The Illustrated Origin of Species, Abridged Edition [Hardcover]

Charles Darwin (Author), Richard E. Leakey (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Hill & Wang; 1ST edition (January 1979)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809057352
• ISBN-13: 978-0809057351
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,213,334 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Groundbreaking, May 1, 2006

By 

Newton Ooi (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Illustrated Origin of Species (Paperback)

The Origin of Species is probably one of a handful of books published during the 1800s that still influences society to this day. Written in first-person by the traveling biologist Charles Darwin, it lays out the argument that the members of each species display variation in physical traits. These variations in turn differentiate the survival rates and hence reproductive rates of the different members within a species. This is called natural selection. Over generations, specific lineages and hence traits come to dominate and change a species, or create new ones where only one existed previously. This is known as survival of the fittest. Darwin argues his point by using finches and various other organisms as examples, all of which he personally examined in his travels to the world's fauna. Overall, a highly readable book on science.