Amazing

Finally made it through this classic after many years of good intentions on my part. Darwin was very careful and methodical, and astonishingly well-versed in the development and anatomy of many different forms of animal and vegetable life. He lays out his argument very carefully, and devotes a surprising amount of space to address alternative and apparently conflicting points of view. This makes the majority of the book interesting as much as a view into that point in scientific history, as for the logic and cogency of the arguments themselves. One could read the first four chapters, plus the conclusion, and leave with a pretty full understanding of his theory. But the nuance and detail in the rest of the chapters is what really made this book interesting to me. Perhaps most surprising to me, he is very careful never to extend his argument far into the higher mammals, and only really (obliquely) alludes to the possibility that man is part of this selection process in a single sentence. So, haters gonna hate, I guess, but they should probably read the book and consider what the guy actually said. Very glad I finally put my head down and powered through this one.

Charles Darwin’s work has fanned out to round about every corner of the world, his work entrenched in every naturalist, scientist and biologist of our time, with his writings and findings written in almost every curriculum taught to undergraduate and postgraduate students studying life sciences. Which was my first encounter in Charles Darwin and all he and his work was about - Darwin’s finches, natural selection, evolution over time and his revolutionary voyage on the HMS Beagle was in just about every genetics module and evolution base modules I was taught.

I’ve been encountering snippets of his work all throughout my studies, a quote here, an excerpt there and thought it was about time I go straight to the source and read On the Origin of Species. It’s such an original, a legend in its own right in its revolutionary reports and observations. I find it quite frankly amazing how much this amazing man deduced and discovered considering it was during a time when many of the scientific discoveries we have come to know now as common knowledge (like DNA) were unheard of back then.

I’m glad I finally got round the reading the writings of the man who shaped our world in so many ways with the science he produced in this book. I feel like I can call myself a scientist and a science lover now that I’ve read these writings that’s at the heart of our genetics and evolutionary knowledge, providing the foundations to springboard into our current age of scientific enlightenment and discovery!

First the only reason there is a star off is because of the Victorian prose. I just can barely stand it. However the arguments presented are well done and given plenty of evidence. Many a creationist seems to believe that Darwin pulled his theory out of thin air. He on the other hand did an amazing amount of research and while on a few things he was ignorant about (genetics, and molecular biology) for the most part he was dead on. Its not the easiest book to read and I will reread it again in the future for further study. To see how things have advanced I'd suggest a follow up read of [b:The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution|6117055|The Greatest Show on Earth The Evidence for Evolution|Richard Dawkins|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1302127919s/6117055.jpg|6295163] or [b:Why Evolution Is True|4005310|Why Evolution Is True|Jerry A. Coyne|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1347362408s/4005310.jpg|4051626]. Both books give a great update and give more evidence to why evolution is a fact and act of nature.

this was his hyperfixation

I read this several times the last reading being some time in 2020. I am going just drop Abigail Thorn's take here and will write a review when I pick it up again which no doubt I will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfYvLlbXj_8

required viewing before reaching for Evolutionary psychology arguments.

Update 6/16/2021 Okay the argument of the population with variations and reproduction being an exponential process of growth with a culling due to limited resources generates forms that survive well ending up doing better than varieties at a disadvantaged. It is a brutal and ugly process with some beautiful products like the nineteenth-century Britain of the industrial revolution. It is interesting that Darwin and Wallace are both products of a brutal society producing fine things on an industrial scale making huge amounts of goods and impoverishing the weak. Darwin looms large then and reflects some beautiful theories written in bloody conflict. Darwin was a naturalist but for good and bad his idea had legs.