246 of 260 people found the following review helpful:
If you can make it any plainer that this, please let me know!
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...
25 of 39 people found the following review helpful:
A combative book for his fans
This book explains evolution in a combative way. That is to say, it is meant to invigorate Richard Dawkins' fans in their case against creationism (whose followers are already on the second page likened to holocaust deniers), giving them answers to all the counter arguments they may get from their foes.
Evolution has been dealt with better, notably by mr...
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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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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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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I've been a student of evolution for a while; but this is the first book I've read specifically about the evidence for evolution. Everything you'd expect is indeed presented: biogeography, molecular genetics, transitional fossils, vestiges, homologies, suboptimal design; plus a few things that one might not expect.
Still, the book is not as tight as it could be, and at times I found myself struggling to stay focused while the book went on a digression of marginal relevance (for example, there's an entire chapter on embryology which only explains why it's relevant in the last couple of pages).
Anyway, this is still a good book, but a more patient reader than I am might find it more enjoyable.
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As a biological scientist I found this book an easy-to-digest refresher on a subject that is not strictly my day-to-day field of study. My only critique: Not a huge amount of time in this book was spent describing the masses of molecular evidence for human evolution, e.g. chimp chromosome fusions, protein homology in structure and function throughout nature. It is much more of a naturalists book, with swathes of it devoted to fossil evidence and zoology. Fossil evidence, although critically important in defending the fact of evolution, is more easily rejected by the pig-headed creationist than stern, unquestionable and blunt molecular evidence.
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It was accepted that The God Delusion would be Dawkins' first and only `God' book in his series of work. What was the best part of ten years of waiting for the `right time' resulted in a candid and witty rebuttal of religion. After six years of Bush and an unseen level of distrust and uncertainty in government, it was time for a voice of reason to urge believers and non-believers alike to say, "enough is enough".
What I gained the most from The God Delusion was the ability to justify myself in my non-belief and the grounds to base my arguments on. What I felt was missing though, was a true understanding of what it is I believe in, namely Darwinian Evolution by Natural Selection. I could argue with reason why I don't believe in God, but when asked what evidence there was to support my argument, I felt that I didn't know enough. The Greatest Show on Earth is the answer. It is, in essence, a presentation of the evidence (hence the footnote on the cover). It produces an elegant explanation of why evolution is true via carefully calculated scientific reasoning and the same tongue-in-cheek brashness we have come to expect from Dawkins over the years.
The book opens by distinguishing fact from theory, promptly eradicating any preconceived doubt that evolution is merely a hypothesis. Dawkins puts a jovial emphasis on the question mark after the title 'only a theory', in order to immunise the chapter's content from relentless quote mining by our creationist crusaders. The first major point of discussion lies with the issue of why evolution wasn't discovered two hundred years earlier by a Darwin/Wallace counterpart during the dawn of calculus, which Dawkins puts down to a combination of essentialism and socio-religious constraints (despite the removal of the God Delusion t-shirt, one can hardly criticise him for bringing up religion every once in a while). From there onwards, the information is added layer by layer, as if the investigating reader is given a transparent lamina with on it, part of the picture of evolution, for every chapter he/she reads, resulting in the complete perspective once all of these sheets are placed over each other. Without detracting too much from the surprises we are given throughout the book, the first lamina we are given in the detective's puzzle is an insight into eugenics and how selective breeding is harnessed by natural and artificial methods alike.
Dawkins outlines very importantly that approximately 40% of Americans don't believe in evolution, and likens them with soft candour to the Holocaust deniers. This is a very controversial opinion but one that hits home on a number of levels. The extent into which Dawkins delves is massive; from Cows to cabbages, I learnt in depth how animals and other life forms have evolved over millions of years (in the case of natural selection) and hundreds of years (in the case of artificial selection).
As expected, I found The Greatest Show on Earth to be provocative, exciting, humorous, (controversial?) and most importantly, educational. This is, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest books of the twenty-first century. I urge you to read this life-affirming masterpiece.
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I have always known the basic idea of evolution through natural selection, but Dawkins puts it in such a clear way that it completely blows my mind. Easy to understand and elegantly written I think this is the book to buy if you want to receive a thorough, illuminating introduction to the subject.
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When a writer (or an artist) has written their finest work & experienced the adulation & recognition that are beyond their wildest dreams, it is difficult to write a follow-up. Often (as with 'Be Here Now' and 'Long Way Down'), the follow-up proves weak and the artist's integrity is lost.
