The classic that exploded into public controversy, revolutionized the course of science, and continues to transform our views of the world.
The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition
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Editorial Reviews
Review
''It is clear that here is one of the most important contributions ever made to philosophic science; and it is at least behooving on scientists, in the light of the accumulation of evidence which the author has summoned in support of his theory, to reconsider the grounds on which their present doctrine of the origin of species is based.'' --New York Times
''Amazingly, 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin's seminal work on the theory of evolution remains the authoritative tract on the subject.'' --Library Journal --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
''Amazingly, 150 years after the publication of The Origin of Species, Darwin's seminal work on the theory of evolution remains the authoritative tract on the subject.'' --Library Journal --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.
About the Author
CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882) was the first evolutionary biologist, best known for his controversial and groundbreaking The Origin of Species. He introduced the concept of natural selection, marking a new epoch in the scientific world.
--This text refers to the
Audio Cassette
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
341 of 351 people found the following review helpful
Darwin, with intro by Huxley - is the REAL BOOK... BEWARE the copy with intro by Comfort
October 26, 2009
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The original book by Charles Darwin is a classic that should be on everyone's reading list. There are ample reviews here which address it, praise it, and I am completely in agreement with them. Darwin's Origin of Species is a true masterpiece.
Unfortunately, this review is to help readers/buyers realize that there is a 'vandalized' version which has been published, and to tell you how to avoid it and get the real thing.
To explain; there is yet another edition also called "The Origin of Species, 150th Anniversary Edition", put out by Christian Fundamentalist Ray Comfort in an attempt to discredit evolutionary theory and Charles Darwin, and it has some extra 50 pages of unintelligible drivel about creationism, as well as having ABRIDGED Darwin's original text. If you want to read about creationism, find another book... if you want the facts, read ALL of what Darwin has to say, and please don't give any money to Comfort by accidentally buying his ABRIDGED version.
Note that he used the EXACT same name as the 'real' anniversary edition -- "The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin". You can easily tell which version you're getting by who wrote the introduction - go with Julian Huxley, NOT Ray Comfort, and you'll have the correct and complete version.
Also, note that Amazon reviews are mixed between the books (normally not a problem at all) - I hope they are straightening this out, but currently that's not the case. Sadly, the negative reviews of the Comfort version are bringing down the rating of the 'good/real' book.
Sorry to have to write about the 'drama', but I'm sure you want to know that you have ordered the correct book, and I know you'll love it.
Enjoy.
Unfortunately, this review is to help readers/buyers realize that there is a 'vandalized' version which has been published, and to tell you how to avoid it and get the real thing.
To explain; there is yet another edition also called "The Origin of Species, 150th Anniversary Edition", put out by Christian Fundamentalist Ray Comfort in an attempt to discredit evolutionary theory and Charles Darwin, and it has some extra 50 pages of unintelligible drivel about creationism, as well as having ABRIDGED Darwin's original text. If you want to read about creationism, find another book... if you want the facts, read ALL of what Darwin has to say, and please don't give any money to Comfort by accidentally buying his ABRIDGED version.
Note that he used the EXACT same name as the 'real' anniversary edition -- "The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin". You can easily tell which version you're getting by who wrote the introduction - go with Julian Huxley, NOT Ray Comfort, and you'll have the correct and complete version.
Also, note that Amazon reviews are mixed between the books (normally not a problem at all) - I hope they are straightening this out, but currently that's not the case. Sadly, the negative reviews of the Comfort version are bringing down the rating of the 'good/real' book.
Sorry to have to write about the 'drama', but I'm sure you want to know that you have ordered the correct book, and I know you'll love it.
Enjoy.
44 of 52 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
It's really amazing how polarized people's opinions of this book are! Whether you accept evolution or not though, it would be foolish not to read Origin of Species if you expect to have an informed opinion on the subject. I gave it only 4 stars because it gets pretty dry in places, however I definitely recommend reading this book. Reading it two or three times would be an even better idea.
105 of 135 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
I read this book after discussing "intelligent design" with someone. It had never has occurred to me that the theory and facts of evolution wouldn't be more compelling to someone than Bible myth that wasn't intended to teach science at all.
Darwin's writing style can be awkward. He is working with a lot of facts to try to discern some laws. It isn't easy material to begin with. After a long delay of collecting evidence and formulating ideas, he was in a hurry to publish and may have skipped a useful rewrite to increase readability. He is clearly not adverse to long sentences.
Nevertheless, he does present himself clearly and in an exemplary manner for a scientist. He packs his presentation with supportive facts. He presents tentative laws to explains what he observed and then sees how well this explain the data he had collected. He points out his assumptions, raises doubts about them and responds sincerely to those doubts.
As can be seen in this book, Charles Darwin was scientific, inquiring, open, honest, and genuinely concerned about advancing human knowledge about the natural world.
It is surprising, as Darwin explains, how much can be accounted for given sufficient time (millions of years, not 5000, as scientific dating methods show), given small variations within any single generation and given conditions of scarcity. Darwin recognized that what may be hardest of us to accept is that we can not see the cumulative changes that took those millions of years to occur. He does make an effort to explain why the fossil record has gaps for which intermediate forms of life are missing. He also explains that grouping life into species is just a scientific convention and that the apparent fixed form of species can be explained by consistent conditions on earth over long periods of time (such that new variations aren't selected).
