The Essential Darwin - Hardcover

Charles Darwin, almost uniquely among the great scientists, wrote for the general reader. Now, in this wide-ranging selection, Mark Ridley has sought to make Darwin s genius even more accessible to the modern reader. Besides the Origin of Species, Darwin wrote 18 other books; and ranks among the most broad-ranging as well as the most profoundly influential scientists of modern times. The editor has selected key passages from Darwin s nine most important books. For each, he fills in the context of the selection, annotates the few obscure points, and draws on the latest Darwinian scholarship to explain their history.
From the Origin we have Darwin s beautifully clear exposition of natural selection and his summary of the case for evolution, and against creationism; from The Descent of Man we have Darwin's explanation of human intelligence and morality, and his theory of sex differences; and from Coral Reefs we have Darwin s wholly original, and still accepted, theory of the origin of coral atolls. We see him as an experimentalist, unveiling the lives of the plants, and as a travel writer, as he describes that little world within itself , the Galapagos Islands. We see him serenely calculating the actions of worms as a geological force and an agent of archaeological preservation. The Essential Darwin includes innumerable fascinating details and amply demonstrates why Darwin remains one of the world s most influential and profoundly original of thinkers.