Fortunately this hasn't happened with this book to that degree (although it is a little tired in places - e.g. chapter 8 'You did it yourself in 9 months' & the ending). This book is, like all Dawkins books, an improvement on his last biology book in explaining evolution. Every book since 'Extended Phenotype' has been geared to popularise evolution & help the reader understand it. This book does so very persuasively with incredibly simple arguments in 'The Primrose path to Evolution', leading onto atomic clocks, experiments that have proven evolution & misconceptions about the fossil record.
Essentially, if you have a friend who hasn't read Dawkins (shame on them!), then this is a good place to start. Like Ancestor's tale, it makes little mention of religion & God (except Creationists) and is designed to persuade people like the Bishop of Oxford was, who are religious but also believe in evolution. Given the shocking statistic quoted in this book (that 40% of people don't believe in evolution), it is very much your duty to open the doors of perception for these people so that they may see (at least partially) how the World works.
That said, this book does have some weaknesses. The digressions Dawkins goes into can sometimes lead off the point & should have been footnoted at the back (as with the Selfish Gene). John Cornwell has also criticised Dawkins for quoting his own books and this, unfortunately, is quite common here (as it was with his latest documentary - Genius of Charles Darwin).
One last criticism is that the book 'Why is Evolution is true' by Jerry Coyne pops up a little too many times, which makes me wonder if its ideas were lifted for this book. The sources in this book are also not as diverse as some of his other books, and it suffers a little for it.
Still, if you can ignore these weaknesses (which are slight), then this is still a good book to persuade those with no scientific knowledge of the truth of evolution. I would suggest, however, that the Ancestor's tale is a more peerless book in this field & I found it much more persuasive even if it is more technical. Knowing the unscholarly as I do, I would suggest getting the audio CD of Ancestor's tale for those who are unconvinced (since everyone can hear but not all like reading). I wait, with baited breath, to see what the audio CD for this is like...
P.S. I was considering giving this review 4 stars were it not for the presence of reviewers such as 'K Lowry' & other creationists, who rate 1 star for the sake of stopping people reading the book at all, and then ignore any counter arguments that are thrown their way. It may be that Dawkins is wrong & this book isn't the Greatest thing on Earth, but Creationist votebots & childish trolling tactics are not the way to prove this...
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I am absolutely thrilled to give this book 5 stars. I am unashamedly an evolutionist and have been for several years even before becoming an atheist. Coming from a creationist background, even when reading books on evolution I could almost hear the nagging voices in the back of my mind, "But how is this possible?", "Creatures on this planet are too complicated to have simply arisen" etc etc. No matter how much I personally accepted the fact of evolution and strove to understand it, I could not shake the nagging doubts.
Now finally I understand where those nagging thoughts were stemming from - "essentialism" - an entirely false construct when viewing evolution and certainly either an original or assimilated part of the christian meme. Now excised (or at the very least identified) and the nagging doubts simply disappeared.
Moving on from the slightly philosophical - the book is unparalleled in the simplicity of its explanation and extrapolation of evolution. I have read many books on the subject in attempt to understand the scope and progress of evolution but often found myself getting lost in the science. I am not a scientist and find detailed explanations of biology hard to follow - yet here, without oversimplifying the detail, it is very clear that Professor Dawkins has taken great pains to clearly explain complicated concepts in layman's terms. At one stage he even warns the reader of a complex part of the book and suggests it not be read late at night when the reader is tired! I really appreciated the conversational tone which suits this particular book.
I was already an evolutionist before I picked up this book but after putting it down many more pieces of the puzzle are in place and I am so much the better for having read it.
Worth far more than the measly £10 they are charging - get it, read it! You won't be sorry.
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Dawkins almost produces a perfect book on evolutionary science here covering geology, paleontology, embryology, compararive zoology together with molecular biology. At yet it is the latter subject which now provides the gratest evidence for evolution that it is his weakest subject. There is an underlying unity in biochemistry (and not just DNA) that is present throughout living things - common basic pathways, common basic chemicals etc etc as well as the discussed enzymes and DNA and maybe Dawkins would have been better to go into these subjects in much greater detail than he does and then hammer home these points in addition to his well worn paths. One other point: the book would have been better without the swipes at the creationists and concentrated on a purely scientific theme. People who buy this book will probably have no truck with the ID brigade but would want a clear understanding of what evolution is about without the digressions (ok I will forgive the appendix which is scary)
It is for that reason that I have lopped off a star
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