The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for EvolutionRichard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold millions of 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. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - ejakub - LibraryThingVery good albeit it high level review of the evidence for evolution. Dawkins never fails to disappoint and this book is no exception. A high level review of the evidence four the theory of evolution ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Daumari - LibraryThingDawkins presents the very compelling evidence for evolution and its existence in this book, from biogeography to the shared language of DNA among all living organisms. Fossils are a nice bonus. This ... Read full review
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Common terms and phrases
actually American ancestor animals bacteria become better birds body bone breeding called cells chapter chimpanzees clocks close colour common course Darwin dating designer direction evidence evolution evolutionary evolved exactly example expect experiment eyes fact female fish flowers fossils gene pool genes genetic give given glucose half-life hand happened Homo human idea important individual insects intermediate islands kind known land later least legs less living look major mammals matter means measure million missing mutation natural selection never once original particular perhaps plants population predators probably protein reason recent resemblance result rock seems selective breeding sense separate shape side similar single species theory things tree true turn whole wings
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution |
| Author | Richard Dawkins |
| Publisher | Simon and Schuster, 2009 |
| ISBN | 1416597786, 9781416597780 |
| Length | 480 pages |
| Subjects | › › Science / Life Sciences / Biological Diversity Science / Life Sciences / Biology Science / Life Sciences / Evolution |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |