Customer Reviews

Dear Mr. Darwin: Letters on the Evolution of Life and Human Nature

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Dear Mr Darwin adopts a highly well-known aspect of Charles Darwin's life of correspondences and develops in into a book. However, the correspondences in this book are all imagination of the author, Dove. He effectively uses a combination of witty and clear language to "update" Charles Darwin on the great developments of evolutionary genetics since the great naturalist's time. What is almost hilarious is the many references to Darwin's state of internment at the Abby and they help to make the book even more readable for the layman.

Essentially, this book is about evolutionary genetics since the discovery of works of Gregory Mendel, the father of genetics. In 15 correspondences altogether, Dove manages to squeeze the major aspects of evolutionary genetics that have advance man's knowledge of evolution. Not insignificant is a chapter wholly devoted to debunking Dawkins'selfish gene theory (many other chapters show oblique disdain of the author towards Dawkins' theory).

Three main ideas are what are pursued throughout the book. Firstly, the book has introduced me to the non-Mendelian mechanisms of genes. These include gene conversion, slippage, unequal crossing over etc. These turnover genetics, as they are also called, can be responsible for as many genetic variations as Mendelian genetics of segregation. The next idea is that natural selection is not the only force that leads to evolution of organisms. The author pioneers a new force he calls molecular drive. Given the many non-Mendelian mechanisms, it is possible that novelties arise at the genetic level, fortuitously giving an organism the advantage. This will lead to adoptation of previously inaccessible environment, which in turn leads to higher rate of reproduction. This is different from natural selection, which works at the ecological level to spread the genetic materials of best-fitted organisms.

The last idea and is what the author is bent in propagating, is that Dawkins got it entirely wrong with his selfish gene theory. With no forgiving language, Dove states that genes are never capable of replicating itself. The only entity in biology able to replicate itself is the cell. And the cell is the product of many genes, many interactions and many mechanisms not possibly attributed to a single gene. And the cell is the organism (humans simply being higher order multi-cellular entities). So Dawkins' entire idea of the genes as the ultimate unit of selection is false. There are many other points of arguments, some of which are quite hard to comprehend.

This book, although written in a creative manner, requires some knowledge of genetics. The middle sections of the book can get very technical and it is important for the general reader to read through and summarise his ideas. It is a also a good book to refute the ideas of Dawkins and to offer fresh perspectives on the forces that drive evolution., apart from natural selection.

This is a very useful account, for anyone who realizes a new paradigm is coming, in a somewhat unusual format, of the many changes going on in the field of biological theory and is recommended highly as a source of information, more conventional sources are too bashful to divulge, on many aspects of the change face of Darwinism. Among them are a clear snapshot account of the revolution underway in our understanding due to the research on hox genes. The implications of this for the current views on natural selection are momentous, and the book includes a considerable critique of the views of R. Dawkins and the limitations of the Neo-Darwinian synthesis as currently taken. Important reading.

Mr. Dover is obvious a brilliant scientist on the cutting edge of genetics. I can't imagaine there are many people more knowledgable on the subject. He also has a flair and humor to his writing. So if the book is substantial and not boring, what is the problem? This book is simply not "accessable" as it were.

The book is less about Darwin's theory than contemporary theories, including Mr. Dover's own "molecular drive" (there is also molecular coevolution, gene conversion, exaptation, neutral drift, etc.) most of which seem quite sound. Unfortunately, and notwithstanding the conversational format of the book, the concepts are abstruse. One would need, at least, a good knowlege of basic genetics (just knowing the doulbe helix is not enough, trust me) to appreciate this book. If you already have a good grasp of "allelles" and such, (where they are on chromosomes, how they operate, etc.) this book would be an excellent choice.

Although the written correspondence format does make for a more entertaining read in the beginning, I found that it began to drag on and become annoying by about halfway through the book.

There are many interesting ideas that I was unfamiliar with that Mr. Dover explains in ways that are easy to understand for somebody that has a little bit of background in biology. His theories on molecular drive and various forms of gene selection were great and I enjoyed the manner in which he explained these ideas.

However, I could have done without half a book's worth (slight exaggeration) of slagging on Richard Dawkins. I'm not sure if the author thought it would be "cute" to slam his colleague or wanted to try to prove how much better his ideas are, but it all comes across as trite and childish to me. If you are one that hates Dawkins then you might get a chuckle out of it, but if you are somebody who is more interested in science than egos you might end up not finishing this book.

