The Origin of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition
Charles Darwin’s classic that exploded into public controversy, revolutionized the course of science, and continues to transform our views of the world.
Few other books have created such a lasting storm of controversy as The Origin of Species. Darwin’s theory that species derive from other species by a gradual evolutionary process and that the average level of each species is heightened by the “survival of the fittest” stirred up popular debate to fever pitch. Its acceptance revolutionized the course of science.
As Sir Julian Huxley, the noted biologist, points out in his illuminating introduction, the importance of Darwin’s contribution to modern scientific knowledge is almost impossible to evaluate: “a truly great book, one which can still be read with profit by professional biologist.”
Includes an Introduction by Sir Julian Huxley
Few other books have created such a lasting storm of controversy as The Origin of Species. Darwin’s theory that species derive from other species by a gradual evolutionary process and that the average level of each species is heightened by the “survival of the fittest” stirred up popular debate to fever pitch. Its acceptance revolutionized the course of science.
As Sir Julian Huxley, the noted biologist, points out in his illuminating introduction, the importance of Darwin’s contribution to modern scientific knowledge is almost impossible to evaluate: “a truly great book, one which can still be read with profit by professional biologist.”
Includes an Introduction by Sir Julian Huxley
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Community Reviews
This book...is dense.
Not in an intellectual sense, but it has some really tough sentence structures. I would reread sentences over and over to make sure if I understood what was going on.
I never did well in biology. But I digress.
I prefer reading the original source of theories because I think it's important to have the founder's idiosyncratic way of thinking in mind. Facts are facts; systems of thought come from a specific weaving of those facts into a coherent whole, and that weaving is really interesting.
This book, in a sense, didn't disappoint: it's a wide smorgasbord of geology, morphology, and natural history. Darwin's special genius was in consuming this gigantic well of facts; Origin is a testament to his labor and less to creativity. (I think. I may be missing the historical context of his theory.)
But...there are so many facts. That's the problem with Origin: there's so much information and threads of thought, and they're largely unorganized. Mercifully, Darwin summarizes his conclusions at the very end of the book, but around the 400th page I had trouble remembering anything from the rest of the book.
I dislike recommending "pop" summarizations of books, but, if one is interested in the development of the thought of evolution, it may be better to go for a layman's version. For everyone else: Darwin possesses a genuinely interesting mind, and it's fascinating to see his love for his discipline and his encyclopedic knowledge of his field.
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