- Hardcover: 544 pages
- Publisher: Gramercy Books; New Ed edition (1 July 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0517123207
- ISBN-13: 978-0517123201
- Product Dimensions: 22.6 x 16.3 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 157,308 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Origin of Species
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Amazon.co.uk Review
It's hard to talk about The Origin of Species without making statements that seem overwrought and fulsome. 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. --Mary Ellen Curtin, Amazon.com --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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A masterful condensation.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
WHEN on board HMS Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
WHEN on board HMS Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America, and in the geological relations of the present to the past inhabitants of that continent. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
118 of 124 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Many people assume that Darwin's initial account of natural selection is so out of date that it is to be avoided in favour of more recent text books of evolutionary theory. While it is true that huge gains have been made in the one and a half centuries since the first publication of "The Origin", there is nothing in this work which is wrong. Darwin was too good a scientist and too cautious.
Some claim that Darwin admitted of the possibility of Lamarkian mechanisms. They have not read the original. Darwin knew nothing of the molecular basis of genetics, but knew that natural selection did not need a Lamarkian mechanism. He simply did not rule it out, although he found it improbable. Everything that is stated in this great classic is as true today as it was at the time of first publication.
It is also said that Charles Darwin was a lesser intellectual when compared to most other great names of science; that he was a plodder, a naturalist, a sort of gentleman stamp collector who pressed flowers into his books and barely a scientist in the contemporary sense. This is nonsense. Darwin was one of the giants of rigorous systematic thinking; the kind of rigorous thinking and critical attitude that asks the right questions and provides the capacity to answer them. Let me buttress this claim with one example.
At the end of chapter six Darwin noted that the theory of natural selection could not account for structures or behaviors found in one species that exist solely for the benefit of another unrelated species. In setting out the theoretical terms for the refutation of the theory in this way, he anticipated Karl Popper, that analytical non-nonsense philosopher of science, by more than a century.
I recommend you read this book with an attentive curious analytical mind. You will find yourself walking in the footsteps of an intellectual giant.
29 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I ordered two versions of The Origin of Species. This version is the best of two. However, reader should be notice, this version is the first edition. As you may know, Darwin published six editions in total and final one is the most comprehesive one. However, as editor of this version said, the final edition had too many replies to the questioning from peers, which made the last edition much longer than the initial edition. I think the key ideas in different editions should be similar and I prefer this concise edition-the first edition.
I highly recommend this print by Wordsworth, given that it is the cheapest one with very high quality of print.
I highly recommend this print by Wordsworth, given that it is the cheapest one with very high quality of print.
51 of 56 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
A well-written, well-argued treatise on the volatile subject of the evolution of new species by natural selection. At the time, this flew in the face of accepted theories, and especially upset current theological doctrine, Archbishop Ussher would be particularly upset!.
Darwin agonised for years over the publication of his book, and it was only at the urging of his friends (that he was about to be upstaged by Wallace) that he finally published. The delay was of his own making - torn between the evidence of his notes and correspondence with Wallace, and the furore that would inevitably result. The furore was bound to happen anyway, surrounded as he was by small-minded bigots, so he should have published earlier. But ... this might have deprived us of the brilliant arguments he puts forth in support of each section in the book.
He obviously knew what he was up against, so he tried to present his case as lucidly as possible - and here's the unusual aspect of the work - in layman's language! This was almost unheard of in a Victorian Scientific treatise - they were meant to be read by Scientists, not the hoy-poloy! He tries to counter every conceivable objection to each statement, as nicely (in both senses of the word) as possible, without any of the fervour and tunnel vision that one expects from a convert to a new ideal. He takes us by the hand and gently walks us through the evidence in support of his theory, helping us to realise that, yes, he is talking sense, no matter what our pre-conceptions of life might be.
Discover for yourself that evolution is not 'survival of the fittest', but 'survival of the most fit' - that is, fitted for that particular ecological niche - fittest being a Victorian word that has taken a different modern meaning.
An amazingly good read, even for our enlightened times, but recommended reading - I'll bet there are hundereds of copies on dusty bookshelves that have never been read - time to dust it off and find out for yourself the genius of the man.*****
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Exactly what is says on the tin.
Would recommend it to any budding biologist/geneticist. Despite outdated language and a few mis-assumptions, this book is a great introduction to Darwinism, which if taken with a... Read more
Published 3 months ago by Fisher22
A must in any library!
What can be said about the most influential book of all times?
Who proud himself to have a decent home library has this book as one of the pillars of modern science and... Read more
Who proud himself to have a decent home library has this book as one of the pillars of modern science and... Read more
Published 3 months ago by PVilarinho
A classic, important for history; though not always riveting
Darwin begins with the very mundane subject of pigeons, which he talks about at some length and which, to be honest, is pretty uninteresting to those of us who are not... Read more
Published 12 months ago by S. Meadows
Origin of the Species
Darwin was wrong, Monkeys have evolved from man and I have proof. I have seen a clip of a chimpanzee dressed in a blazer and cap riding a tricyle. Read more
Published 15 months ago by N. Simpson
Not the book that you are expecting. No lightening bolt.
Darwin's theory is so simple that I often wonder why it wasn't invented (discovered?) earlier. 100 years after calculus, 60 years before General Relativity. Read more
Published 16 months ago by Dave C
DARWIN - almighty. Its a requirement for any self respecting...
A book that allows the original to be read by all.
it makes the original script to be understood.
Its a requirement for any self respecting ecologist.
it makes the original script to be understood.
Its a requirement for any self respecting ecologist.
Published 17 months ago by Sebastian Leaver
The original and often quoted
This is a new printing of the original work by Charles Darwin. It is the book that caused so much furore amongst the people of the early 19th century and lead to outrage in society... Read more
Published 18 months ago by Mole
A classic we all should know
We all know it but there's nothing like reading it for yourself to imagine the reluctance of Darwin to publish it
Published 18 months ago by J. Pierce
Everyone should read this
This is a book every child should read. It is one of the most important texts in biology, history and the study of religion.
Published 20 months ago by Dr Monkey
Science in Shakespeare speak(ish)
If your looking at this book im sure your aware its old, making the language quite difficult to follow unless you are fully awake and alert. Read more
Published 20 months ago by MeetMike
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