Origin of Species (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

Darwin for Evolution and Extinction

This was a good book for being a required textbook. Darwin still is an incredible unique scientific literary genius. Even if not required anyone who loves science should read "The Origin" because it is an incredible well written scientific argument on a controversial topic and it has stood the time of history while staying correct.

6 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

A reviewer

This book clearly explains the theory of Natural Selection. If you really want to know what Natural Selection(Evolution) really is, you need to read this book.

6 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

Best Book ever written.

A wonderful book that really shows one where they are truly at in the animal kingdom. After reading the book so many things make sense that seemed unexplainable before. A wonderful display of Logic at it's best. Evolution has stood the test of time and has been proven repeatedly. The 'Theory' of evolution is not about whether evolution occured, but rather, how.

6 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

The Origin of Species

Most people are at least familiar with the theory of natural selection, but that is not to say that they are familiar with what Darwin actually said in Origin and how he said it. Thus I agree with the reviewers who say this is essential reading.

Although Darwin says it is "one long argument", it is in fact two: that the diversity of life shares a common ancestry, and second that this divergence came about primarily as a result of natural selection. One other reviewer said it was hard to keep focussed on the argument, if this is the case I recommend you start with Darwin's intro, chapters 3, 4, 6 and 14. This gives the basic argument. You might then go back and fill in.

There are a number of re-editions of Origin out there, especially given the recent 150th anniversary of its publication, so why choose this one?

Above all it is an ideal student edition (and I include here anyone who reads critically): it is cheap, has abundant margins for notes, and is as lightweight a paperback as you will find for a 400 page book. The type is large and accessible, and the introduction by George Levine is, at 20 pages, short enough to hold one's interest while with enough content to warrant its inclusion. Also, given all the recent re-editions available there are few that provide the 1859 text of the first edition. This one does.

This is important if you want to know how Darwin originally presented his ideas. Later editions (there were six in total, the last published in 1876) included clarifications and answers to specific later objections. As a result the first edition reads better and is a more straightforward argument. If you are a Darwin scholar you will probably want to engage with these later editions - the sixth is widely available, for the others you can find them in specialist libraries (the University of Oklahoma has the lot!), or now also in beautifully scanned editions through the Darwin online website.

This is not the place to go into the detail of what gets added to the later editions, but if this book gets you hooked you might want to take your Darwin studies further. Perhaps the most notable and certainly the most famous addition is the insertion from the second edition onwards of the words "by the Creator" into the poetic last paragraph of the book (There is grandeur in this view of life... ) This is interesting stuff: was Darwin seeking to clarify that he saw evolution as God's mechanism for creating the awesome diversity of life that we see around us? Or, was this a judicious attempt to allay theological concerns that distracted his readers from the science? The jury is still out on this. Darwin certainly wrote to his friend and confidante Joseph Hooker that he later regretted "truckling to public opinion", but he did not remove the insertion from later editions. In his autobiography, written towards the end of his life, he confided that while he had gradually lost his faith in a personal God, he recognized that others had found natural selection quite compatible with religious belief, most notably the Anglican theologian Charles Kingsley and the American botanist and Presbyterian, Asa Gray.

There is so much in this book that it will keep you coming back. You might also want to take this further: Although Darwin only hinted at human evolution in Origin, he addressed that hot potato explicitly in Descent of Man.

5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

Chas was correct

Don't listen to that lunkhead below (conveniently anonymous). Charles was on the right track and the anon lunkhead is in no position to question his scientific expertise. S/he's no doubt an Evangelist or some other offshoot of Christianity trying to debunk the theory of evolution because it doesn't fit his/her belief in the mystical.

Shoutout to Davo B!

5 out of 8 people found this review helpful.

You don't have to believe

It's not a matter of opinion. Evolution occurs. Denying it won't make it go away. Start here to understand the basics.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

It's a Classic

This is an awesome book for anyone interested in the origins of the current biological theories. It is well written and very convincing, and quite impressive, considering that it was written well before modern genetics provided such voluminous evidence for his conclusions.

