Darwin's Ghost
The Origin of Species Updated
New York : Random House, [2000]
Format: Book
Edition: First edition.
Description: xxix, 377 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm
Charles Darwin's masterpiece,The Origin of Species, is probably the best-known, least-read book. Un-questionably one of the most important achievements of the millennium, its publication in 1859 caused a sensation, because it forced mankind to see itself as part of the animal world--a notion that hundreds of millions still deny. Darwin's theory of common descent did for biology what Galileo did for astronomy: made it into a single science rather than a collection of unrelated facts. Those facts, however, are now a century and a half old, as areThe Origin's illustrative examples and Victorian prose style. Writing as "Darwin's ghost," the well-known geneticist Steve Jones has drawn on our ever-expanding scientific knowledge and the brilliant logic set out inThe Originto restate evolution's case for the twenty-first century. Jones has been called "the British Carl Sagan" because of his prominence as a popularizer of science. Using contemporary examples--the AIDS virus, the rules of the American Kennel Club, the sheep who never forget a face and the garbage that floats in the Pacific--he shows the power and imme-diacy of Darwin's great argument. Filled with anec-dotes, humor and the very latest research,Darwin's Ghostis a popular, readable and comprehensive account of the science that makes life make sense.
Contents:
Variation under domestication -- Variation under nature -- Struggle for existence -- Natural selection -- Laws of variation -- Difficulties on theory -- Instinct -- Hybridism -- On the imperfection of the geological record -- On the geological succession of organic beings -- Geographical distribution -- Geographical distribution (continued) -- Mutual affinities of organic beings: morphology, embryology, rudimentary organs -- Interlude: almost like a whale? -- Recapitulation and conclusion.
ISBN:
0375501037 (alk. paper)
Availability | |||
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Call Number | Location | Shelf Location | Status |
SCIENCE Evolution Jon | Main (Downtown) | Third Level, Nonfiction | In |
Originally published under title: Almost like a whale : The origin of species updated. London : Doubleday, 1999.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-359) and index.
Includes bibliographical references (pages [351]-359) and index.