On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection [Paperback]

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". 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.

This book is a classic. It is very readable for such an important scientific work. Many people think they know what this book says, but they settle for second hand information--usually incomplete and sometimes just wrong. This book should be read by anyone interested in science, education, religion and planet Earth.

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:

[...]

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.