Customer Reviews

On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or The preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life

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Almost everyone has heard of this book. But, how many people have actually read it? If you haven't yet, it is well-worth reading.

Darwin spent over 20 years researching his ideas, preparing his arguments, and writing this book. He did a great job! "On the Origin" is surprisingly easy to understand. Just look at the beginning. Instead of trying to leap directly into his basic idea and premise, Darwin chooses to gradually lead the reader up to the basic idea of evolution by first point out how humans have caused evolution to occur in our domesticated animals (something very easy for all humans to see even in the 1850s). Darwin then goes on to point out some of the evidence that he and others had seen at that time that indicated that evolution had occurred. His leap in understanding the basic premise of evolution is amazing especially when you consider that he did not understand or have access to information about the basics of genetic passing of traits within species.

Can't help but notice that the Bible is one of the top downloads in the Kindle Store.

Actually, I'm a bit perplexed that Darwin's "Origin of the Species", which IMHO, is the Bible's touchstone naturalist complement, is not garnering as much attention and that this is the first review.

As we celebrate Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of this book, I'm still hopeful that the typical Kindle early adopter - who is often technically-inclined and highly literate, will find the time to read the book.

For such a landmark publication that is the basis of modern biology, its surprisingly readable and very accessible to the non-specialist.

This is a quick review of the book not a dissertation on Darwin or any other subject loosely related. At first I did not know what to expect. I already read " The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches" (see my review). I figured the book would be similar. However I found "Origin" to be more complex and detailed.

Taking in account that recent pieces of knowledge were not available to Charles Darwin this book could have been written last week. Having to look from the outside without the knowledge of DNA or Plate Tectonics, he pretty much nailed how the environment and crossbreeding would have an effect on natural selection. Speaking of natural selection, I thought his was going to be some great insight to a new concept. All it means is that species are not being mucked around by man (artificial selection).

If you picked up Time magazine today you would find all the things that Charles said would be near impossible to find or do. Yet he predicted that it is doable in theory. With an imperfect geological record many things he was not able to find at the writing of this book have been found (according to the possibilities described in the book.)

The only draw back to the book was his constant apologizing. If he had more time and space he could prove this and that. Or it looks like this but who can say at this time. Or the same evidence can be interpreted 180 degrees different.

In the end it is worth reading and you will never look at life the same way again.

The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski

Variations exist within populations that compete for scarce resources needed for survival, and many of these variations not only affect the ability of the individual to compete, but also can be passed onto children. Those variations better suited for competition will be passed on at a higher rate than those that are less suited for competition due to higher rates of survival. In this way, nature itself non-randomly selects those variations most fit, thus diversifying populations, creating branches in the Tree of Life.

While this book is 150 years out of date, and the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection has been significantly modified since its publication (especially since the discovery of DNA and the mechanisms present in both heredity and mutation), the main principles of Darwin's argument, stated in the above paragraph, remain the core of evolutionary science. This is an important work in the history of science, one that everyone should read for historical literacy. If, however, one is seeking to learn the modern evidence for evolution, collected both through laboratory testing and through field observations, then Why Evolution is True by Jerry Coyne, or The Greatest Show On Earth by Richard Dawkins would be better choices. Indeed, while the hierarchy of shared characteristics amongst animals, and the hierarchy of interspecies variations interpreted in light of the aforementioned hierarchy of shared characteristics itself constitutes great evidence for common descent, and Darwin's argument for natural selection as the mechanism by which diversity within the animal kingdom has increased remains extremely convincing and effective, it is best to familiarize one's self with all of the modern data, and all of the independently arrived at trees of life from non-overlapping fields of study that are all *gasp* identical.

If you have never read this book, you really should sit down and take the time to do do. You will learn a lot of what Darwin was thinking during the years after the Beagle voyage, and perhaps more than you wanted to know about pigeons.

If you do NOT believe in evolution, you should read this book anyway. If you have not than you have no basis to refute it, and can make only the most idiotic of arguments. After all, just about everyone alive now who HAS read it, has read Genisis too. Darwin did NOT invent evolution, it was around in his grandfather's time. His grandfather actually wrote about it. Darwin (and another actually) came up with natrual selection, not evolution. If there was never a Charles Darwin, there would still be evolution.

The person who said (sic)
"evolution is not observable or testable and therefore not scientific. and by the way who are the favored races "
OBVIOUSLY didn't read this book, and is only making a religious statement. And stupidly at that.

