[Marxism] Re: What Science Books Accessibly Present Evolutionary

[Brian James <bajames@xxxxxxx>]

The most beautifully articulated account that I've read is the first
four chapters of "The Origin of Species" by Darwin himself. "Variation
under Domestication; Variation under Nature; Struggle for Existence;
Natural Selection." (After that it gets into technical issues.) The way
in which Darwin lays out his argument for skeptical readers, and
supports it with countless observations from nature, is a masterpiece in
more ways than one.

Reading "Origin" for the first time recently, I was surprised to
discover how much of what Gould has written comes directly from the
master himself, in particular the arguments made in chapter 6:
"Difficulties on Theory." As for Gould, any of his series of books
subtitled "Reflections in Natural History" ("Ever Since Darwin, The
Panda's Thumb, The Flamingo's Smile, etc.) are excellent. "Wonderful
Life" is about the most mind blowing book I've ever read. There is also
an online archive of Gould essays at http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library.html

As for the polemics between Gould and Dawkins, among others, "The Darwin
Wars: How Stupid Genes Became Selfish Gods" by Andrew Brown is an
entertaining piece of "sleazy trash journalism" (to quote Daniel Dennett.)

Brian

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