Download Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory AudioBook Free
“I often stated before starting, that I had without doubt I should frequently repent of the whole undertaking.” So wrote Charles Darwin aboard The Beagle, bound for the Galapagos Islands and what would arguably end up being the greatest & most controversial discovery in scientific history. However the theory of evolution didn't spring full-blown from the top of Darwin. Because the dawn of humanity, priests, philosophers, and scientists have debated the foundation and development of life on the planet, and with modern science, that debate shifted into high gear.
In this lively, deeply erudite work, Pulitzer Prize–winning science historian Edward J. Larson takes us over a guided tour of Darwin’s “dangerous idea,” from its theoretical antecedents in the first nineteenth century to the brilliant breakthroughs of Darwin and Wallace, to Watson and Crick’s stunning discovery of the DNA double helix, and to the triumphant neo-Darwinian synthesis and rising sociobiology today.
Along the way, Larson expertly places the scientific upheaval of evolution in cultural perspective: the social and philosophical earthquake that was the French Revolution; the development, in England, of an laissez-faire capitalism in tune with a Darwinian ethos of “survival of the fittest”; the emergence of Social Darwinism and the dark science of eugenics against a backdrop of professional revolution; the American Christian backlash against evolutionism that culminated in the famous Scopes trial; and to today’s world, where religious fundamentalists litigate for the right to teach “creation science” alongside evolution in U.S. public schools, even as the idea itself continues to evolve in new and surprising directions.
Throughout, Larson trains his spotlight on the lives and careers of the scientists, explorers, and eccentrics whose collaborations and competitions have driven the idea of evolution forward. Listed below are portraits of Cuvier, Lamarck, Darwin, Wallace, Haeckel, Galton, Huxley, Mendel, Morgan, Fisher, Dobzhansky, Watson and Crick, W. D. Hamilton, E. O. Wilson, and many more. Celebrated as you of mankind’s crowning scientific achievements and reviled as a threat to your deepest values, the idea of evolution has utterly transformed our view of life, religion, origins, and the idea itself, and remains controversial, especially in the United States (where 90% of adults do not subscribe to the entire Darwinian vision). Replete with fresh material and new insights, Evolution will educate and inform while taking readers on a fascinating journey of discovery.
