Join Amazon Prime and get unlimited Free One-Day Delivery. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
   
More Buying Choices
43 used & new from £6.19
Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
The Descent of Man: Selection in Relation to Sex (Penguin Classics)
 
 
Share your own customer images
Search inside this book

The Descent of Man: Selection in Relation to Sex (Penguin Classics) (Paperback)

by Adrian Desmond (Author), Charles Darwin (Author), James Moore (Author) "He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first enquire whether man varies, however slightly, in..." (more)
4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £8.44 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
You Save: £4.55 (35%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk. Gift-wrap available.

Want guaranteed delivery by Thursday, July 16? Choose Express delivery at checkout. See Details
33 new from £7.07 10 used from £6.19
Other Editions: RRP: Our Price: Other Offers:
Hardcover (Reprint) 11 used & new from £66.34
Paperback £27.95 £26.55 21 used & new from £6.45
Unknown Binding Order it used

Frequently Bought Together

The Descent of Man: Selection in Relation to Sex (Penguin Classics) + The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) + The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition
Price For All Three: £18.72

Show availability and shipping details

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

by Charles Darwin
4.6 out of 5 stars (24)  £3.59
The Voyage of the Beagle (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

The Voyage of the Beagle (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)

by Charles Darwin
4.1 out of 5 stars (8)  £3.79
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: Definitive Edition

The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: Definitive Edition

by Charles Darwin
3.5 out of 5 stars (2)  £8.44
The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition

The Selfish Gene: 30th Anniversary edition

by Richard Dawkins
4.5 out of 5 stars (82)  £6.69
Autobiographies (Penguin Classics)

Autobiographies (Penguin Classics)

by Charles Darwin
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  £6.74
› Explore similar items

Product details

  • Paperback: 864 pages
  • Publisher: Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (26 Feb 2004)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0140436316
  • ISBN-13: 978-0140436310
  • Product Dimensions: 19.6 x 12.8 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 68,252 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #6 in  Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Biology > Human Biology > Evolution
    #69 in  Books > Scientific, Technical & Medical > Biology > Evolutionary Biology

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

  (What is this?)
Original Penguin Sale
   www.NoFlysOnUs.Com/Original_Penguin    upto 70% Off All original Penguin One week Only, Uk Next Day Delivery 
  
 

Product Description

Review
One of the ten most significant books. (Sigmund Freud)

Product Description
No book made a greater impact on the intellectual world of its first Victorian readers nor has had such an enduring influence on our thinking on science, literature, theology and philosophy. In The Descent of Man, Darwin addresses the crucial question of the origins, evolution and racial divergence of mankind, that he had deliberately left out of On the Origin of Species. And the evidence he presents forces us to question what it is that makes us uniquely human.

See all Product Description
Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
He who wishes to decide whether man is the modified descendant of some pre-existing form, would probably first enquire whether man varies, however slightly, in bodily structure and in mental faculties; and if so, whether the variations are transmitted to his offspring in accordance with the laws which prevail with the lower animals. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Search inside this book:

Suggested Tags from Similar Products

 (What's this?)
Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
Check a corresponding box or enter your own tags in the field below
darwin
natural selection
hard science
evolutionary theory
biology
evolution

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
See most popular tags

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

The Descent of Man: Selection in Relation to Sex (Penguin Classics)
82% buy the item featured on this page:
The Descent of Man: Selection in Relation to Sex (Penguin Classics) 4.0 out of 5 stars (7)
£8.44
The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)
8% buy
The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature) 4.6 out of 5 stars (24)
£3.59
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: Definitive Edition
4% buy
The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals: Definitive Edition 3.5 out of 5 stars (2)
£8.44
On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition
3% buy
On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition 4.5 out of 5 stars (6)
£13.00
Explore similar items
 

Customer Reviews

7 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:
 (1)
1 star:
 (1)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.0 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Well ahead of its time, 5 Mar 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: The Descent of Man (New Editions) (Paperback)
Aside from the fascinating (and mostly accurate) accounts of natural and sexual selection, confirmed decades later by new discoveries in the fossil record and the advent of DNA, this volume presents a fascinating letter from Darwin to Wallace confirming what a superficial examination of species makes apparent: that Darwin was well aware that 'blending' inheritance couldn't be right, and that hereditary traits must be passed on by some particulate process. This is obvious when we realise that our parents are male and female, but we are not born intermediate hermaphrodites. In this sense, and in so many others, Darwin was well ahead of his time.

It is naive, as Dawkins points out in his introduction, to consider the views of this Victorian gentleman (politically conservative, scientifically radical) through post-Nazi hindsight. Contrary to popular belief, Darwinism does not excuse mass extermination in pursuit of 'perfection'; indeed, lengthy passages of this book are given over to emphasising that 'savage' races (an uncontroversial label at the time, whose meaning has since drifted) are not separate species or sub-human. Darwin's limited recommendations for improving ourselves must be considered with this qualification; let us not forget that at the time such views were entirely acceptable.

