a mistaken as the rewriting of Darwin's "Origin of Species" as the author never intended it to be. It is a conversation almost between our understanding of the science with that of Darwin's and Huxley's. Both voices, past have present, have something to add to the conversation and it is hard not to be drawn in to it. And it is this style of writing that makes this a science book no heavier or harder to read than your average novel.
This is a fantastic book for anyone, whether your new to the subject or an experienced scientist who never did get round to reading Darwin the first time around. This is an educational book at one of its most effective - because you will read it because you want to and you will learn and understand without trying.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not as good as Jones' later ones..
I loved Coral and the Single Helix, but find the Whale fairly heavy going - a bit of Darwinian prose goes along way, this book definitely overdoes it for me. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Nodrog
A Whale of a Time
This is a well written account of the prevailing Darwinian biological paradigm. Jones is a fluent writer and the book itself is an excellent read. Read more
Published on 30 Jan 2009 by Neutral
a brilliant rewrite of a classic
This is a clear and concise rewrite of Origin of Species. It is easy to understand with many up-to-date examples, and adds to Darwin's original ideas with hindsight of modern... Read more
Published on 9 July 2006 by Spider Monkey
Pompous and unoriginal
This book has had rave reviews all round, and it's quite hard, on actually reading it, to see why. There is virtually nothing in this book that hasn't been better presented... Read more
Published on 13 Oct 2003 by J. Ghosh
Modern vindication of Darwln.
Using the original format of 'The Origin of Species', Steve Jones elaborates on Darwin's point with the benefit of 20/20 hindsight and all the ammunition that modern science can... Read more
Published on 5 Nov 2002 by A. J. Watson
Not for me
I've given up on this book. I read about 150 pages and was very frustrated. I thought some passages were so bad they were funny. Read more
Published on 15 July 2001 by R. J. Hole
Excellent introduction to evolution
If you don't know anything about evolution, or what part Darwin's work played in the construction of evolutionary theory, then this is the book for you. Read more
Published on 12 Feb 2001
LOVED IT!
This was the first book i have read for years and it was worth the wait. It brightened up those borring break times at work.
Published on 1 May 2000 by andrew@creesy.co.uk
The return of the Origin of Species.
I love everything about Evolutionary Biology especially if it comes from a well versed, clearly illustrated book like this.
Published on 27 Mar 2000 by kar488@hotmail.com
Heavy-going but absorbing
A great read, particularly for anyone interested in science in general but without an in-depth formal background in biology. Read more
Published on 31 Jan 2000
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