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Prior books on
EVOLUTION |
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The God Delusion
By Richard Dawkins
Discover magazine recently
called Richard Dawkins "Darwin"s Rottweiler" for
his fierce and effective defense of evolution. Prospect magazine
voted him among the top three public intellectuals in the
world (along with Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky). Now Dawkins
turns his considerable intellect on religion, denouncing
its faulty logic and the suffering it causes. He critiques
God in all his forms, from the sex-obsessed tyrant of the
Old Testament to the more benign (but still illogical) Celestial
Watchmaker favored by some Enlightenment thinkers. He eviscerates
the major arguments for religion and demonstrates the supreme
improbability of a supreme being. He shows how religion fuels
war, foments bigotry, and abuses children, buttressing his
points with historical and contemporary evidence. In so doing,
he makes a compelling case that belief in God is not just
irrational, but potentially deadly. Dawkins has fashioned
an impassioned, rigorous rebuttal to religion, to be embraced
by anyone who sputters at the inconsistencies and cruelties
that riddle the Bible, bristles at the inanity of "intelligent
design," or agonizes over fundamentalism in the Middle
East—or Middle America. |
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The Selfish Gene
By Richard Dawkins
Inheriting the mantle of revolutionary
biologist from Darwin,
Watson, and Crick, Richard
Dawkins forced an enormous change in the way we see ourselves
and the world with the publication of The
Selfish Gene. Suppose, instead of thinking about
organisms using genes to reproduce themselves, as we had
since Mendel's work was rediscovered, we turn it around and
imagine that "our" genes build and maintain us
in order to make more genes. That simple reversal seems to
answer many puzzlers which had stumped scientists for years,
and we haven't thought of evolution in the same way since.
Why are there miles and miles of "unused" DNA within
each of our bodies? Why should a bee give up its own chance
to reproduce to help raise her sisters and brothers? With
a prophet's clarity, Dawkins told us the answers from the
perspective of molecules competing for limited space and
resources to produce more of their own kind. Drawing fascinating
examples from every field of biology, he paved the way for
a serious re-evaluation of evolution. He also introduced
the concept of self-reproducing ideas, or memes, which (seemingly)
use humans exclusively for their propagation. If we are puppets,
he says, at least we can try to understand our strings. |
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Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder
By Richard Dawkins
Keats complained that Newton's
experiments with prisms had destroyed all the poetry of the
rainbow. Not so, says Oxford biologist Dawkins (The Selfish
Gene) who, in an eloquent if prickly defense of the scientific
enterprise, calls on the "two cultures" of science
and poetry to learn from each other. Yet Dawkins cautions
against "bad poetic science," i.e., seductive but
misleading metaphors, and cites as an example" 'Gaia':
the overrated romantic fancy of the whole world as an organism," a
hypothesis proposed by atmospheric scientist James
Lovelock and bacteriologist Lynn Margulis. Dawkins (continuing
a celebrated battle that has been raging in the New York
Review of Books) also lambastes paleontologist Stephen
Jay Gould for "bad poetry," rejecting Gould's
theory of punctuated equilibrium, which holds that new species
emerge during relatively short bursts of evolutionary advance.
In these conversational, discursive essays, Dawkins is, as
always, an elegant, witty popularizer, whether he is offering
a crash course in DNA fingerprinting, explaining the origins
of "mad cow disease" in weird proteins that spread
like self-replicating viruses or discussing male birdsong
as an auditory aphrodisiac for female birds. However, in
venturing into realms beyond the immediate purview of science,
he reveals his own biases, launching into a predictable,
rather superficial assault on paranormal research, UFO reports,
astrology and psychic phenomena, all of which he dismisses
as products of fraud, illusion, sloppy observation or an
exploitation of our natural appetite for wonder. Dawkins
is most interesting when he theorizes that our brains have
partly taken over from DNA the role of recording the environment,
resulting in "virtual worlds" that alter the terrain
in which our genes undergo natural selection. |
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Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
By Daniel Dennett
If nowhere else, the dead live
on in our brain cells, not just as memories but as programs – computerlike
models compiled over the years capturing how the dearly departed
behaved when they were alive. These simulations can be remarkably
faithful. In even the craziest dreams the people we know
may remain eerily in character, acting as we would expect
them to in the real world. Even after the simulation outlasts
the simulated, we continue to sense the strong presence of
a living being. Sitting beside a gravestone, we might speak
and think for a moment that we hear a reply. In the 21st
century, cybernetic metaphors provide a rational grip on
what prehistoric people had every reason to think of as ghosts,
voices of the dead. And that may have been the beginning
of religion. If the deceased was a father or a village elder,
it would have been natural to ask for advice – which
way to go to find water or the best trails for a hunt. If
the answers were not forthcoming, the guiding spirits could
be summoned by a shaman. Drop a bundle of sticks onto the
ground or heat a clay pot until it cracks: the patterns form
a map, a communication from the other side. These random
walks the gods prescribed may indeed have formed a sensible
strategy. The shamans would gain in stature, the rituals
would become liturgies, and centuries later people would
fill mosques, cathedrals and synagogues, not really knowing
how they got there. With speculations like these, scientists
try to understand what for most of the world’s population
needs no explanation: why there is this powerful force called
religion. It is possible, of course, that the world’s
faiths are triangulating in on the one true God. But if you
forgo that leap, other possibilities arise: Does banding
together in groups and acting out certain behaviors confer
a reproductive advantage, spreading genes favorable to belief?
