| Product Summary | | Format: Hardcover | | ISBN: 9781416594789 | | Publisher: FREE | | Publish Date: 9/22/2009 | | Buy.com Sku: 211299308 | | Item#: | | Buy.com Sales Rank: 8596 | | Dimensions (in Inches) 9.5H x 6.5L x 1.5T | | Pages: 480 |
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| | | In a brilliant follow-up to his blockbuster "The God Delusion," world-renowned evolutionary biologist and author Dawkins lays out the evidence for evolution.
Annotation:
One of the oddities about the debate over evolution is that the evidence for its validity is so ubiquitous that scientists in the field simply take it for granted, and thus often fail to adequately present their case to non-believers. In fact, for many years, the most prominent living evolutionary scientist, Richard Dawkins, refused to participate in public debates with creationists because he felt it would only grant their spurious argument a level of undeserved respectability. Tired of watching from the sidelines as the dispute has dragged on, Dawkins has come out firing with this exhilarating and exhaustive defense of evolution, which should seal the coffin on the case for creationism once and for all. Dawkins packs a huge hammer, in the form of his vibrant wit, legendary intellect, and snarling disdain for evolution doubters, as well as a crate full of nails, in the form of his concise and lucid analysis of the fossil records which definitively demonstrate the process of natural selection occurring over millions of years. Dawkins's ability to elucidate the complex workings of evolutionary biology is unparalleled, and virtually every page is filled with fascinating facts about the miraculous nature of life which he hopes may cause a few religious followers to shift the direction of their wonder from an imagined heaven to a real earth.
| Praise| "The author writes with terrific wit and considerable learning, but what is interesting here is his fire....Whether anyone will stand up to refute his notions remains to be seen, but for now Dawkins wins on points. A pleasure in the face of so much scientific ignorance--biology rendered accessible and relevant to the utmost degree." 07/01/2009 "While THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH might fail as a work of persuasive rhetoric--Dawkins is too angry and acerbic to convince his opponents--it succeeds as an encyclopedic summary of evolutionary biology. If Charles Darwin walked into a 21st-century bookstore and wanted to know how his theory had fared, this is the book he should pick up." - Jonah Lehrer 07/13/2009 "Though [Dawkins] looses a shock-and-awe flurry of evidentiary darts..., he also mutes some of the shriller tendencies that have unhinged...his previous works. The result is a sweeping, wryly joyous case for rationality, empiricism, and no God on this green earth." 10/01/2009 "[An] eloquent paean to evolution....Dawkins has a nice sense of irony, deployed without mercy on the opponents of evolution....The book is even more enjoyable when [he] forgets the creationists and launches into evolutionary explanations..." - Nicholas Wade 10/11/2009 "Richard Dawkins...is a canny, funny and beguiling biologist....This is [his] 10th book and arguably his best since THE SELFISH GENE and THE BLIND WATCHMAKER....[He] has laid out the most striking evidence with such fascinating detail that the book is both scientifically exciting and completely convincing." - David Perlman 11/1/2009 |
| Author Bio| Richard Dawkins | | Richard Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya in 1941, where his father was stationed while fighting with the Allied Forces in World War II. The family returned to England in 1949, where Dawkins was raised and educated, eventually earning his PhD in zoology from Oxford in 1966. His first teaching job was at the University of California at Berkeley in 1967, where he was an active participant in anti-Vietnam War rallies and protests. In 1970, he returned to Oxford as a professor, and has since held various prestigious positions at the university, including Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science. In 1976, Dawkins entered into the greater public's conscience with his first book, THE SELFISH GENE, which greatly enhanced awareness of how evolution works at the genetic level. He has remained at the forefront of the international scientific community, revolutionizing concepts of sociobiology and engaging in a playful public debate with his associate Stephen Jay Gould over the details of evolutionary development. Dawkins has also been a prominent critic of creationists and proponents of intelligent design, arguing that the abundance of conclusive evidence supporting the history of evolution marks opposing arguments as irrelevant and absurd. In his 2006 bestseller, THE GOD DELUSION, Dawkins publicly promoted the righteousness of atheism, citing the long history of atrocities performed in the name of various faiths. |
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