 | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | Published amid a firestorm of controversy in 1859, this is a book that changed the world. Reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, it offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the struggle for existence, survival of the fittest, and other concepts that form the foundation of evolutionary theory.
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Average Customer Rating:   Important reading for Christian and unbeliever alike This is a strange book to review for me. I rate it based on its importance in affecting the world, and its strength of writing and cause. I also believe -- as I am a Bible-believing Christian who takes God at his word and believes in Creation -- that any serious Christian should read Darwin. I find far too many are willing to accuse him, deride him, and laugh at him, all the time largely ignorant of what he has actually written.
Understanding Darwin well requires you understand two key principles from which he works:
1. God is not the Creator of man, woman, and all life, as detailed literally in Genesis 1 and 2 (regardless of whether the days mentioned are 24-hour days or ages/epochs).
2. There must be a singular explanation -- complex, but singular -- for all life as currently seen.
(It should be noted here that the Biblical view demands that (1) be true and (2) not be. Other than God's glory, the Biblical view does /not/ provide explanation for why a bat's wing and a man's hand have the same structure, nor does it attempt to.)
Given (1) and (2), though, Darwin has to be considered simply brilliant. He has taken the impossibly variation of life and constructed a theory that -- albeit with some serious holes that he himself acknowledges -- provides a reasonable explanation for what the world exhibits. Of course, Darwin himself spends much of his time saying he "supposes," "suspects," and "imagines." In other words, he is hypothesizing. A lynch pin of his theory about the geological record, for example, compels him to say, "...nor do we know how ignorant we are." He is, then, supposing that he has overcome this ignorance himself. This is a logical problem, to say the least.
Ultimately, there are hundreds of important things to be stated about Darwin, but they can be summed up in this: the spirit of God active in the Christian will compel him to ultimately regard Darwin as incorrect, for his premise is one absent of God; and the natural man apart from God will be appealed to as he must justify his unbelief, the world around him, and seek an excuse to disbelieve God. This is Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 2.
The conclusion of the matter? Whether you believe in Jesus Christ or disbelieve, you should read Darwin. He is better speaking for himself then your friends who have also not read him. I say this to the atheist and agnostic as well; so many suppose that Darwin said what he did not, and reveal their ignorance as much as the Christian who ignorantly decries Darwin on the same grounds: ignorance. The forming of a great idea I mostly read this book because this year was Darwin's 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of this great book and idea. I also wanted to read it as a curious historical document because most people with an interest in science know much more about this idea than Darwin ever did. But to understand how Darwin came up with this amazing theory, would be fascinating enough to justify the read. Having said that, one of the fascinating things is how many of the difficult details Darwin got right. It is fascinating to read the work of a true scientist and great naturalist. A man who presented a controversial idea backed by evidence and then who proceeds to refute the arguments of inevitable but imaginary objectors. This is the work of a sharp mind. Excellent Book was as described. It was packaged well and delivered to me promptly. Good experience! Unexpectedly Enjoyable Read This text, the subject of so much political and social controversy in the U.S., is actually just a nice read. First, and in surprising contradiction to all the God versus science panic, he presumes an "act of creation," which to me, implies that his theory is based on the idea of a Creator.
Here are a few quotes from Chapter Two in which he discusses acts of creation:
http://www.readprint.com/chapter-2209/Charles-Darwin
No one definition has satisfied all naturalists; yet every naturalist knows vaguely what he means when he speaks of a species. Generally the term includes the unknown element of a distinct act of creation.
The term species thus comes to be a mere useless abstraction, implying and assuming a separate act of creation.
On the other hand, if we look at each species as a special act of creation, there is no apparent reason why more varieties should occur in a group having many species, than in one having few.
He then spends considerable time discussing and thinking about the anomalies in domesticated animals. The domesticated duck, for example, has larger leg bones and smaller wing bones, which he attributes to more time spent walking and less spent flying. He notes that many domesticated animals develop, over numerous generations floppy ears, which he speculates is to due to loss of musculature from attention to potential dangers -- a skill domesticated, human-protected animals no longer require.
There are anomalies among domesticated animals because in his day, there was a theory that left without interference from breeders, animals would "revert" to their "pure" ... presumably original created forms. Of course, Darwin observes that this isn't true and that one can observe that a continuation of development of various different attributes is normal.
This book is a delightful read because as Darwin wonders why the animals and plants grow, procreate and develop as they do, it is easy to follow the natural curiosity of his mind.
He obviously spent considerable time with people who specialized in breeding animals and those who modified plant types to improve their strength, color, taste, size, etc.
Following all this discussion on domestication, he then ventures into a discussion about the need for an external source for reproduction and concludes that while some species of plants and worms can breed themselves, they can not do so indefinitely and will require another specimen to breed with to ensure the strength of the offspring. Of course, today, we understand clearly the genetic drawbacks of inbreeding, but Darwin was exploring the concepts and coming to, obviously, very solid conclusions.
He talks about the success of animals and plants that are non-Native to a given area and the potential to disrupt the lives of native plants and animals in the area immigrated to.
I don't think this is necessarily a book just for scientists and academicians, this is a great read if you just want to pass a rainy weekend in contemplation of the world we live in.
For every science student If you are looking for an excellent example of science writing, this book is one of the best.
Darwin's reasoning and evidence are put forward in a careful and structured way, always in plain yet descriptive English, and with a respectful humility that has never been shown by his detractors.
Darwin knew that his ideas would cause dissent, and took great pains to anticipate every objection. Almost reluctantly, he comes to the only conclusion he can, and puts truth above the tired superstitions derived from too literal an interpretation of Holy Writ.
Even the Catholic Church has come to find peace with him, after a mere 150 years (half the time it took for them to forgive Galileo). Among modern nations, only America seems to have a significant number of people who still think Darwin's ideas are "controversial". Hopefully the new president will be able to improve education and science literacy.
And that is another good reason to own the book. Many of the anti-Darwin arguments are against claims that he never actually made. |  |
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