The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

Richard Dawkins

W. W. Norton & Company, 1996 - Evolution - 358 pages

The watchmaker belongs to the eighteenth-century theologian William Paley, who made one of the most famous creationist arguments: Just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. It was Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery that put the lie to these arguments. But only Richard Dawkins could have written this eloquent riposte to the creationists. Natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind, yet essentially nonrandom process that Darwin discovered - has no purpose in mind. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker. Acclaimed as perhaps the most influential work on evolution written in this century, The Blind Watchmaker offers an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.

What people are saying

THE BLIND WATCHMAKER: Why The Evidence Of Evolution Reveals A Universe Without Design

User Review  - Kirkus

A zoologist/author (The Selfish Gene) defends Darwin with passion and elegance, but fails to wholly persuade. Troubled by the persistent resistance to orthodox Darwinism from creationists, revisionist ...

User Review -

Dawkins you are person with blind brain.

Contents

• I: xiii
• II: 1
• III: 21
• IV: 43
• V: 77
• VI: 111
• VII: 139
• VIII: 169
• IX: 195
• X: 223
• XI: 255
• XII: 287

About the author

Richard Dawkins was educated at Oxford University and taught zoology at the University of California and Oxford University, holding the position of the Charles Simonyi Professor of the Public Understanding of Science. He writes about such topics as DNA and genetic engineering, virtual reality, astronomy, and evolution. His books include The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Climbing Mount Improbable, The God Delusion, and An Appetite for Wonder: The Making of a Scientist.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design; National bestseller. Science; Penguin science
• Author: Richard Dawkins
• Edition: reprint, reissue
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1996
• ISBN: 0393315703, 9780393315707
• Length: 358 pages