From the Bookshelf of Science and Inquiry…

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution

Richard Dawkins

Start date: March 24, 2010

Finish date: April 30, 2010

Discussion: Book Club 2010 & Prior

Why we're reading this: This was the runner up book for March 2010 and a hot-pick for the April/May advance poll, so we're going …more
[close] This was the runner up book for March 2010 and a hot-pick for the April/May advance poll, so we're going with it now!

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Book Club 2010 & Prior

March Book Club "A Short History of nearly Everything"
By William · 14 posts · 147 views

last updated Aug 06, 2014 12:20PM

November 2010 - Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End / The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God
By S. · 62 posts · 80 views

last updated Apr 19, 2012 04:58PM

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What Members Thought

Dec 06, 2009 David Rubenstein rated it it was amazing

Shelves: biology, nonfiction, science

What a wonderful book! I've enjoyed several other books by Richard Dawkins, and this is his best. The chapter named "History Written All Over Us" could have been called, "Unintelligent Design". It is just one of many arguments, why evolution is a proven theory.

Dawkins makes a point that a good scientific theory must be falsibiable. That means, that if certain evidence were ever collected, or observations made, then one must conclude that the theory is false. He describes how if fossils were eve ...more

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Aug 01, 2019 Jim rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1audio, 2non-fiction, science

This was written to inform those who believe in evolution how to counter the arguments of those who don't. It hasn't been worth the effort in my experience. Young Earth Creationists (YEC) who believe that the world is only as old as their version of their bible tells them it is (The term apparently applies to people in all branches of the Abrahamic religions plus a few others.) are so dedicated to their intentional ignorance that changing their minds is impossible. They have THE ANSWER & it does This was written to inform those who believe in evolution how to counter the arguments of those who don't. It hasn't been worth the effort in my experience. Young Earth Creationists (YEC) who believe that the world is only as old as their version of their bible tells them it is (The term apparently applies to people in all branches of the Abrahamic religions plus a few others.) are so dedicated to their intentional ignorance that changing their minds is impossible. They have THE ANSWER & it doesn't matter if it doesn't make a lick of sense & continually contradicts itself. They'll still use cell phones & praise their god(s). None of it was surprising since I'm surrounded by them. Dawkins, who lives in the UK, even mentions the Ark Park & Creationist Museum which are both in my state & not too far away. Shudder. Anyway, that thread of the narrative got pretty old for me & it lost a star for that. Probably a personal problem.

I found his explanations in the workings of evolution really interesting, though. Even though I've read several of his books, he's come up with new areas & explanations that make sense of some truly remarkable adaptations.

Here are the chapters from the Wikipedia entry:
The book is divided into 13 chapters spanning over 400 pages, and includes an appendix called "The history-deniers" in the end material.

Only a theory? (nature of scientific theory and fallibility)
Dogs, cows and cabbages (artificial selection)
The primrose path to macro-evolution
Silence and slow time (age of the Earth and the geologic time scale)
Before our very eyes (examples of evolution observed)
Missing link? What do you mean, 'missing'? (the fossil record)
Missing persons? Missing no longer (human evolution)
You did it yourself in nine months (a statement attributed to J. B. S. Haldane; discusses developmental biology)
The ark of the continents (biogeography and plate tectonics)
The tree of cousinship (the tree of life, homology and analogy)
History written all over us (vestigiality and unintelligent design)
Arms races and 'evolutionary theodicy' (coevolution and evolutionary arms races)
There is grandeur in this view of life (based on the final passage of On the Origin of Species)

I read this as an audiobook narrated by Dawkins & Lalla Ward. They're a great team. Really make the words pop. Highly recommended. ...more

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Jun 21, 2018 bup rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: science, 2018, audiobook

Although Dawkins doesn't seem to realize that you can't reason someone away from a position they don't hold by reason, so trying to arm people to counter the arguments of evolution 'skeptics' is a futile endeavor; however, getting a lot of the gaps filled in about evolution is a fascinating subject for us dilettantes who accept that science isn't intentionally lying to us and are interested in how the accepted science came to be accepted.

Yes, those are ironic quotes around the word skeptics, bec Although Dawkins doesn't seem to realize that you can't reason someone away from a position they don't hold by reason, so trying to arm people to counter the arguments of evolution 'skeptics' is a futile endeavor; however, getting a lot of the gaps filled in about evolution is a fascinating subject for us dilettantes who accept that science isn't intentionally lying to us and are interested in how the accepted science came to be accepted.

Yes, those are ironic quotes around the word skeptics, because metaphorically waving ones hands and repeating nuh-uh isn't really skepticism, it's willful ignorance.

So, sure, one may hear from science deniers that evolution isn't science because you can't test it in a lab. People that claim that are both wrong about the necessity of a lab to test a hypothesis, and the claim that evolution hasn't been tested in a lab. There are experiments where evolution has been demonstrated in a lab - bacteria that have multiple generations in a day, so that evolutionary timelines are years instead of millennia. And the bacteria adapt. Is this good to read about because it will help you convince somebody who's invested in not believing evolution? Of course not. You can't change anybody's mind. Only they can, and if they've predetermined they won't change their mind you're wasting your time. But it's cool as heck. The experiment, that is. And Dawkins explains it, perfectly striking the balance between making it accessible to the layperson, without leaving out substance.

Is the anecdote wherein a denier, who couldn't accept that random mutations could advance from a single cell to a complete human, with a nervous system, miles of blood vessels, sight, hearing, etc., might arise in billions of years, was confronted with the observation that she accomplished it herself in nine months, going to even begin to sway someone who's dug in their heels? Duh no. But the chapter about how we're metaphorical origami rather than constructions from blueprints elucidates so much, and makes the observations that humans have gills early in embryonic development, as birds have teeth and bony tails, make sense. These aren't flukes, they're expected observations of undesigned results of millions of random prototypes.

So, please don't tell Dawkins I said this, because I hate to crush a dream, but the book works for unintended reasons. It's a great survey course in evolution. It cannot work to sway your extended family at Thanksgiving because they aren't genuinely interested in allowing their minds to be changed. And one thing dumb ol' evolution hasn't accomplished yet is allowing objective evidence to force someone to change their minds. Apparently there's no competitive advantage in it. ...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Patricrk patrick rated it really liked it

Shelves: science

Good review of the evidence supporting evolution. Writer/educator obviously cares about the sorry state of education in Britian and the United States. The footnotes are very amusing.

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