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Title: The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0-393-31570-3 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: September, 1996 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.69 (231 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Still Unchallenged!
Comment: Having read this book once when originally released in 1986, I decided to go back and read it again to see if I still found it as relavent today. Twenty-five years later it still stands unchallenged in its arguments. Recent reviewers, some of which appear to not have read the book, continue to present arguments long refuted. A good example, is the type of arguments such as those presented by the reviewer from Altamont, TN.
Dawkins and hundreds of others have clearly shown that life on Earth has evolved from a common unicellular organism whose own origin was most likely from the mix of organic compounds present on the early Earth. However, Dawkins clearly points out that natural selection is not guided just by chance alone. There are predefined paths delineated by natural laws that limit the choices. There are selective forces in Nature which predispose the process to certain outcomes (blind they may be). This is the concept that evolution deniers do not seem to grasp.
One of Dawkins finest examples is the biomorphs program. Rebuttals against the validity of this demonstration utterly fail because many authors have simply not read or misunderstood the basic principles of science behind them. Dawkins does not act as an intelligent designer by interjecting himself into the evolution of the biomorphs. As he clearly explains, he is acting as a selective "force". Equivalent selective forces are provided by the environmental "niches" in nature. Creatures which do not fit into the "niche" do not survive and do not reproduce. There are millions of niches in nature and only those life forms which survive in them can reproduce. We use computer model to simulate natural processes everyday, and they work magnificently well. This does not mean that all these processes are guided by a supernatural power along every step of the way just because a human wrote the program.
Regardless how hard evolution deniers try, natural evolution is a fact established by the overwhelming evidence of the fossil record, genetics, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Dawkins is one of many scientists who have added to our understanding of how natural selection works. Like all the other processes in nature, whether or not it is guided by a make-believe god is irrelevant.
Rating: 5
Summary: Couldn't Agree More...
Comment: This book is a stunningly eloquent defense of evolutionary theory against the "Argument from Design" and other logical flaws, as well as interesting but ultimately fallacious (or, if you prefer, vacuous - that is, not saying anything new) arguments such as punctuationism. Clever use of analogies, metaphors, and anecdotes makes the book readable by anyone willing to stretch their mind around the concepts - no training or familiarity with the subject is required, but Dawkins doesn't "talk down" to the reader or oversimplify his subject matter.
Two analogies were especially good: "breeding" the text METHINKS IT IS LIKE A WEASEL from random precursors, and the extensive analysis of the author's biomorph program. The text-breeding illustrates the power of cumulative (as opposed to single-step) selection. The biomorphs brilliantly demonstrate (among other things) the sheer diversity that can be attained with a relatively simple design scheme, in a manner similar to that of actual organisms. And NO, the fact that these demonstrations both use "artificial selection" does NOT refute them as useful tools; evolution is defined (genetically speaking) as "change in the relative frequencies of alleles in the gene pool." This can be brought about by an number of factors, such as environmental changes, increased predation or number of prey animals, changes in local vegetation...or changes in human preference. The text breeder is different from "real" evolution because it seeks a target, but the biomorph simulation is very similar to "real" natural selection at work, except "adaptive" in this case means "pleasing to the human eye."
In short, this book is a delightful experience literarily, philosophically, and scientifically. Highly recommended to everyone interested in evolution or biology.
Rating: 3
Summary: Useful
Comment: Good for refuting creationist (including "intelligent design") nonsense. Over the years, though, I've become convinced that Dawkins' worldview is in many ways a mirror image of the fundamentalism he so rightly detests. The "selfish gene" ideology amounts to little more than theology for atheists.
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Title: The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0192860925 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Devil's Chaplain : Reflections on Hope, Lies, Science, and Love by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0618335404 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 29 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene (Popular Science) by Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett ISBN: 0192880519 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: DARWIN'S DANGEROUS IDEA: EVOLUTION AND THE MEANINGS OF LIFE by Daniel C. Dennett ISBN: 068482471X Publisher: Touchstone Books Pub. Date: 12 June, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder by Richard Dawkins ISBN: 0618056734 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Co Pub. Date: 05 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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