Or are the seeds of religion more likely to be found among
the memes – ideas so powerful that they leap from mind
to mind? In Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon,
Daniel Dennett has embarked on another of his seemingly impossible
quests. His provocatively titled book Consciousness Explained
made a persuasive effort to do just that. More recently,
in Freedom Evolves, he took on free will from a Darwinian
perspective. This time he may have assumed the hardest task
of all – and not just because of the subject matter. |
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Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
By Daniel Dennett
Recently, a poll on the most
notable figure of the previous millennium placed Charles
Darwin in fourth place. That's three short of the mark. No
concept has been as wide-reaching and influential as the
idea of evolution through natural selection. And this book
should follow right behind. Dennett's approach deals with
Darwin's idea in a philosophical and logical framework instead
of a biological one. He declares it the 'universal acid'.
Indeed, how does one contain the such a revolutionary notion
of change over time? It has affected every aspect of the
cosmos from astrophysics to quantum theory. Dennett points
up better than anyone that if we truly wish to know what
we are in the scheme of things, Darwin's idea is the place
to start. The point of this book is, of course, that Darwin's
concept hasn't been universally accepted. Even those who
acknowledge evolution may still contest Darwin's mechanism
of natural selection through adaptation. Dennett's analysis
of iconoclast Stephen Gould's 'punctuated equilibrium' is
delightfully scathing, but precisely on the mark. The role
of the heretic is to threaten orthodoxy, whether or not the
orthodoxy is false. Gould, after trying for a generation
to scupper orthodox Darwinism, is here demonstrated to have
failed miserably. His attacks, however, have frightened the
orthodox without weakening the structure of natural selection.
Dennett's superb critique of "punctuated equilibrium" isn't
a call for blind adherence to orthodoxy, but instead demonstrates
the strengths of Darwin's analysis and why Gould's iconoclasm
is misleading. Gould's response to Dennett's clear review
of the reality of Darwinism has been petulant stubbornness
rather than sound scholarship. That's a pity. Dennett's prose
is delightful. His analysis is direct and pointed in arriving
at his conclusions. Taking you step by step through his presentations,
it becomes unequivocally clear that his conclusions are iron-clad.
Nothing is left hanging – you are brought to each point
with a clarity any writer would envy. |
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Freedom Evolves
By Daniel Dennett
Dennett, seeking to fend off "caricatures
of Darwinian thinking" that plague his philosophical
camp, argues in this incendiary, brilliant, even dangerous
book that it is. Picking up where he left off in Darwin's
Dangerous Idea (a Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist),
he zeroes in on free will, a sticking point to the opposing
camp. Dennett calls his perspective "naturalism," a
synthesis of philosophy and the natural sciences; his critics
have called it determinism, reductionism, bioprophecy, Lamarckianism.
Drawing on evolutionary biology, neuroscience, economic game
theory, philosophy and Richard Dawkins's meme, the author
argues that there is indeed such a thing as free will, but
it "is not a preexisting feature of our existence, like
the law of gravity." Dennett seeks to counter scientific
caricature with precision, empiricism and philosophical outcomes
derived from rigorous logic. This book comprises a kind of
toolbox of intellectual exercises favoring cultural evolution,
the idea that culture, morality and freedom are as much a
result of evolution by natural selection as our physical
and genetic attributes. Yet genetic determinism, he argues,
does not imply inevitability, as his critics may claim, nor
does it cancel out the soul. Rather, he says, it bolsters
the ideals of morality and choice, and illustrates why those
ideals must be nurtured and guarded. Dennett clearly relishes
pushing other scientists' buttons. Though natural selection
itself is still a subject of controversy, the author, director
of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts, most certainly
is in the vanguard of the philosophy of science. |
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The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
By Stephen Jay Gould
Over the past few years, a
series of big books on evolution have been published: Human
Natures by Paul Ehrlich, Consilience by E.O. Wilson and What
Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr, to name just three. Now comes
the biggest of them all (physically, at least) a 1,400-plus-page
cinderblock of a book from Harvard zoology professor Stephen
Jay Gould (The Lying Stones of Marrakech; Ontogeny and Philogeny).
The culmination of about 25 years of research and study,
this book traces the history of evolutionary thought and
charts a path for its future. After Darwin wrote The
Origin of Species in 1859, scientists created a synthesis of genetics,
ecology and paleontology to explain how natural selection
could produce change and form new species. Gould thinks that
this "modern synthesis" has hardened into a dogma
stifling the science. Gould claims that an obsession with "selfish
genes" and simplistic versions of natural selection
blinds researchers to the significance of new discoveries
about how evolution really works. The rules by which embryos
develop, for example, create constraints that channel the
flow of evolution. Asteroid impacts and other catastrophes
can send evolution off on unpredictable trajectories. And
selection, Gould contends, may act not just on individuals
or their genes, but on entire species or groups of species,
and in ways we've only begun to understand. This book presents
Gould in all his incarnations: as a digressive historian,
original thinker and cunning polemicist. It is certainly
not a perfect work. Gould gives short shrift to the tremendous
discoveries spurred by "Darwinian fundamentalism," while
he sometimes overplays the importance of hazy theoretical
arguments that support his own claims. But even Gould's opponents
will recognize this as the magnum opus of one of the world's
leading evolutionary thinkers. |
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The End of Faith
By Sam Harris
Sam Harris cranks out blunt,
hard-hitting chapters to make his case for why faith itself
is the most dangerous element of modern life. And if the
devil's in the details, then you'll find Satan waiting at
the back of the book in the very substantial notes section
where Harris saves his more esoteric discussions to avoid
sidetracking the urgency of his message. Interestingly, Harris
is not just focused on debunking religious faith, though
he makes his compelling arguments with verve and intellectual
clarity. The End of Faith is also a bit of a philosophical
Swiss Army knife. Once he has presented his arguments on
why, in an age of Weapons of Mass Destruction, belief is
now a hazard of great proportions, he focuses on proposing
alternate approaches to the mysteries of life. Harris recognizes
the truth of the human condition, that we fear death, and
we often crave "something more" we cannot easily
define, and which is not met by accumulating more material
possessions. But by attempting to provide the cure for the
ills it defines, the book bites off a bit more than it can
comfortably chew in its modest page count (however the rich
Bibliography provides more than enough background for an
intrigued reader to follow up for months on any particular
strand of the author' musings.) Harris' heart is not as much
in the latter chapters, though, but in presenting his main
premise. Simply stated, any belief system that speaks with
assurance about the hereafter has the potential to place
far less value on the here and now. And thus the corollary – when
death is simply a door translating us from one existence
to another, it loses its sting and finality. Harris pointedly
asks us to consider that those who do not fear death for
themselves, and who also revere ancient scriptures instructing
them to mete it out generously to others, may soon have these
weapons in their own hands. If thoughts along the same line
haunt you, this is your book. |
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Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth
By James Lovelock
In this classic work that continues
to inspire its many readers, James Lovelock deftly explains
his idea that life on earth functions as a single organism.
Written for the non-scientist, Gaia is a journey through
time and space in search of evidence with which to support
a new and radically different model of our planet. In contrast
to conventional belief that living matter is passive in the
face of threats to its existence, the book explores the hypothesis
that the earth's living matter-air, ocean, and land surfaces-forms
a complex system that has the capacity to keep the Earth
a fit place for life. Since Gaia was first published, many
of Jim Lovelock's predictions have come true, and his theory
has become a hotly argued topic in scientific circles. Here,
in a new Preface, Lovelock outlines his present state of
the debate. |
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Gaia: The Practical Science of Planetary Medicine
By James Lovelock
We are all well aware of the
world-wide problems concerning humans harming the environment,
such as ozone depletants
and cars causing global warming. We are a great deal less
aware, however, of the real damage done to the earth and
whether or not the planet can recover. In this revolutionary
book Lovelock describes his profound new theory of planetary
ecology. The Gaia theory views the earth as a living, self-regulatory
organism in which the evolution of life is closely coupled
with the evolution of the climate. The theory accounts for
the remarkable ability of the biosphere to recover from planetary
disasters such as the impact that killed the dinosaurs, and
many other previously unexplained features of life on earth.
The book should be on the shelf of anyone interested in the
planetary maladies mankind has inflicted upon the earth.
In easy to understand language with the minimum of jargon.
Lovelock eloquently explains his theory and suggests sensible
and empirical remedies for an ailing Gaia. |
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