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branch_c's review against another edition
3.0
Before reading On the Origin of Species in 2011, I was a little concerned that although the ideas were clearly innovative when written, it would prove not to have stood the test of time. For the most part, this wasn't the case; I enjoyed the book quite a bit for Darwin's excellent writing and passionate yet reasoned explanations of his findings.
This book demonstrates a bit of what had concerned me about Origin - it suffers from Darwin's main blind spot: not being aware of genetics and thus having no hypothesis for the exact mechanism of inheritance. He often reaches for possibilities, saying things like "natural selection would probably have been greatly aided by the inherited effects of the increased or diminished use of the different parts of the body." (p. 24) There are so many speculations here that we should not be surprised that he gets some wrong, and in fact it's impressive how many he gets right.
The writing style is precise and professional, but also excessively wordy at times. Each chapter has a flat structure in which Darwin exhaustively lists every case he knows of to demonstrate a particular point, in many cases casually referencing colleagues and correspondents who provided the data.
To emphasize the extreme thoroughness (or wordiness), in chapter XVIII, Darwin states “I have now given all the cases known to me of a difference in colour between the sexes of mammals.” but then proceeds to discuss additional cases for another fourteen paragraphs.
It seems this style is not unusual for the time when Darwin was writing, but it does make me more appreciative of the modern use of clear English in science writing for a general audience, not to mention the practice of summarizing the key facts and implications for the reader rather than simply dumping all available information onto the page.
The frequent use of anecdotes and personal observations to back up Darwin's positions also strikes me as a negative. Reading these in a modern book would tend to bias me against the writer's conclusions. In this case, we already know the truth (or not) of most of Darwin's points, so this isn't as serious a problem. However, there are some claims that even as an avid reader in evolutionary biology, I wasn't sure if they turned out to be correct. This makes the book more of historical than scientific interest.
It's particularly noticeable in chapter VII (On the Races of Man) where Darwin makes statements about mental and physical features that at best would be considered anecdotal, such as "Every one who has had the opportunity of comparison, must have been struck with the contrast between the taciturn, even morose, aborigines of S. America and the light-hearted, talkative negroes" and "Again, when I looked at the statue of Amunoph III., I agreed with two officers of the establishment, both competent judges, that he had a strongly-marked negro type of features" (p. 110). Even considering attitudes of the time on this particular topic, and allowing for scientists to expand upon existing knowledge by their own insights, it's disconcerting that Darwin didn't include language indicating that these are merely personal observations, and to draw scientific conclusions would of course require more solid data. Later, in chapter XIX, Darwin presents what can only be described as an embarrassing litany of casually racist comments and speculation about racial differences in appearance and preference based on unfounded assumptions and stereotypes.
Likewise, when discussing matters of evolutionary psychology, Darwin is unable to avoid making moral judgments that were appropriate to his time. While again, this makes many passages primarily interesting as a matter of history, there may be a lesson there for us to keep in mind when discussing evolutionary psychology today.
On the aesthetics involved in sexual selection, Darwin seems conflicted. In the section on birds, he rightly states “...we must not judge of the tastes of distinct species by a uniform standard; nor must we judge by the standard of man's taste.” even though a few pages earlier he’d written about macaws: “have these birds as bad taste for musical sounds as they apparently have for colour, judging by the inharmonious contrast of their bright yellow and blue plumage?” (ch. XIII)
In the end, much of Darwin’s speculation based on anecdotes is a bit tedious in its exhaustiveness, and of questionable scientific importance, but worth reading to see his thoughts on the subject matter.
This book demonstrates a bit of what had concerned me about Origin - it suffers from Darwin's main blind spot: not being aware of genetics and thus having no hypothesis for the exact mechanism of inheritance. He often reaches for possibilities, saying things like "natural selection would probably have been greatly aided by the inherited effects of the increased or diminished use of the different parts of the body." (p. 24) There are so many speculations here that we should not be surprised that he gets some wrong, and in fact it's impressive how many he gets right.
The writing style is precise and professional, but also excessively wordy at times. Each chapter has a flat structure in which Darwin exhaustively lists every case he knows of to demonstrate a particular point, in many cases casually referencing colleagues and correspondents who provided the data.
To emphasize the extreme thoroughness (or wordiness), in chapter XVIII, Darwin states “I have now given all the cases known to me of a difference in colour between the sexes of mammals.” but then proceeds to discuss additional cases for another fourteen paragraphs.
It seems this style is not unusual for the time when Darwin was writing, but it does make me more appreciative of the modern use of clear English in science writing for a general audience, not to mention the practice of summarizing the key facts and implications for the reader rather than simply dumping all available information onto the page.
The frequent use of anecdotes and personal observations to back up Darwin's positions also strikes me as a negative. Reading these in a modern book would tend to bias me against the writer's conclusions. In this case, we already know the truth (or not) of most of Darwin's points, so this isn't as serious a problem. However, there are some claims that even as an avid reader in evolutionary biology, I wasn't sure if they turned out to be correct. This makes the book more of historical than scientific interest.
