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248 of 262 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If you can make it any plainer that this, please let me know!, 3 Sep 2009
Richard Dawkins is probably one of the most well known proponents of Evolution today. He is either held in high regard or subject to considerable loathing, depending on your view of evolution. This book has one clear aim - to present the evidence for evolution in a simple, but not compromised fashion, so that it can be held up against the claims made by those who would deny its importance, or even its occurrence. In this regard the book is an overwhelming success.
In a logical fashion Dawkins steps through such topics as "what do we mean by a theory", dating methods for fossils, missing links (and if there are such things), plate tectonics and its influence on plant and animal distribution, embryology and molecular genetics and evolution. Each chapter adds another layer to the evidence for Evolution. Where other scientific understanding is required it is provided. For example, there is a short description of the classic atomic models needed to understand the dating methods used on geological samples. The best chapters are the final two, and this is not to say the ones before are not of an extremely high standard. The penultimate chapter addresses Evolutionary Arms races, with a clear emphasis on predator prey relationships, while the final chapter unpacks a paragraph from the original version of On the Origin of Species to show how far reaching and advanced Darwin's thinking was at the time of its publication.
Dawkins is clear, if possibly optimistic, in his aim to address this book at those who find evolution difficult, for I doubt they will read this book. He terms these people "the history-deniers" in a clear allusion to the controversies in the study of recent History, where despite incontrovertible evidence people still deny the occurrences of certain events.
In his last book Dawkins addressed religious belief in a way that clearly conveyed his rage, but somehow seem to lack subtly. While this is not the case here, the book does contain more than enough characteristic barbs to delight (or enrage!) readers already familiar with his previous writing. He helps the reader at every stage, even to the point of suggesting you should not read particular sections if you are tired! But it is in one single passage, where he casually mentions that you should see the Redwoods of California before you die, that his passion shines through most strongly and clearly.
Here you see his wonder for a world full of remarkable diversity, all brought about by a process that is deceptively simple - evolution through natural selection. This is a timely book that should be read by anybody who has an interest in understanding the world as it actually is. This is the best single account of the evidence for evolution I have read and it is impossible to recommend it highly enough.
(This review is based on the Australian paperback version, which was released last week).
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44 of 48 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A critical milestone for popular science., 12 Sep 2009
Anyone and everyone can read this book - it has set a new benchmark for popular science which can be seen as yet another necessary stage in the public's understanding of the most universally paramount scientific discovery, the study of the very essence of life itself. Dawkins is able to create a lucid, informative and easy to read overview of his and others previous work while offering a fresh approach to understanding 'the greatest show on earth'. The greatest thing that this book achieves is that it successfully steps outside the worn debate of 'creationist vs. evolutionist' which too often holds back serious and progressive discussion. I would highly recommend this book to anyone for or against evolution, or who has even the slightest interest in Science.
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52 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Supplementary views, including what this book isn't., 10 Sep 2009
I'll take into account other reviews, here and elsewhere, in this one. So I'll avoid repeating what "SCM (Victoria, Australia)" and "Louis Vallance "fs geek" (Sheffield, SY UK)" have said here where I agree with them, which is almost entirely.
It is probably worth emphasising what this book is not. It is not suitable as an introductory description of evolution. It actually contains the relevant material, but embedded in a bigger book that would probably be daunting to someone wanting an easy start.
Also, it is not pro-atheism, not anti-God, and not anti-religion. (I am an atheist who is somewhat anti-religion, and there was little or nothing here to support those positions, although they were not contradicted either). I believe this is a "safe" book for non-creationist religious people to give to their children. Indeed, they may need the book more than atheists would, because perhaps their children are more vulnerable to fundamentalist and/or anti-scientific influences than the children of atheists would be.
Creationists, if they read it, will certainly feel that it is anti-religion. But it attacks the creationist aspect to their Islam or Christianity, not the rest. It attacks those doctrines that are, in effect, (pseudo) scientific statements about the creation/development of life on Earth. Where they attempt to step on science's toes, this book retaliates systematically and relentlessly, by describing the real world that contradicts the creationist positions (in their various incompatible forms).
"Intelligent Design" proponents also suffer, but for a different reason. ID is really a "god of the gaps" hypothesis, claiming that where science can't explain certain aspects of life, this is because those aspects could not happen by unintelligent forces and processes. The claim is that the gaps are evidence of the need for intelligence, read "God". This book illustrates the nature of the gaps, (for example, various chemical pathways), and proposes by experience that the gaps are temporary, reducing and even disappearing as more evidence comes in. ("God of the gaps" claims are both theologically and scientifically unsound).
The size of the book is a result of extending the book's metaphor of a detective who has to identify "who done it" after the victim has been found. The murder has not been witnessed, so clues have to be found retrospectively and conclusions drawn. (There is actually a chapter on evolution seen within a human lifetime, but most of it isn't). I think the book goes further: it is in addition like the expert witness in court, who must cover the material comprehensively so that the jury has no room for "reasonable doubt"; and it is further also like the prosecutor who draws the court's attention to the implications, as far as the defendant is concerned, of the evidence. These are necessary for making a case without loopholes, but could be overkill for someone wanting an introduction.
My rating is not affected by the fact that it is not an introduction, nor by the fact that creationists will be put off from reading the book. They simply don't appear to be in the target audience. There is a transcript in Chapter 7 of part of a discussion with Wendy Wright of the Concerned Women for America. (I believe this is a subset of some clips available on YouTube). Her approach is typical of one tactic used by creationists in debate: "history denial by evidence avoidance". I believe creationists and ID proponents would typically prefer to avoid this book because of its evidence, not because of its insults.
This book is a good read, written by one of the best science writers in recent decades. At least, it is for someone who is fascinated by science and living things. I think it makes a wonderful pairing with The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life.
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