Before reviewing this excellent book it would be best to introduce this review with an overview of the current climate when it comes to Darwin.
Charles Darwin (a naturalist) is the father of modern Evolution (not *Evil*ultion; it is pronounced *Evo*-lution).
Darwin's overall explanation of evolution, in this book, is not modern evolutionary biology. Modern evolution can, and does, go beyond Darwin's view.
Darwin's model is often called Darwinism, a partially philosophical concept but mostly the science of biology and geology combined. It is widely considered to be the single most important scientific discovery of all time. Darwin's underlying points are the essentials of evolutionary biology.
Theories are comprised of facts without gaps. Theories are factual. Theories contain facts to explain a factual instance of something material. Theories do not contain fabrications or a little bit of lies plus some truths. If a theory is not all facts then it is not a theory.
The phrase "it is just a theory and not fact" is a contradiction of terms. A factual instance of something (such as observing speciation) needs to be explained. Facts are used to explain the factual instance of something material.
Darwin used philosophy and biological science and earth sciences (geology) to develop the concept of natural selection which is primarily based on explaining how evolution occurs with the mechanism of `natural selection'. Darwin observed in the world about him what he believed to be the result of a single cell organism that had evolved into all forms of life we see today. More importantly, there is no chaos involved. It has order. "The Origin of Species" (TOOS) is all about Darwin discussing how he came to this conclusion.
In the 21st Century, "Speciation" has been observed countless times. Go search right now for "Observed Speciation Events".
***Speciation is a fact whether we can explain the mechanisms of how it works or not. This can not be understated! A fact is a fact regardless of our ability to explain how it works. Gravity existed well before Newton could explain it. Speciation exists (a new species developing in the world, under scientific observation) meaning evolution is a fact. Look at the title of this review. Nobody should have to explain evolution in order to prove it factual. ***
Now is the time to say this. If you don't believe theories are factual, then stop engaging the results of factual science in your life right now. Walk the talk. Turn off the PC. Turn off the electricity. Turn off the heating... and walk. I will allow you the option of a bronze spear... that is if you know how to smelt bronze.
As a note, the Catholic Church has been teaching the fact of evolution and the theory of the mechanisms of evolution in Catholic schools since the 1950s. This is exactly the same coursework that secular schools have on evolution. However there is some discrepancy over natural selection. Natural selection has order but it is not guided. This is the problem part for most religious people. One would do well however to experience thinking about natural selection without any divine guidance. This is truly the type of thinking that grasps the full impact of this work.
The theory of the mechanisms of evolution is independent of the fact of evolution. The theory of the mechanisms of evolution is a compilation of facts (without gaps) used to explain the fact of evolution. The theory of the mechanisms of evolution is here, in part, but are much better explained and referenced by modern evolutionary biology. If its modern evolution you want (and you may well do if your first search brought you here) then go to talkorigins on the net and read about the "29+ evidences for macroevolution". It can take days, weeks months, or years, or a lifetime to parse the data, but keep going over it and it will eventually click.
The most popular version of The Origin of Species is the one which contains the first edition published by Darwin in 1859 with an editor's introduction by J. W Burrow first published in 1968. Burrows covers the history of the work, the successive editions of the book that Darwin published and recent scientific discoveries that shed light on Darwin's theory.
Introduction
Darwin in TOOS starts by describing his life and times as a naturalist. Darwin explains the problem of immutable claims about the species and goes through the historical record to show instances where people have indicated that the species are mutable. He explains that he is writing this book because Alfred Russel Wallace has drawn the same conclusions about natural selection.
Chapter 1: Variation under Domestication
Darwin goes straight into variations under domestication showing that farmed animals are substantially different from their wild counterparts from which they came. Darwin did not have access to Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance but he did guess that there was a mechanism like this responsible for variation. His bases for the assertion that species come from other closely related species is absolutely fundamentally correct by today's standards. His explanation for it was revolutionary for his time.
Chapter 2: Variation under Nature
Darwin exposes the instability of the then current system of taxonomy to show that categorization and labelling is not fixed and thus questions the bases for immutability. This paves the way for the natural overview that all like organisms share commonalities and that variations can be immediate or subtle gradual changes over time. Darwin discusses intermediate forms and shows that group changes are proportional while alluding to the first shape of an evolutionary tree.
Chapter 3: Struggle for Existence
Darwin presents the ecosystem and shows that all organisms struggle to survive and that this struggle influences what we, who have survived this struggle, see in the world today. Darwin shows this complex structure and connects it with such descriptions as the presence of a feline determining through the intervention of mice and then bees the frequency of certain flowers in an area.
Chapter 4: Natural Selection
This is core material of how highly complex organisms are formed from organisms with lesser complexity and has still stood the test of time today. Darwin not only verifies evolution but explains its mechanism, natural selection. Using the analogy of a tree and the taxonomy of living things Darwin shows how beneficial variations in conjunction with heredity are responsible for the formation of new species gradually over long periods of time which compete and cause extinctions. Darwin establishes the foundation for common descent.
Chapter 5: Laws of Variation
Darwin, without knowing Mendel's laws of inheritance, comes close to explaining it by in-depth analyses of the variations in organisms, such as the horse and cabbage. Darwin has been preparing the reader to accept that species are highly variable and that this means that ideas of a static independent design of the species without variation are highly flawed and evolution can be the only sensible conclusion drawn from the evidence.
Chapter 6: Difficulties on Theory
Darwin does what religious writers avoid which is self-critic, the hallmark of scientific thinking, brings up all possible problems with his theory and slowly shows how the answers are natural even though he doesn't have them all yet, but still manages to explain the evolution of the eye by comparison to lesser complex eyes in nature as well as the evolution of flight by comparison to gliding organisms. Darwin then shows imperfections in nature, explains why they are there and pulls off a last minute rationalization for why organisms more suited for another environment live in a completely different one with natural selection.
Chapter 7: Instinct
Darwin looks at complex instincts in the animal kingdom. Here Darwin examines the life of aphids and ants, revealing their instincts, turns to birds, before going back into the micro world of slave-making ants and the hive-bee, before tackling the design of complex hive honeycomb structures. Not only does Darwin show the evolution of beehives but has all along been preparing us for the slow long gradual evolution of instinct in all living things and then directly implies Mendel's laws of inheritance. Darwin amazingly demonstrates that neuter or sterile insects that perform specific tasks can be produced from parents who don't do those tasks, by way of natural selection.
Chapter 8: Hybridism
In order to understand this chapter one should know that at the time the sterility of species was considered the divine indication that species where not allowed to crossbreed. Darwin using sterility examples shows the reader that there is very little to distinguish species from varieties, if they can be distinguished at all. This undermines any attempt to say that a species has an exact definition or is fixed and this is fatal to the independent creation of species hypothesis. Darwin establishes yet another proof for evolution.
Chapter 9: On the Imperfection of the Geological Record
Darwin using Lyell's geology changes our view of the world. Suddenly we find that we are no longer the centre of the earth, just as Copernicus showed that we where no longer the centre of our solar system. Darwin describes geology in-depth, with the erosion of land, atom by atom, and the formation of land, atom by atom, adding that the world has seen many forms of life, gradually evolving, through a vast amount of time that we can barely comprehend.
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