Darwin does, both to identify a regularity and to make reading smoother , reify the process of "natural selection". "Natural selection" should be understood as the complement to "artificial selection" or variation under domestication, which Darwin considers first as such selection influenced by humans was well known. There is no one doing natural selection, but rather it is process that some variations are able to survive under certain conditions which they themselves cannot be aware of in advance. It is the considerable variation that occurs which enables life in some form at all to go on for so many million of years while other forms become existence.
That Darwin was able to formulate the laws he did prior to the science of genetics is a tribute to his skills and to the science involved.
It is a work that makes me proud to be a human being and grateful to Charles Darwin. Anyone who thinks evolution is incompatible with their religious beliefs should read this book and then realize that they have misunderstood the spirit of the portions of the Bible they believe conflict with Darwin's and science's great contribution to us.
If there is a Christian God, you should feel certain He will have a special place close to Him in heaven for Charles Darwin.
Darwin's writing style can be awkward. He is working with a lot of facts to try to discern some laws. It isn't easy material to begin with. After a long delay of collecting evidence and formulating ideas, he was in a hurry to publish and may have skipped a useful rewrite to increase readability. He is clearly not adverse to long sentences.
Nevertheless, he does present himself clearly and in an exemplary manner for a scientist. He packs his presentation with supportive facts. He presents tentative laws to explains what he observed and then sees how well this explain the data he had collected. He points out his assumptions, raises doubts about them and responds sincerely to those doubts.
As can be seen in this book, Charles Darwin was scientific, inquiring, open, honest, and genuinely concerned about advancing human knowledge about the natural world.
It is surprising, as Darwin explains, how much can be accounted for given sufficient time (millions of years, not 5000, as scientific dating methods show), given small variations within any single generation and given conditions of scarcity. Darwin recognized that what may be hardest of us to accept is that we can not see the cumulative changes that took those millions of years to occur. He does make an effort to explain why the fossil record has gaps for which intermediate forms of life are missing. He also explains that grouping life into species is just a scientific convention and that the apparent fixed form of species can be explained by consistent conditions on earth over long periods of time (such that new variations aren't selected).
Darwin does, both to identify a regularity and to make reading smoother , reify the process of "natural selection". "Natural selection" should be understood as the complement to "artificial selection" or variation under domestication, which Darwin considers first as such selection influenced by humans was well known. There is no one doing natural selection, but rather it is process that some variations are able to survive under certain conditions which they themselves cannot be aware of in advance. It is the considerable variation that occurs which enables life in some form at all to go on for so many million of years while other forms become existence.
That Darwin was able to formulate the laws he did prior to the science of genetics is a tribute to his skills and to the science involved.
It is a work that makes me proud to be a human being and grateful to Charles Darwin. Anyone who thinks evolution is incompatible with their religious beliefs should read this book and then realize that they have misunderstood the spirit of the portions of the Bible they believe conflict with Darwin's and science's great contribution to us.
If there is a Christian God, you should feel certain He will have a special place close to Him in heaven for Charles Darwin.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Brilliant!
For someone who has a great fascination for the theory of evolution (despite being a Software Engineer) I realized that it's unacceptable, not to mention a little hypocritical that... Read more
Published 25 days ago by Sach
Highly recommended.
This book should be in the drawer next to the bed in every hotel in the world. While reading it, you'll see the true genius in Charles Darwin as he write about his observations on... Read more
Published 1 month ago by B-man
Classic, but dated.
I re-read "On the Origin" about a year ago. In the book, Darwin discusses the fact that humans are causing other animals to change, and he talks about the many different breeds (or... Read more
Published 1 month ago by JV
Historic Book by The Man With The Greatest Idea of All Time
Written more than 1.5 centuries ago, this book was the presentation of the greatest discovery/idea of the history of human-being and the turning point for our modern understanding... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Faraz
It is Good.
I like the book. Best books which changed the thinking of Evolution. I have not read the full extent of it, but who needs a review for such a great book.
Published 2 months ago by Vickyfin
Darwin was more honest than today's authors on evolution
Though my initial motive to read Darwin's "Origin of the Species" was most casual, as I started reading it I grew respectful of Charles Darwin in many ways. Read more
Published 4 months ago by R. R. Morris
The Origin of Species
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is amazingly readable, since it was published in 1859. Darwin lays a good foundation for the Origin of Species which is the basis for the... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Wilfred J. Braithwaite
The Origin of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition
This is the book I ordered but is not the book I received. I received The Origin of The Species by Charles Darwin---NOT the 150th Anniversary Edition. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Gwynette G. Warren
This is a Forgery
As the sub-title to this "Special" "On the Origin of Species" version attests, it seems some of the christian persuasion have gone and done it again. Read more
Published 10 months ago by S. L. Runnels
Darwin
I was completely surprised by the nature of Darwin's book. I expected a book of science, but instead found it to be more of a book of philosophy. Read more
Published 12 months ago by Christopher Zimmerman
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