false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1223649815m/2068.jpg 2068 6 One of the best descriptions of the nature and implications of Darwinian evolution ever written, it is firmly based in biological information and appropriately extrapolated to possible applications to engineering and cultural evolution. Dennett's analyses of the objections to evolutionary theory are unsurpassed. Extremely lucid, wonderfully written, and scientifically and philosophically impeccable. Highest Recommendation! 1835 1995 Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life total:508|5:202|4:206|3:86|2:10|1:4| 508 2116 998 67 1 1 false false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Mon Oct 01 12:51:45 -0700 2007 Mon Oct 01 13:04:14 -0700 2007 tangents and almost incomprehensibly dense passages. I watched an entire college science class misunderstand this for two excruciating weeks of debate and left thoroughly disappointed in De...more...]]> 4 2 false false Sat May 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Apr 30 11:52:23 -0700 2008 Mon May 12 08:29:45 -0700 2008 deus ex machina of science, invented to make the case for human exceptionalism. Dennett's able to show that evolutionary theory can diss...more...]]> 5 1 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu Jul 12 18:51:32 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 25 00:02:32 -0700 2007
The me...more...]]> 5 2 false false Tue Mar 06 17:21:36 -0800 2007 Thu Mar 08 16:16:47 -0800 2007 IT'S NOT A BIOLOGY TEXT. It's not really about biology at all, but the larger, widely-applicable algorithmic process that happened to push forth original life. It covers a massive span of topics, most rather philosophical, including rea...more...]]> 4 1 false false Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 06:54:15 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 10 07:04:21 -0700 2009
The answer is that this book is so dense and well written that it deserve...more...]]> 3 0 false true Mon Apr 13 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 21:09:55 -0700 2009 Sun Jul 12 22:42:50 -0700 2009
I like its argumentativeness. It doesn't pander to the people it's at war with. It plants its feet and throws some so...more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 14 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 02:59:40 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 14 02:59:53 -0700 2009
Daniel C. Dennett’s book is worthy of its subject matter. That is to say, beautiful in its essence, but complex in its details. Dennett is not trying just to explain Darwin’s core ideas about evolution or natural selection. Rather, ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Wed Feb 18 20:55:25 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 12 09:39:50 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Wed Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Sat Dec 20 16:15:34 -0800 2008 Sat Dec 20 16:16:57 -0800 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Sun Aug 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 05:56:25 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 02 05:56:25 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 true false Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Nov 05 09:04:47 -0800 2008 Wed Nov 05 09:28:04 -0800 2008 1 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jan 09 12:20:23 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 28 23:55:15 -0800 2008 1 This book is not "yet another pop-sci book on evolution." It does not set out to convince the reader with a series of well-known arguments that evolution is true. Instead, it assumes you've accepted the idea and explores it as an abstract framework f...more...]]> 3 0 false false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2005 Thu Jul 05 17:45:31 -0700 2007 Thu Jul 05 17:46:16 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Nov 01 00:00:00 -0800 2006 Sat Mar 17 01:01:06 -0700 2007 Sat Mar 17 01:07:36 -0700 2007
The concept of crane versus skyhook. Some people, when they see something astounding, ascribe it to mystery, God, miracles: this is the skyhook type of explanation. Others try to find mechanisms, to link the phenomenon to natural processes...more...]]> 4 0 false false Sun May 17 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed May 13 14:22:50 -0700 2009 Sun May 17 11:21:23 -0700 2009 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Jan 15 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Feb 17 21:22:20 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 21:29:30 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Oct 02 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 21 03:12:04 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 02 01:07:07 -0700 2009 Dennett gave me a lot to think about, from how Darwinian processes appear to behave "with intelligence", a close-up of various competing conceptions of evolutionary theory, and how evolution can help us understand how culture and morality evolve. It is a long and wordy book, and I th...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 03:41:34 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 21 03:46:39 -0800 2008
This book first describes in detail exactly what evolution IS (I thought I understood it well, then realized when I began to read that I didn'...more...]]> 4 0 false false Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2005 Mon Dec 29 06:23:13 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 06:25:35 -0800 2008 4 0 false false Mon Oct 20 20:37:20 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 20 20:37:20 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2068