The Origin of Species in Classics and the Western Canon

Apr 02, 2011 David S. T. rated it liked it · review of another edition

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I figured while I was on my evolution book kick, I might as well go back to the original (well sort of the original, Alfred Russel Wallace published a paper on natural selection which prompted Darwin to publish this “abstract”). Now that I'm finished I feel two different ways about the book, a loved yet bored type of feeling. First I'm amazed at just how much of Darwin's theories and ideas are accurate and accepted even today 150 years later (which is a pretty darn long time in science). One thi I figured while I was on my evolution book kick, I might as well go back to the original (well sort of the original, Alfred Russel Wallace published a paper on natural selection which prompted Darwin to publish this “abstract”). Now that I'm finished I feel two different ways about the book, a loved yet bored type of feeling. First I'm amazed at just how much of Darwin's theories and ideas are accurate and accepted even today 150 years later (which is a pretty darn long time in science). One thing you have to appreciate about this book is that its pretty evident that Darwin didn't just rush out and publish this theories but thought about every possible question everyone could have and he attempts to answer them all. Another question he spends a lot of time on is how flora could make it to islands, he goes through page after page of experiments trying to see how long seeds can stay in salt water and still germinate. Even better way back 150 years ago Darwin already anticipated the irreducible complexity argument of the eye and proposed his own ideas about how the eye could evolve and how each gradation is useful in itself. Some times the prose was pretty amazing, I think the famous line about “There is grandeur in this view of life.....” is one of my favorites in any book I've read.

So as amazing as some parts where why then did I rate it 3 stars? Well for every amazing part there are page after page of material which is (to me) just plain boring. The prose which is great in sections is pretty tedious in other parts. The fact that he thought of every question means that he goes over proof after proof. Remember the salt water and the seeds mentioned above, well its cool at first but 40 pages of his experiments makes me start to care less and less. There were also a few parts which he got wrong, he spends a whole section trying to figure out why certain animals can't cross breed, something which is quickly addressed now days with DNA. I think at another part he denies that there ever were any mass extinctions (something we know happened several times in the earth's history). Another thing which made the book a little harder for me is Darwin mentions lots of people and animals I've never heard of, of course a better reader would have spend time looking them up but I just read on, I guess I didn't care enough to do that much research for the book.

So overall for importance I'd rate this book a 5/5, but I have to factor in enjoyment and I so its gets the lower score. Truthfully this book is 150 years old and written in Victorian English, its very important, but there are better books on evolution out there, so if you're curious about the fascinating world of evolution, start elsewhere, only if you're curious about how the theory got started pick this one up. ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Matt rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Contrary to what I always assumed, Darwin does not propose “evolution” in The Origin of Species. He doesn’t even use the term. In a plain and low-key manner, he simply lays out the idea of natural selection and the process of species “modification” that happens over time. This wasn’t even a terribly new idea a the time of writing. Cleverly, he opens his first chapter on domestication. People can pretty much agree that dog breeders encourage different traits through sexual selection. There’s a re Contrary to what I always assumed, Darwin does not propose “evolution” in The Origin of Species. He doesn’t even use the term. In a plain and low-key manner, he simply lays out the idea of natural selection and the process of species “modification” that happens over time. This wasn’t even a terribly new idea a the time of writing. Cleverly, he opens his first chapter on domestication. People can pretty much agree that dog breeders encourage different traits through sexual selection. There’s a reason my golden retriever now lying at my feet has managed to survive. And it’s clearly not because of her survival instincts. There was a lengthy period of time she was afraid of her water bowl. She had to be coaxed to drink water.

Water.

But she’s cute and wouldn’t know how to attack me if she tried. So, yeah, breeding is simply unnatural selection and no one really can argue with that fact. Well done, Darwin.

Because it is obvious, the real challenge Darwin faced wasn’t the idea of modification of traits through natural or unnatural selection, but time. Vast, geologic time. Since most people in Darwin’s audience in the 19th century worked off biblical time, they assumed the Earth was only several thousand years old. God made it and, after a long work week, Adam is strolling around the Garden and we start History. But if you assume that the Earth is only several thousand years old, then there is no possible way that there is enough time for natural selection to significantly alter the structure of life. We may have variations of species, but the species themselves must be unique.

Not so if your sense of Earth time expands to hundreds of millions and billions of years. Then time is no longer the same obstacle to the idea of significant species alterations.

So Darwin, very gently, prods us to view time geologically instead of biblically. He does not structure Origin as an argument under the scientific method. There is no Baconian reduction of empirical observation to experimentation. He simply observes and records. With example after example, Darwin tries to impress the reader with the physiological structures that suggest modification through time. By sheer numbers, he makes his point.

It’s not the most well organized book, but I’m not sure Darwin was trying to make a masterpiece here. He is simply laying out the foundations for his understanding. For a man who is now known for his (at least at one time) controversial views, his writing is respectful, and almost timid, in what he is ultimately suggesting. ...more

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