Darwin accounts for racial differences through sexual selection: superficial but diverse surface differences masking underlyingly highly similar organisms. Skip forward 130 years, and Dawkins's introduction also reminds us that DNA has re-affirmed this and led many scientists to advocate the abandonment of 'race' as a biological concept; through humanity passing through what Dawkins calls an "evolutionary bottleneck" in the last few thousand years, there is more genetic difference between any two groups of chimpanzees than there is between any of the human 'races'.

A great book, which can be dipped into through the highly-entertaining index. Darwin's knowledge of natural history was phenomenal; here we can read at length and leisure the amazing range of creatures' adaptive behaviours, with a plausible explanation of how they share a common ancestry.

Wonderful, in each sense of the word.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Please read and judge for yourself., 21 May 2003
This review is from: The Descent of Man (New Editions) (Paperback)
A seminal work, such as this, deserves to be read as it represents original, source material for ideas that rocked the world. Unfortunately Darwin is often criticised by people who may never have accessed his original work but take a political and chronologically privileged dislike to how this important source material may, or may not, have been subsequently interpreted. I refer of course to the above review.
Such works as this need to be read with an appreciation of the context in which they were written i.e. a long time ago and within an entirely different world view. Cheap, agenda-ridden, pseudo-intellectual critisism made with the benefit of hindsight and taking a twenty-first century perspective will hopefully not dissuade people from accessing fantastic source material such as this and making their own minds up. Read it, and make your own mind up (before somebody else does it for you).
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, 14 April 2003
This review is from: The Descent of Man (New Editions) (Paperback)
This book is brilliant. However, you must read it in it's own time. Darwin wrote this at a time when people saw humans as being at the top of the ladder that was evolution. This was also a time when Europeans thought themselves to be superior to the rest of the world. This seemed a natural conclusions since they were more advanced, richer and had conquered almost the whole world.

This book is beutifull. Darwin had obviously found mass condemnation from The Origin Of Species,. but also mass acceptance by many, especially from the scientific community. This book is written by a true scientist, who backs up his arguments with as much evidence as possible, but without going overboard. His target audience is not the ignorant who refuse to accept evolution regardless of the available evidence. When read in context, and freed from the fear of mass condemnation which haunted Darwin throughout The Origin Of Species we are given a chance to really see Darwin's genius. When reading this I got the impression that Darwin, freed from the narrow minded ideas of his own time, and given a slight push, could have taken the theory of evolution and advanced it to it's modern state.

It is true that Darwin's theory has been twisted as a justification of the holocaust, and other racial crimes. However, it must be pointed out that Evolution is not alone, many theories can be twisted to justify evil. Also, there is another way of looking at the ladder theory of evolution, which is the way in which the British empire took it. The British helped out other peoples throughout the world, and the plan at least was to stand them up on their own two feet.

There is a very interesting point in thie edition. Karl Marx loved the idea of survival of the fittest. He interpreted man as a being which always advanced to the next level. He therefore concluded that since Capitalism would collapse, something he spent his life writing about, that man would implement the better system, ie Communism. However, Darwin comments that man does not instinctivly advance to the next level, commenting that many "savages" don't advance. Also, neither did the Romans, who were quite content to continue as they were, disproving Marx's supposition.

This is an excellant book, which must be read in it's time, not with a modern mind, or with retrospective knowledge of the holocaust.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Darwin would have been embarassed
I bought this book as a historical timeframe for Darwin's amazing discoveries. I did not expected to read it cover to cover but to dip in to sections of interest and to use as a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. James Ferguson

5.0 out of 5 stars A Darwin's Guide To Man and Sexual Selection
This book is amazing. A demonstration of how man could have come about with out resorting to mysticism etc. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Stewart Fryer

5.0 out of 5 stars Genius
This is the work of genius and should be read by all. Especially those scared of the thruth that it highlights.
Published on 29 Mar 2003

1.0 out of 5 stars Lawyering for Darwin
The division into higher and lower races is commonly recognized to have been an instrumental idea in the Holocaust. Dawkins could have done a lot more to discredit that idea. Read more
Published on 19 Feb 2003 by norsyamsu

Only search this product's reviews


Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]


Active discussions in related forums
   
Related forums

Listmania!

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Feedback

Charles Darwin's Natural...

Charles Darwin's Natural...

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is unquestionably one of the... Read more
£42.75

›Find similar items

 

More From Charles Darwin

The Origin of...

The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin

It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making... Read more
£3.99 £3.59

 

Up to 50% off Dental Care

Braun Oral-B Professional Care 6000 Rechargeable Toothbrush - Pack of 2
Put a sparkle in your smile with up to 50% off selected Oral-B and Philips rechargeable toothbrushes.

›Up to 50% off power toothbrushes

  

Treat Someone

Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates--available in any amount from £5 to £500 With an Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate, you can get them what they want (even if you don't know what that is).

›Learn more about Gift Certificates

  
Ad

Where's My Stuff?

Delivery and Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.
Continue Shopping: Top Sellers

amazon.co.uk Amazon Home
International Sites:  United States  |  Germany  |  France  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  China
Business Programs: Sell on Amazon  |  Fulfilment by Amazon  |  Join Associates  |  Join Advantage
Customer Service  |  Help  |  View Basket  |  Your Account
About Amazon.co.uk  |  Careers at Amazon
Conditions of Use & Sale |  Privacy Notice  © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates