The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution Reprint Edition

This book really changed my life. I was always challenged by creationist family asking me "you're not one of those evolutionists, are you?!" And I didn't really know anything about evolution. Finally, I decided to see what it was all about and I began with this book. I found it hard to put down. If you have an interest in the subject, you'll surely find it fascinating. I've since become a big fan of Dawkins, but let me not get too ahead of myself here. The writing style is just perfect if you are a layperson. Dawkins really has a way of guiding you by the hand through the concepts and you almost feel as though you are an expert on the subject after reading it. He MAKES you understand it. Dawkins seems to spend a lot of time on each section, really trying to explain things for the person that doesn't know anything. This takes time, and so the chapters and sections within the chapters can get a bit long, but never dull. You almost get a whole new perspective and appreciation for nature while reading it. I found it to be a great introduction and over-view of evolution. And maybe that isn't giving it enough credit because it's NOT merely an overview as I said he goes into great detail in much of it. I read a review here on Amazon that Jerry Coyne's "Why Evolution Is True" makes for a great companion piece to this. I couldn't agree more. Coyne's book is a little more difficult of a read, but is also shorter and more succinct. To my family and any other creationist that asks, I now proudly exclaim, "yes, I am one of those evolutionists"! I felt like this was one of the most important books I've read and the information in here is just truly amazing. Maybe if you've understood evolution for years, you'd be bored by this. But if you are genuinely curious and really don't know anything and wonder "why are monkeys still here?", this book is definitely for you. I truly felt that it was invaluable and one of the best books I've read. Give it a shot, and if your appetite for more information on this subject grows, check out Dawkins other great books or Coyne's book I mentioned. I hope it changes your life and ways of thinking in as much of a profound way as it has affected me.

Knowing Richard Dawkin's resume', there's no question that he has a refined knowledge in the biological science spectrum. In The Greatest Show on Earth his broad scope of knowledge is on display. The author convincingly builds on his premise (i.e. why evolution is true) chapter by chapter. He explicates the main point of each chapter not by getting straight to it, but by priming the reader with a plethora of examples, schematic illustrations, and evidence before coming to a full fledged circle. This helped prepare [novice] readers grasp difficult (or hard to imagine) concepts and perhaps cope with the grand conclusion(s) that might be contrary to a popular belief (e.g. Noah's Ark). Despite the numerous and perhaps sometimes even gratuitous (didn't bother me, i'm a novice) examples, the author excels at much more than biology, ecology, and ethology. Dawkin's has a well-rounded knowledge in anthropology, chemistry, embryology, etc, and a talent for explaining as well. The author also considers evolution critics and their objections, even some that are ostensibly ridiculous. In interpolated Gallup results, a surprising 44 percent of Americans believe that "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so", which is basically the denial of evolution . As the author put it; it's the equivalent to believing that the length of North America is less than 10 yards. There's a particularly good (and expedient) chapter that reinforces the ridiculousness of such assumptions. That chapter is called "Silence and Slow Time" and it's chapter 4. In the chapter the author goes through some of the most common dating methods, such as the tree rings method, radioactive clocks methods, carbon-dating and the molecular clock which he goes in chapter 10.

Some of the counter-evolutionary arguments he addressed for example were, and im going to just put the name of the subsections; "show me your crocoduck", "ill believe in evolution when a monkey gives birth to a baby", and the pernicious legacy of the great chain of being - aka the "missing links" retort. He comes at the missing-link argument by giving example of many missing-links that were in fact discovered, like the fascinating discovery of the Tiktaalik, which was found to have lived in the so-called "missing-link" (i.e. the transitioning 20 million-year period at the end of the Devonian and the beginning of the Carboniferous) and may very well represent the shocking evolutionary transition from fish to amphibian. "Missing-links" are in other words, the absence of transitional fossils and creationists are enamored with it. The author explains that we should be grateful that there are any preserved fossils at all and that we don't in fact need fossils in order to demonstrate that evolution is a fact. A good metaphor is used in the beginning of chapter 6 of a detective walking into a crime scene and despite obtaining DNA evidence, the suspect having inferential familial motive, clues such as fingerprints and toe prints, and even a video recording of the suspect entering the room and leaving it right after the time of death, the defense lawyer still hold tightly against the prosecutors case saying that there's no video evidence of the murder itself, so therefore we can't prove that the suspect is guilty. In a court of law, the jury would find the defendant guilty. Juxtapose this to evolution and those that deny it. Toward the twilight of the book, Dawkins talks about the universal paradigm of DNA, that is, the internal similarity of all organisms. This purports to the salient ascension of all species today from a [more] common primordial ancestor. The author touches a bit on evolutionary theodicy and then in the final chapter deciphers the last paragraph of Charles Darwin's On the Origin Of Species which goes:

"Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved" - Charles Darwin

4.6/5

I am a Christian. Up until reading "The Greatest Show On Earth", the only material by Dawkins that I was familiar with was The God Delusion, and a number of his speeches dealing with religion. On those subjects, I was none too impressed by his rhetoric. I found his argumentation skills extremely flawed, and was left wondering what was so influential about this man. Then I read this book, and I understood. As a science educator and writer, he really blew me away. His ability to explain evolution in such simplistic yet convincing ways was wonderful, and I have recommended this book to many friends because of it. I really enjoyed his writing style especially because he really engages the reader, and it comes across as not only passionate, but very personal. That right there hooked me immediately. I also liked how he touched on the fact that this book is not about God or religion: its about scientific education and preventing further scientific illiteracy. In it, he presents a note to the Prime Minister that he and several other academics, as well as religious figures, wrote stressing the importance scientific education and literacy in schools, and separating science classes from religious classes. If you are looking for an in depth, yet easy explanation of evolution in all of its beauty and genius forms, this book is for you. I simply cannot praise it enough! I highly recommend it!