Have a wonderful day!

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

This Book Is Great and Informational

Thhe Origin of Species is a great book. I am 12 years old and i thought it was a great book. It is a best buy for any person.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

important and valuable

*I'm rating this book on how important I think it is....not how much I enjoyed it

It has taken me all of the summer thus far to complete The Origin of Species. It is a very tedious and analytical read. I found my mind wandering while I was reading this and I don't think I retained half of what I read. I do understand Darwin's main ideas though. Charles Darwin was a very insightful man who has had such a great impact on science and society as a whole. Did I enjoy this book? Not really. Do I think this is an important and valuable book? Absolutely!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A must for anyone who wishes to be knowledgeable about the world we live in.

There is a lot of confusion still lingering, like some ineffable cloud of ignorance, around the topic of evolution and the real support and arguments made on its behalf. This book does very well to wave much of that cloud away. I had a feeling when beginning this book that it would somehow be so technical as to be overly difficult, or written in such a way as to be inaccessible. This is, I am happy to say, not the case. This book is straight forward, easy to read, well laid out, and dare I say, quite enjoyable.

A better authority on the subject you cannot find, and to hear the arguments straight from the finch's beak (as it were), is certainly recommended. It becomes clear how such ideas originated, and after hearing the arguments the theory becomes even easier to understand and defend. I would like to point out at this point that this book contains, nor does it claim to contain, any explanation with regard to the origin of life, it merely goes about proving quite definitively how we have come to have as many species as we do currently in the world.

I believe that this book is an essential edition to the reading pile, and library of every person who claims to have knowledge of the way things work in the world, or who wishes to. This book does not contain all the knowledge one needs to go on claiming to be intelligent, but it is a great start.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Read when drinking strong coffee

Very long. Difficult. Bunch of ________, in my opinion.

1 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

Charles, R. Darwin

One of the great minds among Newton, and Einstein, that history has misbelieved and forgotten.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Vituperatous Brood

For those of us Christians who would condem this theory, open your minds to the possibilities of the descriptive power of science. For those of us scientists who would otherwise berate or belittle creationism, remember that they are your brothers and believe that 'What now is has already been, what is to be already is; and God restores what would otherwise be displaced.' (Ecclesiastes 3:15) For both, put down your weapons you vituperatous brood and seek the truth without malice or ego.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

z

EVOLUTION DOES NOT HAPPEN!!!!! IF WE HAD "EVOLVED" THEN WHY ARE THERE STILL MONKEYS!!!!!!!!!!

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Science got love it

Great piece of work and will give you a better understanding of natural selection. I have heard darwins name mentioned for years in school but they never tell what he said in his own words and how he said them.

Truth

Charles darwin has even disproved his own theory. I dont understand how you beleive in this. But it is a well written book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Origin of Species

You'd have to be into these kinda things I guess

0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Not just a classic, but a masterpiece

One of the most important works in the scientific literature, The Origin renains indispensible reading for those wishing to understand the evolution of species as well as the evolution of Reason. A perfect work? No. But cannonical texts are the sphere of religion, not of science. Still, there is much here to amaze and delight --- and to astound the reader as to the range and depth of Darwin's thinking on this subject.

A brilliant mind and an outstanding writer

Darwin leads you to inescapable conclusions by powers of deduction. He was led to his understanding of nature through careful observation and logic, in contrast to our own age dominated by anti-intellectuals. He understood patterns of inheritance without knowing the physical mechanism. I had the urge to reach across the ages to explain DNA. I was not prepared for the high quality of the writing. If you want to understand a subject, go right to the original thinkers, Darwin for biology, Einstein for physics.

The book that changed biology, and the world.

On the origin of the species is perhaps one of the most important books ever written, as well as being an excellent read. It is beautifully written, and easy to understand. Darwin presents his findings with eloquence, thoughtfulness and clairty. The discoveries that Darwin made pushed forward science and understanding of the natural world.