'can we doubt ... that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind?' In the Origin of Species (1859) Darwin challenged many of the most deeply held beliefs of the Western world. His insistence on the immense length of the past and on the abundance of life-forms, present and extinct, dislodged man from his central position in creation and called into question the role of the Creator. He showed that new species are achieved by natural selection, and that absence of plan is an inherent part of the evolutionary process. Darwin's prodigious reading, experimentation, and observations on his travels fed into his great work, which draws on material from the Galapagos Islands to rural Staffordshire, from English back gardens to colonial encounters. The present edition provides a detailed and accessible discussion...
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Recensioner
2016-12-21
Betyg 
Efter läsningen går det inte att tvivla på evolutionen, om man nu gjorde det innan. Mycket övertygande. Men den övertygar inte på samma sätt som välavvägda aforismer kan ge ett intryck av "sanning", utan genom tyngden av sin empiriska data. Det märks att boken är krönet på Darwins livsverk, ingen sten lämnas orörd. Han har uppenbarligen tänkt igenom sin teori ur alla tänkbara vinklar.
