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The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution (Hardcover)

by Richard Dawkins (Author)

Textbook Details
* Hardcover: 480 pages
* Publisher: Free Press (September 22, 2009)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 1416594787
* ISBN-13: 978-1416594789
* Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.6 inches
* Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds

Textbook Description
In 2008, a Gallup poll showed that 44 percent of Americans believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a Pew Forum poll in the same year, 42 percent believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time.

The Greatest Show on Earth is a stunning counterattack on advocates of “Intelligent Design,” explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist “argument.” Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence: from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics. Combining these elements and many more, he makes the airtight case that “we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection.”

The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is menacing as never before. In American schools, and in schools around the world, insidious attempts are made to undermine the status of science in the classroom. Dawkins wields a devastating argument against this ignorance, but his unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor.

The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution Review
Dawkins has written another very intelligent, hugely entertaining and informative book. It is a shame he had to write it. It is incredible that it is necessary to spell out the overwhelming evidence for evolution, which in the 21st century should be obvious to everyone by simply using common sense. Dawkins does it very well though, and his many examples and enthusiasm for the subject makes it a fantastic read even when you don’t need any convincing. Having the evidence presented this way does makes it easier to argue against the idiots that wouldn’t understand the objective truth if their lives depended on it. In any case, read it and enjoy it, this book can only enrich your life and appreciation of what’s truly beautiful.

I bought the audio book and the book. I listened to the book and it is great to hear Dawkins and his wife read, they are great readers and have excellent voices. The illustrations in the book are very helpful so that’s why I bought the book too; but you don’t necessarily need the illustrations for the audiobook. The book itself is an air tight case for evolution by natural selection. Being someone that is well read on evolution, I found out even more outstanding evidence by reading the Greatest Show on Earth. It debunks some of the ubiquitous misconceptions, and lays out the most convincing evidence from molecular genetics. The book purely lays out the science behind evolution, so even the religious reader would not feel like Dawkins is being overly antagonistic. This is an excellent book that needed to be written.

This is a seminal work in the evolutionary canon. The opening section on the distinction between the lay vs. scientific definitions of the word theory, while ridiculous that it has to be made, is crucial. Those who argue that the book lacks a formal ‘disproving’ of ID or Creationism obviously are COMPLETELY missing the point. Would a person writing a book to explain the scientific evidence for the heliocentric model be expected to refute the geocentric model? Would a person writing a book to explain the scientific evidence for germ theory be expected to refute the humoral theory of illness? Etc

This is another great work by Richard Dawkins, very well written and argued, with many fine illustrations. Carl Sagan, in The Demon-Haunted World, called science our candle in the dark. There are people who are afraid of this candle’s light and want to extinguish it, this book is an attempt by Dawkins to protect it. Buy it, read it, think and wonder!

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