This book gets two stars for the fairly interesting molecular biology though once this is absorbed it is difficult not to ask, as 'Darwin' does, What's new? Dover indulges in what at times seems like incessant bitching about Richard Dawkins - sometimes via 'Darwin' with comments such as his hope that Dawkins' books are not filed under science in the library.

Dover tries hard to sell his molecular drive theory. He makes a lot of the uniqueness of individual organisms, so much so that he seems to think that uniqueness equals completely different and misses the fact that it also means almost identical. He leads himself to the conclusion that an individual has no biological connection to the past or the future!

'Darwin' mentions at one point that the peacock's tail still makes him feel sick. Dover promises him an explanation to come which he never delivers, except to talk about the genes involved in butterfly eyespots. As peacocks display in leks to females and peahens nearly all choose the same male to mate with and the tail is a good signal of good genes then what are the females selecting and rejecting? All the peahens get from the male is packages of DNA. Their tails seem to give information about the male's genes, especially those involved in the immune system. If, as Dover says, the phenotype is just a one-off with no connection to the past or the future then the peahens' behavior must make Dover too sick to talk about.

Dover's letter in which he talks about Manchester United football team he uses to try and give support to his views but for me it simply underlined his self-delusion and denial. Far from his euphoria being non-genetically determined it is more a clear expression of the effects of the Y chromosome. It is strange that Dover does not seem to notice the connection between a number of behaviors he discusses and the Y chromosome. The final chapters following the climactic Man. U. emission add nothing more and may lead to a desire to roll over and fall asleep.

If readers have not read Dawkins I suggest they do, including 'Climbing Mount Improbable' which Dover attacks because of Dawkins' writing about the eye. Having actually read Dawkins then it should be clear which writer should be on the Science shelf. Poor Mr Darwin must be turning in his grave.

Why some scientists attempt to "refute" Darwin remains perplexing. Some hope to gain notoriety by toppling such an icon. "Post-modernists" apply the "cultural artefact" dodge - natural selection could only arise in Victorian Britain. Still others have observed the complexities of today's life forms, and unable to comprehend how the process of natural selection brought them about, lash out in frustration. Gabriel Dover seems to fall in the latter category with this bizarre work, although an undercurrent of self-promotion is evident.

The book is an attempt to promote Dover's concept of "molecular drive" he introduced some years ago. In Dover's view, the complexities of today's chromosomes can be projected backward in time to explain evolution's mechanisms. Molecular drive is so powerful and far-reaching that it exceeds natural selection's gradual pace. Since this complexity can arise in nearly every life form above the single-cell organism, natural selection is thereby refuted, Dover says. He attempts to explain the mechanism with convoluted examples of fruit flies suffering from a rare, but deleterious mutation. By the time he's finished we are left with little understanding of how this process evolved, but even less of how it replaces natural selection.

Whiffs of Behe Syndrome permeate this book. BS is an affliction infecting those dazzled by the intricacies of modern genetics. Sufferers are unable to perceive the long reach of natural selection through time. Hence, they tend to maneuver around it, grasping at any straw in searching for quick, immediate answers to evolution's mysteries. Dover's "molecular coevolution" is an attempt to graft one of these answers to Darwin's original thesis. Like other examples of BS, it fails pitifully. Darwin's Idea survives this attempt at erosion with renewed strength.

The ethics of invoking the shade of Charles Darwin to inform us of advances in genetics are questionable at best. Darwin has been "updated" before, although none with the aim of degrading others. Dover presents his case in a series of letters, some attempting to explain modern molecular biology, some just "chatty". The shadow of Darwin is astoundingly tolerant of all this. Dover makes him out as appreciative of the update effort, but anyone who has read Darwin isn't deceived. Darwin was too clear a thinker to be misled by such devious tactics. Dover's inept handling of Darwin glares from every exchange. The many personal asides appear to be some form of camouflage to distract the reader from perceiving how ineptly Dover handles the issues. The barbed assault on Richard Dawkins sprinkled throughout the book proves even worse. Dover's recruiting Darwin's ghost as an ally in this venture is the final flaw. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

[* with humble apologies to Daniel C. Dennett]