The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for EvolutionRichard Dawkins transformed our view of God in his blockbuster, The God Delusion, which sold millions of copies in English alone. He revolutionized the way we see natural selection in the seminal bestseller The Selfish Gene. Now, he launches a fierce counterattack against proponents of "Intelligent Design" in his New York Times bestseller, The Greatest Show on Earth. "Intelligent Design" is being taught in our schools; educators are being asked to "teach the controversy" behind evolutionary theory. There is no controversy. Dawkins sifts through rich layers of scientific evidence—from living examples of natural selection to clues in the fossil record; from natural clocks that mark the vast epochs wherein evolution ran its course to the intricacies of developing embryos; from plate tectonics to molecular genetics—to make the airtight case that "we find ourselves perched on one tiny twig in the midst of a blossoming and flourishing tree of life and it is no accident, but the direct consequence of evolution by non-random selection." His unjaded passion for the natural world turns what might have been a negative argument, exposing the absurdities of the creationist position, into a positive offering to the reader: nothing less than a master’s vision of life, in all its splendor. |
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Africa American animals arms race artificial selection atom Australopithecus bacteria birds body bone brain called cells chapter chemical chimpanzees coelacanths colour common ancestor cousins crabs creationists creatures D’Arcy Thompson Darwin Dawkins descended designer Devonian dinosaurs dugongs embryo embryology Endler evidence evolution evolutionary change evolved exactly example eyes fact female fish flask flowers fossil record Galapagos gastrulation gene pool genetic genome guppies happened history-deniers Homo Homo erectus Homo habilis human Ichthyostega iguanas individual insects intermediate islands kind land legs Lenski living lizards look males mammals million years ago missing link modern molecular molecular clock molecules monkey muscle mutation natural selection nerve Odontochelys orchid origami plants plate population predators Proganochelys protein rabbit radioactive clocks resemblance Richard Dawkins rock sense sequence shape skeleton skull species survival theory There’s things Tiktaalik timescale tortoises tree tribes vertebrates whales wings