13 February 2009

In Celebration Of...


In celebration of Darwin's 200th Birthday, I'd like to suggest that we all read, "The Ancestor's Tale" by Richard Dawkins. It is one of the most interesting books I've ever read in my life. If this eye opening book doesn't make you make you marvel at the processes of evolution and the accomplishes of science, nothing will.


Ever ponder the strangeness of the platypus and think, "How does this fall into the evolutionary tree?" Ever wanted to know what science has to say about racism and the differences between the human races? Ever thought, "I understand how life evolved and evolves, but how did it start in the very first place."

This book will change the way you think about life, sex, racism, reproduction, and the animal kingdom. Dawkins takes a backwards step from today to the beginning of life on earth a little bit at a time, describing how changes in evolution that created what we are today.

Here's a consciousness raising fact. We are all the product of winners. All of our ancestors were winners because they all succeeded in passing down their genes to the next generation. None of us have any ancestors who were failures, because if they failed, they wouldn't be our ancestors.

If you're poor you can download the audiobook here for free. It's elegantly done by Richard Dawkins and his wife Lalla Ward. If you can afford it, pick it up. My own copy is in the mail right now from Amazon.

2 comments:

Asylum Seeker said...

Sounds interesting. But it would be suicide for me to try to balance reading that in with everything else I have to be doing at the present time! I've heard that that book and The Selfish Gene are really good stuff. Shame that people only think of Dawkins of "that damn dirty strident militant atheist!1!!". Oh well...that's what happens when you don't endlessly cater to the religious.

Michael said...

It is also my opinion that The Ancestor's Tale is one of the most fascinating books! Richard Dawkins has produced some great stuff, The God Delusion and the Selfish Gene alike! But The Ancestor's tale may top the list.