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The Greatest Show on Earth

The Evidence for Evolution

By Richard Dawkins

(65)

| Hardcover | 9780593061732

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The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins

If Thomas Henry Huxley was famously "Darwin's bulldog", then Richard Dawkins is probably best described as "Darwin's pit bull". He gets his teeth into an argument, locks on and shakes it until submission is the only option. There's a certain glee whe ... (read full critics)

guardian.co.uk published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, by Richard Dawkins

Home Contact us Posts Comments One of the great shames of modern life is that Richard Dawkins is, for the time being, lost to the noise of the intense argument surrounding him. To be fair, he does more than his bit to generate this noise and to some, ... (read full critics)

bookgeeks published on Fri, 24 Sep 2010

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4 Reviews

2 people find this helpful

Dawkins needs a better editor. There is a decent book hidden in this mess of unfocused and unstructured writing.

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pyridine said on Nov 9, 2009 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

In this book, Richard Dawkins has, once and for all, set out to show that evolution is a fact, period. In my opinion he has done it very convincingly and conclusively, given the more than overwhelming evidence. Anyone who still doubts the validity of evolution is, as he repeatedly suggests, a "his ... (continue)

In this book, Richard Dawkins has, once and for all, set out to show that evolution is a fact, period. In my opinion he has done it very convincingly and conclusively, given the more than overwhelming evidence. Anyone who still doubts the validity of evolution is, as he repeatedly suggests, a "history-denier". One can add "reality-deniers" to that because we can actually see evolution happening before our very eyes, if we only paid attention.
So this is a successful book because it has achieved its purpose. But there are disturbing parts. Dawkins, in his typically ridiculing tone, lambasts creationists for their illogicity and fact-denials. Well I have to say that the creationists he mentions are just straw men set up to be beaten down easily. I wonder if he has more to say to God-believers who don't doubt evolution. And his prose sometimes strays. He could have some long-winded parts edited out, but I guess he has reached a status so exalted that no editors dare chop any parts off.

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Holmes said on Jul 14, 2010 | Add your feedback

1 person find this helpful

The ‘missing link’ among Dawkins’ publications

The publication of this book is a rather sad thing. Not for its content, obviously, but for its absolute necessity. According to surveys, in fact, in America, Europe and all around the world those who don’t accept the theory of evolution – the «history-deniers», as Dawkins puts it – seem almost to o ... (continue)

The publication of this book is a rather sad thing. Not for its content, obviously, but for its absolute necessity. According to surveys, in fact, in America, Europe and all around the world those who don’t accept the theory of evolution – the «history-deniers», as Dawkins puts it – seem almost to outnumber those who accept it. The reason for such a situation lies in politics and education rather than science. However, the publication of The Greatest Show on Earth can be regarded as a useful and important attempt to solve, or maybe contain, this serious problem.
No-one could say that Dawkins isn’t good at popularizing science. Though he is still stuck in a rather simplified version of Darwin’s theory – natural selection as the promotion of the best genes – he is nevertheless capable of describing and summarizing the evidence for the theory with clear and punctual prose.
He starts with an excellent explanation of the meaning of ‘fact’ and ‘theory’ as refers to ‘evolution’, showing that in no way must they be considered as mutually inconsistent. After a brief clarification – quite tortuous in my opinion – of what natural selection actually is, Dawkins proceeds by discussing the different types of evidence known to biologists: first, he provides some examples of evolution by natural selection «before our very eyes»; secondly, he discusses the actual knowledge of the fossil record, explaining why fossils do confirm the theory of evolution, no matter how many gaps are supposed to exist; then, he describes the evidence from biogeography – which originally suggested to Darwin the common descent of all living organisms – showing how the continental drift fits it perfectly; last but not least, he focuses on molecular evidence, which he kind of presents as the most important and decisive.
All things considered, I found this book interesting, complete and accurate. Perhaps Dawkins should have gone a little more in depth with a couple of topics, such as speciation, while there are some unnecessary digressions which, in my opinion, could have been left out. For example, what’s the use of an entire chapter dedicated to embryology, without even mentioning the Evo-Devo theory? Despite these considerations, I would like to recommend this book. Even those who are quite familiar with the subject will be much more confident about it after reading it.

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pempi said on Feb 10, 2010 | Add your feedback

great book, Dawkins has a witty style and the ability to walk the reader through the most complex scientific concepts with ease, making them clear, easy to grasp and enjoyable. There is a lot of stress on anti-creationism but the book states from the beginning that one of its aims is to refute the a ... (continue)

great book, Dawkins has a witty style and the ability to walk the reader through the most complex scientific concepts with ease, making them clear, easy to grasp and enjoyable. There is a lot of stress on anti-creationism but the book states from the beginning that one of its aims is to refute the absurd creationist point of view.

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Carlo said on Sep 10, 2010 about the Others edition | Add your feedback