DescriptionThe man responsible for the near religion of "Darwinism" and the theory of evolution was a quiet, patient, and gentle man, suffering for most of his life from chronic ill-health. He rarely attended banquets given in his honor or even meetings of the Royal Society to which he was elected a Fellow before his 30th birthday. His most famous book, The Origin of Species, is considered to be the most important book of the 18th century and had an overwhelming reception. It was hailed by most of the world's scientists and far-thinking men as an inspired work of genius. Others, vehement in their condemnations, declared it was filthy blasphemy written by a monster who was already damned in body and soul.
DescriptionCharles Darwin was appointed naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle, which left England in 1831 to map the coast of South America and then circumnavigate the globe. As Darwin explored, he came to dispute the idea that catastrophic upheaval created mountains and shaped the earth - and if geological change came slowly, could not living species also evolve the same way? As his journey continued to the Galapagos Islands, New Zealand, and Australia, his theories crystallized. Returning to England in 1836, he published his journal. It became an immediate best seller and a classic of natural history.
DescriptionWe have always identified trends as bad (loosening of the moral fiber) or good (better ethnic eating in urban areas). But Stephen Jay Gould argues that this mode of interpretation is a bias that needs correcting. In Full House, Gould presents the truth about progress, evolution, and excellence, as well as a different way to understand trends other than as entities moving in a definite direction. Gould examines how the misinterpretation of data and statistics can result in bad science and social policy, while focusing on the nature of excellence from Plato to Darwin and the misconception that progress is inevitable.
DescriptionRichard Dawkins holds the Charles Simonyi Chair of the Public Understanding of Science at Oxford. His books include the best-selling The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable, The Ancestor's Tale, and A Devil's Chaplain, a collection of essays. He has received the International Cosmos Prize and the Kistler Prize. Henry Finder is the editorial director of The New Yorker .
