Literature

[empirex]

Need some help gentleman.

Looking to purchase a copy of Mr Darwin's On the Origin of Species, but there seem to be quite a number of editions available. Does it really matter, all the same just different packaging? Any recommendations.

Here's just a few..
On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection (Dover Thrift Editions)
On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition
On the Origin of Species (Oxford World's Classics)
The Origin of Species (Wordsworth Classics of World Literature)
On the Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Penguin Classics)
The Origin of Species (Collector's Library)
On the Origin of Species: A Facsimile of the First Edition

On the Origin of Species: The Illustrated Edition looks quite comprehensive if a little pricey.

 

[Anony]

What are natural selection ?

 

[Geriatrix]

gratis

 

[empirex]

What are natural selection ?

Exactly!

 

[Anony]

The way Darwin described natural selection sounds like BS.

"Natural Selection: its power compared with man's selection, its power on characters of trifling importance, its power at all ages and on both sexes."

"It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinising, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good;
"
"Although natural selection can act only through and for the good of each being, yet characters and structures, which we are apt to consider as of very trifling importance, may thus be acted on."

He obviously smoked a lot of dope.

 

[empirex]

gratis

Ah nice! Still prefer to have a traditional book for such a seminal piece of work though..

 

[Geriatrix]

Ah nice! Still prefer to have a traditional book for such a seminal piece of work though..

Oh ok. Well just take the cheapest one you can find then.
What do you want with it though? It's a bit dated. Biological sciences have moved on a bit in the last 180+ years.

 

[empirex]

Oh ok. Well just take the cheapest one you can find then.
What do you want with it though? It's a bit dated. Biological sciences have moved on a bit in the last 180+ years.

Sure it's about the science, but it's also about the man. How he thought, his reasoning. Insight into one of the great minds.

 

[Sherbang]

Oh ok. Well just take the cheapest one you can find then.
What do you want with it though? It's a bit dated. Biological sciences have moved on a bit in the last 180+ years.

The theory of evolution by natural selection hasn't changed since Darwin first wrote about it. It has been refined by our knowledge of genetics but the theory is the same.

You can download it for free in various e-book formats here:
http://www.manybooks.net/titles/darwinchetext98otoos11.html

 

[Palimino]

Need some help gentleman.

Looking to purchase a copy of Mr Darwin's On the Origin of Species, but there seem to be quite a number of editions available. Does it really matter, all the same just different packaging? Any recommendations.

The best is to get an edition where it is interpreted (by a respected scientist) through the lens of modern thinking. Darwin was brilliant, but 1860 was a long time ago.

I made a similar mistake with a book on the Boy Scout movement by Baden Powel. There was a lot of stiff upper lip, donchaknow, Britannia rules the waves, colonial BS. You had to read around it. It’s a hassle.

 

[SerenePhoenix]

You can try and get "Almost Like a Whale", which is quite a good modern take on everything.

 

[Nanfeishen]

Sure it's about the science, but it's also about the man. How he thought, his reasoning. Insight into one of the great minds.

The fact that he was able to openly admit to holes in his theory, speak volumes for his character.