I have to admit, I'm astonished by the ease with which one can be fooled into thinking they've procured the full and legitimate content of Darwin's signature work. A couple of easy clues, though:

Darwin refers in this version to a diagram in chapter IV, to illustrate "The Probable Effects of the Process of Natural Selection Through Divergence of Character and Extinction, On the Descendants of a Common Ancestor." This diagram is absent in this version, and this absence is what started me on the road to identifying this version as a fraud. I began to search for other editions of "Origins" to see if they included the diagram. And that search found not only that most versions did contain the diagram, but that the full text of this work ran to over 550 pages - twice as many as are included in this version.

I should also have known better than to have procured a free version. You truly do get what you pay for.

Be aware, as you look for a reliable version of the work, that there are many fraudulent versions out there. I won't go into detail on this, as this review concerns this specific version. But I can say that I've purchased a version that I am satisfied is a faithful rendering of the complete content. The ISBN number is 978-0-451-52906-0. It's the 150th anniversary edition, with an introduction by Julian Huxley. Still, don't take my word for it, and do your own due diligence. There is another "150th anniversary" version with an introduction by Ray Comfort, who is a Christian prothselitizer. So be careful.

Hopefully this will prevent you from having to start reading the work again from the beginning, as I've had to do. But I'm glad to have figured it out and separated fact from fiction.

Okay--everyone has heard of Darwin's classic on the origin of the species. But how many of us have actually read it? I've read a lot of other books on evolution, and amongst them, I would recommend "Why evolution is true". But I had never actually read the book that brought it all about. Then there it was, available on Kindle, for free. What did I have to lose?

Well, I was pleasantly surprised. I was thinking--this guy lived so long ago. Would I be able to follow his now-dated English? Not being a biologist, I thought that this book would certainly be over my head. But to my surprise, it was not. It's quite readable, by me and just about any common Joe or Mary.

This is no small feat. Consider that at the time, most people believed in special creation--that every species had been specially created by a supreme being to fill a specific niche. Looking around at how well creatures fit their niches, this seemed so obvious. Of course, we now know that there are no permanent "special niches". The geologic record testifies to tremendous changes in the earth's climate, from times when there was almost no oxygen in the earth's atmosphere, to ice ages that covered almost the entire surface of the earth, to mass extinctions due to giant meteor strikes or super-volcanoes. Evolutionary life has been "set back", so to speak, many many times, and it is only because life is able to evolve through natural selection that new organisms evolve from their ancestors to fill ever-changing niches.

Darwin wrote in a clear and simple style--and as one who tries to keep abreast of scientific literature, I can say with a certainty that this is a rarity. Yes, YOU can understand this book, and I have learned a lot about clear writing from it. Darwin kept it simple. As should we all!

Darwin was also an honest writer. With his vast knowledge of both human and plant anatomy, he realized and acknowledged the gaps in his theory, and did not shy away from them. Most have been since resolved due to a more extensive fossil record, the development of the science of genetics, advances in geology (including continental drift and more extensive understanding of the earth's geological history) and advanced dating techniques. Consider that without the evidence that all of these scientific advances has revealed, Darwin was able to piece together an explanation of how the different species came to be--an explanation now well-supported by these various disciplines. His ideas quickly took hold, spreading throughout the world in less than 150 years, and revolutionized the way we look at ourselves and our world. I am hard-pressed to think of a single idea that has spread so fast in the course of human history, and with such explanatory force.

No, it's not a Tom Clancy thriller. But you can take a lot away from it, and as a freebie, you can't go wrong.

Charles Darwin is one of the select few that has introduced a concept that has shaped the thinking of mankind. Leaving aside the science -v- faith issues, this is one of the pieces of literary work and research that you have to read

When I first started this, I had to keep reminding myself that this wasnt a continual rehashing - this is the source of what gets rehashed.

Most of the material is at least briefly touched on in Evolution - The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory by Edward J Lawson, which I read earlier. Further, anyone not from a bible thumping region has probly heard most of this from way back in their schools.

I had to keep reminding myself that the fella who wrote this did so over 150 years ago. Clearly he was a genius, and in some areas very thorough in his experiments and testing.

Though a few of his ideas have since been disproved, by and large, I dont think there has been to date a more revolutionary scientific tome. This should probly be required reading for everyone. It gets a bit dry and drawn out at times, but overall this is a great work, fair and balanced, and not in that fake Fox News kind of way.

A very good reproduction of Charles Darwin's masterpiece which elucidates the process of evolution by natural selection. A must read for any biology student, or any student of life.