Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence

Dawkins, Richard

ISBN 10: 0393304485 / ISBN 13: 9780393304480

Published by Norton*(ww Norton Co, 1988

About this Item

trade Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. Liz Pyle (illustrator). First Paperback Edition. W. W. Norton, 1987. Trade Paperback. First Paperback Edition, eighth printing. Near Fine. Interior unmarked. Spine straight, tight, and uncreased. Covers clean and bright. . Not from a library. No remainder mark. Not clipped. xvi+332+15 pages. 22 illustrations. The seminal text for understanding evolution. In the eighteenth century, theologian William Paley developed a famous metaphor for creationism: that of the skilled watchmaker. In The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins crafts an elegant riposte to show that the complex process of Darwinian natural selection is unconscious and automatic. If natural selection can be said to play the role of a watchmaker in nature, it is a blind one: working without foresight or purpose. In an eloquent, uniquely persuasive account of the theory of natural selection, Dawkins illustrates how simple organisms slowly change over time to create a world of enormous complexity, diversity, and beauty. Deep enough to be valuable to biologists, yet simple and well-written so as to appeal to a mass audience.

Seller Inventory # 391

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence
• Publisher: Norton*(ww Norton Co
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393304485
• ISBN 13: 9780393304480
• Binding: Soft cover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine

About this title

Synopsis

A vigorous and readable defense of Darwinism which leaps effortlessly from the primeval soup to long rows of taxonomy. Deep enough to be valuable to biologists, yet simple and well-written so as to appeal to a mass audience. Illustrated.

Review

Richard Dawkins is not a shy man. Edward Larson's research shows that most scientists today are not formally religious, but Dawkins is an in-your-face atheist in the witty British style:

I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence.

The title of this 1986 work, Dawkins's second book, refers to the Rev. William Paley's 1802 work, Natural Theology, which argued that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Dawkins: "All appearances to the contrary, the only watchmaker in nature is the blind forces of physics, albeit deployed in a very special way... it is the blind watchmaker."

Dawkins is a hard-core scientist: he doesn't just tell you what is so, he shows you how to find out for yourself. For this book, he wrote Biomorph, one of the first artificial life programs. You can check Dawkins's results on your own Mac or PC.