It's particularly noticeable in chapter VII (On the Races of Man) where Darwin makes statements about mental and physical features that at best would be considered anecdotal, such as "Every one who has had the opportunity of comparison, must have been struck with the contrast between the taciturn, even morose, aborigines of S. America and the light-hearted, talkative negroes" and "Again, when I looked at the statue of Amunoph III., I agreed with two officers of the establishment, both competent judges, that he had a strongly-marked negro type of features" (p. 110). Even considering attitudes of the time on this particular topic, and allowing for scientists to expand upon existing knowledge by their own insights, it's disconcerting that Darwin didn't include language indicating that these are merely personal observations, and to draw scientific conclusions would of course require more solid data. Later, in chapter XIX, Darwin presents what can only be described as an embarrassing litany of casually racist comments and speculation about racial differences in appearance and preference based on unfounded assumptions and stereotypes.
Likewise, when discussing matters of evolutionary psychology, Darwin is unable to avoid making moral judgments that were appropriate to his time. While again, this makes many passages primarily interesting as a matter of history, there may be a lesson there for us to keep in mind when discussing evolutionary psychology today.
On the aesthetics involved in sexual selection, Darwin seems conflicted. In the section on birds, he rightly states “...we must not judge of the tastes of distinct species by a uniform standard; nor must we judge by the standard of man's taste.” even though a few pages earlier he’d written about macaws: “have these birds as bad taste for musical sounds as they apparently have for colour, judging by the inharmonious contrast of their bright yellow and blue plumage?” (ch. XIII)
In the end, much of Darwin’s speculation based on anecdotes is a bit tedious in its exhaustiveness, and of questionable scientific importance, but worth reading to see his thoughts on the subject matter.
sophiejuhlin's review against another edition
3.0
An easier book to read than one would imagine, being like 25% citation. Three stars for decent prose and some nice observation, and the rest because, like, eugenics.
zoelowe's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
3.0
This is a book I started reading in 2022. I wanted to read it because it’s a major and important contribution to the field of biology. It’s very informative when Darwin writes about animals, but it’s hard to get something useful out of when he talks about people because it’s very outdated, like VERY OUTDATED.
carrie_grace_doss's review against another edition
Darwin’s work is incredibly dense and not fun to read. He spends half of the book describing sexual selection in animals, not even humans. Also, his discussions about race being based in biology wouldn’t hold up in the 21st century. Overall, I’d say Darwin writes like a pretentious 19th century white man who poured too many years of research into one mind-melting book. Not a fan.
zmb's review against another edition
4.0
The Descent of Man, the first section, advances Darwin's argument that the evolution by natural selection that he described in Origin of Species applies to man as well. It's obviously a hugely important step in understanding biology and human origins, and it does not disappoint.
The second section, on sexual selection, is probably no less important in understanding biology, but it is a lot more tedious to read. Darwin is /extremely/ thorough, especially with regard to birds.
The second section, on sexual selection, is probably no less important in understanding biology, but it is a lot more tedious to read. Darwin is /extremely/ thorough, especially with regard to birds.
marystevens's review against another edition
5.0
Darwin's last book addresses the problem of man's place in the universe.
Far from being made in the image of God or even a link in the great chain of being, the human race is not even the goal of evolution. It is the adaptive product of evolution as are all the other species on earth today.
He concludes that we are descended from a common arboreal ape ancestor, that intelligence is just an adaptive byproduct of evolution and that there is also a moral evolution in that we have adapted for life in society.
His findings on sexual selection were revolutionary for his time. Males compete for females and the females do the choosing - based on what is attractive, viz. the peacock.
Darwin even posits an evolution of ideas. If correct the idea will survive and if wrong it will steer us toward the right idea. What a Romantic!
Far from being made in the image of God or even a link in the great chain of being, the human race is not even the goal of evolution. It is the adaptive product of evolution as are all the other species on earth today.
He concludes that we are descended from a common arboreal ape ancestor, that intelligence is just an adaptive byproduct of evolution and that there is also a moral evolution in that we have adapted for life in society.
His findings on sexual selection were revolutionary for his time. Males compete for females and the females do the choosing - based on what is attractive, viz. the peacock.
Darwin even posits an evolution of ideas. If correct the idea will survive and if wrong it will steer us toward the right idea. What a Romantic!
mwatts's review against another edition
2.0
A beautiful quote from the end of the book: “The birth both of the species and of the individual are equally parts of that grand sequence of events, which our minds refuse to accept as the result of blind chance. The understanding revolts at such a conclusion, whether or not we are able to believe that every slight variation of structure,—the union of each pair in marriage,—the dissemination of each seed,—and other such events, have all been ordained for some special purpose.” Humans create god in order to feel significant.
Otherwise, this book was so racist and misogynist that I had to stop several times because it became to painful to read. 9.5/10 rating for FTG (f*** this guy).
Otherwise, this book was so racist and misogynist that I had to stop several times because it became to painful to read. 9.5/10 rating for FTG (f*** this guy).
boopity's review against another edition
4.0
Only read specific chapters. Insightful and important to read.
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