Charles Darwin, whose 1859 masterpiece “On the Origin of Species” shook society to its core, would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy over evolution still raging 150 years later.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” is a stunning counter-attack on creationists, followers of “Intelligent Design” and all those who still question evolution as scientific fact. In this brilliant tour de force, Richard Dawkins pulls together the incontrovertible evidence that underpins it: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics.
“The Greatest Show on Earth” comes at a critical time as systematic opposition to the fact of evolution flourishes as never before in many schools worldwide. Dawkins wields a devastating argument against this ignorance whilst sharing with us his palpable love of science and the natural world. Written with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and totally convincing.
***30th Anniversary Edition*** Cover note: Each copy of the anniversary edition of The Blind Watchmaker features a unique biomorph. No two covers are exactly alike.
Acclaimed as the most influential work on evolution written in the last hundred years, The Blind Watchmaker offers an inspiring and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time. A brilliant and controversial book which demonstrates that evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist?
Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for existence, with extinction looming for those not fitted for the task.
Yet The Origin of Species (1859) is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological interrelatedness, revealing the complex mutual interdependencies between animal and plant life, climate and physical environment, and—by implication—within the human world.
Written for the general reader, in a style which combines the rigour of science with the subtlety of literature, The Origin of Species remains one of the founding documents of the modern age.
Come nei Racconti di Canterbury un eterogeneo gruppo di pellegrini diretti a un santuario narra, su invito dell’oste di una locanda, alcune storie, ognuna delle quali è espressione di un codice culturale e di un itinerario spirituale, così nel Racconto dell’Antenato altri “pellegrini” – non solo esseri umani ma anche animali, funghi, piante, batteri – compiono oggi, su invito di Richard Dawkins, un viaggio ugualmente rivelatore nel nostro passato. In ciascuno dei trentanove “rendez-vous” del percorso a ritroso che ci conduce fino a quattro miliardi di anni fa, i viandanti incontrano nuovi gruppi con cui hanno un antenato in comune, e la folla diventa sempre più imponente a mano a mano che ci si avvicina alla meta. Alla fine il pellegrinaggio giunge alla sua Canterbury, ossia all’evento cruciale della vita sulla terra: l’unione di un organismo unicellulare – il futuro protozoo – con un batterio per formare la cellula nucleata. Da quel momento, tutti gli esseri viventi percorrono insieme l’ultimo tratto verso la comune origine biologica. La cronaca del viaggio, però, è solo il contenitore dei singoli racconti. Se i pellegrini di Geoffrey Chaucer narravano le vicende del loro ambiente sociale, i protagonisti di questa straordinaria avventura illustrano i processi biologici legati allo sviluppo della vita sulla terra. Uniche per ricchezza e varietà, tali storie non solo tracciano l’autoritratto filogenetico del narratore, ma descrivono anche le più recenti acquisizioni della biologia molecolare, che hanno consentito di gettare nuova luce sul processo evolutivo e di riformulare stimolanti interrogativi. In che modo i nostri progenitori si sono propagati dall’Africa negli altri continenti? La stazione eretta venne adottata per liberare le mani e trasportare il cibo? A indurre l’aumento delle dimensioni del cervello fu forse l’acquisita abilità manuale? Quanto differiscono geneticamente le razze umane? E poi, esiste davvero la “razza”? A queste e molte altre domande Dawkins risponde con sapienza scientifica e finezza letteraria, invitandoci a riflettere sull’intima relazione esistente fra tutti gli esseri viventi e sullo stretto legame fra le varie e mirabili espressioni della realtà biologica, unificate da un solo “eroe”, quel “tema musicale ricorrente, quasi un leitmotiv wagneriano” che ha nome dna.
"The Selfish Gene" caused a wave of excitement among biologists and the general public when it was first published in 1976. Its vivid rendering of a gene's eye view of life, in lucid prose, gathered together the strands of thought about the nature of natural selection into a conceptual framework with far-reaching implications for our understanding of evolution. Time has confirmed its significance. Intellectually rigorous, yet written in non-technical language, "The Selfish Gene" is widely regarded as a masterpiece of science writing, and its insights remain as relevant today as on the day it was published.
Chapters: 1. Why are people? 2. The replicators 3. Immortal coils 4. The gene machine 5. Aggression stability and the selfish machine 6. Genesmanship 7. Family planning 8. Battle of the generations 9. Battle of the sexes 10. You scratch my back, I'll ride on yours 11. Memes: the new replicators 12. Nice guys finish first 13. The long reach of the gene
How can we make intelligent decisions about our increasingly technology-driven lives if we don’t understand the difference between the myths of pseudoscience and the testable hypotheses of science? Pulitzer Prize-winning author and distinguished astronomer Carl Sagan argues that scientific thinking is critical not only to the pursuit of truth but to the very well-being of our democratic institutions.
Casting a wide net through history and culture, Sagan examines and authoritatively debunks such celebrated fallacies of the past as witchcraft, faith healing, demons, and UFOs. And yet, disturbingly, in today's so-called information age, pseudoscience is burgeoning with stories of alien abduction, channeling past lives, and communal hallucinations commanding growing attention and respect. As Sagan demonstrates with lucid eloquence, the siren song of unreason is not just a cultural wrong turn but a dangerous plunge into darkness that threatens our most basic freedoms.
At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion -- and indeed our future.
In The End of Faith, Sam Harris delivers a startling analysis of the clash between reason and religion in the modern world. He offers a vivid, historical tour of our willingness to suspend reason in favor of religious beliefs—even when these beliefs inspire the worst human atrocities. While warning against the encroachment of organized religion into world politics, Harris draws on insights from neuroscience, philosophy, and Eastern mysticism to deliver a call for a truly modern foundation for ethics and spirituality that is both secular and humanistic.
Winner of the 2005 PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Nonfiction.
God Is Not Great makes the ultimate case against religion. In a series of acute readings of the major religious texts, Christopher Hitchens demonstrates the ways in which religion is man-made, dangerously sexually repressive, and distorts the very origins of the cosmos. Above all, Hitchens argues that the concept of an omniscient God has profoundly damaged humanity, and proposes that the world might be a great deal better off without "him."
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