| The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition |  | Author: Charles Darwin
Creator: Julian Huxley
Publisher: Signet Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $6.95
Buy New: $3.22
as of 9/8/2010 04:41 CDT details
You Save: $3.73 (54%)
New (51) Used (47) from $2.49
Seller: any_book
Rating:  38 reviews
Sales Rank: 3,346
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rep Anv
Pages: 576
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 6.9 x 4.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0451529065
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.82
EAN: 9780451529060
ASIN: 0451529065
Publication Date: September 2, 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780451529060 | | • | Condition: New | | • | Notes: BUY WITH CONFIDENCE, Over one million books sold! 98% Positive feedback. Compare our books, prices and service to the competition. 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed |
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The book that shook the world
First time from Signet Classic
This is the book that revolutionized the natural sciences and every literary, philosophical and religious thinker who followed. Darwin's theory of evolution and the descent of man remains as controversial and influential today as when it was published over a century ago.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 38
 Darwin, with intro by Huxley - is the REAL BOOK... BEWARE the copy with intro by Comfort October 26, 2009
Caraleisa (West Chester, PA)
147 out of 153 found this review helpful
The original book by Charles Darwin is a classic that should be on everyone's reading list. There are ample reviews here which address it, praise it, and I am completely in agreement with them. Darwin's Origin of Species is a true masterpiece.
Unfortunately, this review is to help readers/buyers realize that there is a 'vandalized' version which has been published, and to tell you how to avoid it and get the real thing.
To explain; there is yet another edition also called "The Origin of Species, 150th Anniversary Edition", put out by Christian Fundamentalist Ray Comfort in an attempt to discredit evolutionary theory and Charles Darwin, and it has some extra 50 pages of unintelligible drivel about creationism, as well as having ABRIDGED Darwin's original text. If you want to read about creationism, find another book... if you want the facts, read ALL of what Darwin has to say, and please don't give any money to Comfort by accidentally buying his ABRIDGED version.
Note that he used the EXACT same name as the 'real' anniversary edition -- "The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition by Charles Darwin". You can easily tell which version you're getting by who wrote the introduction - go with Julian Huxley, NOT Ray Comfort, and you'll have the correct and complete version.
Also, note that Amazon reviews are mixed between the books (normally not a problem at all) - I hope they are straightening this out, but currently that's not the case. Sadly, the negative reviews of the Comfort version are bringing down the rating of the 'good/real' book.
Sorry to have to write about the 'drama', but I'm sure you want to know that you have ordered the correct book, and I know you'll love it.
Enjoy.
Should be part of everyone's education February 24, 2007
calmly
92 out of 117 found this review helpful
I read this book after discussing "intelligent design" with someone. It had never has occurred to me that the theory and facts of evolution wouldn't be more compelling to someone than Bible myth that wasn't intended to teach science at all.
Darwin's writing style can be awkward. He is working with a lot of facts to try to discern some laws. It isn't easy material to begin with. After a long delay of collecting evidence and formulating ideas, he was in a hurry to publish and may have skipped a useful rewrite to increase readability. He is clearly not adverse to long sentences.
Nevertheless, he does present himself clearly and in an exemplary manner for a scientist. He packs his presentation with supportive facts. He presents tentative laws to explains what he observed and then sees how well this explain the data he had collected. He points out his assumptions, raises doubts about them and responds sincerely to those doubts.
As can be seen in this book, Charles Darwin was scientific, inquiring, open, honest, and genuinely concerned about advancing human knowledge about the natural world.
It is surprising, as Darwin explains, how much can be accounted for given sufficient time (millions of years, not 5000, as scientific dating methods show), given small variations within any single generation and given conditions of scarcity. Darwin recognized that what may be hardest of us to accept is that we can not see the cumulative changes that took those millions of years to occur. He does make an effort to explain why the fossil record has gaps for which intermediate forms of life are missing. He also explains that grouping life into species is just a scientific convention and that the apparent fixed form of species can be explained by consistent conditions on earth over long periods of time (such that new variations aren't selected).
Darwin does, both to identify a regularity and to make reading smoother , reify the process of "natural selection". "Natural selection" should be understood as the complement to "artificial selection" or variation under domestication, which Darwin considers first as such selection influenced by humans was well known. There is no one doing natural selection, but rather it is process that some variations are able to survive under certain conditions which they themselves cannot be aware of in advance. It is the considerable variation that occurs which enables life in some form at all to go on for so many million of years while other forms become existence.
That Darwin was able to formulate the laws he did prior to the science of genetics is a tribute to his skills and to the science involved.
It is a work that makes me proud to be a human being and grateful to Charles Darwin. Anyone who thinks evolution is incompatible with their religious beliefs should read this book and then realize that they have misunderstood the spirit of the portions of the Bible they believe conflict with Darwin's and science's great contribution to us.
If there is a Christian God, you should feel certain He will have a special place close to Him in heaven for Charles Darwin.
An aspect other than the brilliant scientific insights March 20, 2004
ophelia99 (USA)
67 out of 90 found this review helpful
Besides natural selection, Darwin in this book laid the groundwork for ecology (doesn't use that term), and the scientific study of animal behavior. One other point which often gets overlooked is that if you can get past the Victorian prose style you will see a nearly flawless model of how to patiently build a complex argument out of a mass of raw data. The way Darwin himself brings up objections to his ideas, treats them carefully and respectfully, and then disposes of them is an example to everyone who has to deal in complex, controversial ideas. This book is one of the high water marks of the human mind.
This is the gunuine article October 23, 2009
V. Yue (Hong Kong)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Don't buy the one in RED cover with Ray Comfort's introduction.
This one is the genuine article, a landmark work that forever alters our understanding of nature.
Classic! October 24, 2009
S. Rhow
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The theory that started modern biology! This is a great read for anyone who wants to learn how the theory began.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 38
|
Biology Book World , in association with Amazon.com, provides you with the security, reliability, selection and price you’ve come to expect from the largest, most trusted names in online shopping.
Our association with Amazon.com provides you with the utmost in security and reliability. Browse our store and add items to your cart and have peace knowing that your order will be processed and fulfilled through the Amazon.com network.
The obvious question is why shop our store versus going directly to Amazon.com? Our commitment is to present you with focused products that have been specially organized and presented. You could view us as your own personal shopper or concierge. You still end up purchasing from the same major store. We save you time finding the product you are looking to find and streamline the process for you.
While we all like the great prices and selection found at the large mass wholesalers, but it is easy to get lost in the process. We are committed to making shopping quick and easy.
Biology Book World is your single source for textbooks and resources connected to biology, life sciences, botany, chemistry, creationism, zoology and much more.
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright (c) 2005 Biology Book World an associate of Amazon.com , All rights reserved. Amazon.com is a trademark of Amazon.com
Information about prices, products, services and merchants is provided by third parties and is for informational purposes only. Biology Book World does not represent or warrant the accuracy or reliability of the information, and will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in this information or any losses, injuries, or damages arising from its display or use.
CERTAIN CONTENT THAT APPEARS ON THIS SITE COMES FROM AMAZON SERVICES LLC. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED ‘AS IS’ AND IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE OR REMOVAL AT ANY TIME. ©2005 Biology Book World in association with Amazon.com. All Rights Reserved. | |
