Evolution : The remarkable history of a scientific idea
Author(s): Edward J. Larson
In this brisk and deeply erudite history of one of the greatest single ideas of all time, a Pulitzer Prize winning science historian takes us from evolution's theoretical antecedents in the emerging paleontology and fossil-mania of the early 19th century to Darwin's (and Wallace's ) brilliant breakthrough and its consequences; from the discovery of the 'secret of life' (the double helix) to the theory's greatest triumph: the modern synthesis. Larson attends throughout to social context: the social and philosophical earthquake that was the French Revolution; the development, in England, of a laissez'-aire capitalism sympathetic to a Darwinian ethos; the emergence of a Social Darwinism and the dark science of eugenics against a backdrop of industrial revolution; the American backlash against evolutionism that culminated in the Scopes Trial; and on to today, with the pendulum gradually swinging from 'nurture' to 'nature' once more. Telling his story through the lives and careers of the scientists who consitute it, Larson introduces us to a host of biologists, innovators, eccentrics, and explorers, among them Cuvier, Galton, Wallace, Erasmus Darwin, Huxley, Morgan, Mendel, De Vries, Crick & Watson, E O Wilson, and so many more. Rivalries, fierce competition fo the highest stakes, brilliant solutions to seemingly-unsolvable mysteries (such as the mystery of inheritance), and the constant danger of religious backlash inform an account with no dull moments. Both celebrated as one of mankind's crowning scientific achievements and reviled as a threat to the most cherished human values, 'Darwin's dangerous idea', over 200 years, wholly transformed humankind's view of life, religion, origins, and itself, and remains controversial, especially in the USA ( where a full 40% of Americans do not subscribe to the full Darwin vision!)
General Information
- :
- : ranusa
- : ranusa
- : 0.386
- : 02 July 2004
- : United States
- : books
Other Specifications
- : Edward J. Larson
- : Hardback
- : 368
- : illustrations
More About The Product
"Infectious good reading. The prose is limpid, the chapters are luminous."
--James Moore, co-author of Darwin"
""The history of evolutionary science from the 18th-century to the present is a history of controversies and seemingly incompatible views. It takes an author like Ed Larson to provide an account of this crucial history. . . .The reader will be rewarded by an intellectual delight."
--Ernst Mayr
"Larson masterfully takes us from the 18th century French enlightenment to the 21st century evolution wars. From Buffon and Cuvier, through Darwin and Wallace, to Dawkins, Gould, and Wilson, he provides a scholarly, readable history of the ups and downs of the theory of evolution. Larson shows us how firmly this theory is established, as firmly as Einstein's theory of relativity."
--Duncan M. Porter, Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project
"Larson has written a brilliant introduction to the history of evolution, equally sensitive to scientific, religious, and social factors. It is, hands down, the most readable and reliable account available."
--Ronald L. Numbers, Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine. Department of Medical History and Bioethics, University of Wisconsin
"Ed Larson is both a historian and a writer who knows how to bring his subject alive. In Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory he combines the latest historical scholarship with an understanding of recent issues in science, religion and social debate. This powerful book will help everyone understand the foundations of modern evolutionary ideas and the origins of the latest controversies."
--Peter J. Bowler, Queens UniversityBelfast
"An indispensable guide to the sometimes weird, but always wonderful, world of Evolution. Every species inhabiting this contested territory is here: Darwinian materialists, Lamarckian progressivists, hopeful-monster mutationists, theistic evolutionists, neo-vitalists, six-day creationists, mathematical geneticists, intelligent designers, molecular reductionists and on and on. Yet this is no monochrome chronicle of disengaged scientific ideas. It is a rich and compelling narrative portrayed in glorious technicolour, as grand and sweeping in scope as the theory of evolution itself. In the struggle for shelf-life among publications on evolution, Edward Larson's book is superbly fitted for long-term survival."
--David N. Livingstone, author of Darwin's Forgotten Defenders: The Encounter Between Evangelical Theology and Evolutionary Thought
"Larson's acclaimed gifts as a writer who can make the history of science exciting to a wide audience are visible again. The story, which takes seriously the cultural meanings of new science, has many twists and turns and is told with humor and vivacity."
--JOHN HEDLEY BROOKE, Andreas Idreos Professor of Science and Religion, University of Oxford
