Book description
Charles Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, shook
society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware
of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely
have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a
century and a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by
all reputable scientists and indeed theologians, yet millions of
people continue to question its veracity.
In The Greatest Show on Earth Richard Dawkins takes on
creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all
those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection.
Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through
fascinating layers of scientific facts and disciplines to build a
cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds
and insects; the 'time clocks' of trees and radioactive dating that
calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record and the traces
of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology and
genetics. All of this, and much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution.
The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time:
systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as
never before, especially in America. In Britain and elsewhere in the
world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of
science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal
evidence that boldly and comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the
same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world and
the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written
with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and
totally convincing.
Richard Dawkins
is the renowned academic responsible for such works as
The Selfish Gene
through to the phenomenal
The God Delusion
. Recently, he presented
The Genius of Charles Darwin
,
a three-part television series examining the legacy of the great
scientist and some of the issues covered in this timely book.
