Richard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which
sold more than 2 million copies in English alone. He revolutionized the
way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene. Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent Design" in his New York Times bestseller, The Greatest Show on Earth.
"Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "teach the controversy" behind evolutionary theory. There is no controversy. Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence—from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics—to make the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection." His unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument, exposing the absurdities of the creationist position, into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor.
"Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "teach the controversy" behind evolutionary theory. There is no controversy. Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence—from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics—to make the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection." His unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument, exposing the absurdities of the creationist position, into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor.
"Like a detective reconstructing a crime" (San Francisco Chronicle),
Dawkins amasses a mountain of evidence in this richly illustrated,
enormously readable explanation of the theory of evolution. Though
Dawkins may have softened his attitude toward those who can reconcile
their religious beliefs with evolution, he still harbors great hostility
toward its detractors, equating them to Holocaust deniers—a label that
riled the New York Times Book Review. Objecting to Dawkins's
abrasive dogmatism, many critics felt that the biologist is at his best
when he forgets his opponents and focuses on the science. He is indeed a
master of explaining complex scientific ideas to nonscientific readers,
and though The Greatest Show on Earth may not be his best book, it is a well-written, captivating review of the science behind the theory.
Download [EPUB + MOBI]: http://goo.gl/d2kKxT
Download [EPUB + MOBI]: http://goo.gl/d2kKxT
No comments:
Post a Comment