All of Darwin coming online
October 18, 2006 6:12 PM Subscribe
Charlie Darwin joins the fray. Yes, The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms, with observations on their habits is there.
You can't fool me; I know God put that vegetable mould there.
posted by boaz at 6:51 PM on October 18, 2006
posted by boaz at 6:51 PM on October 18, 2006
You know, Darwin himself on his deathbed admitted that the mycelium in vegetable mould was just too complex to have been formed by the action of worms.
Then he praised Jesus.
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:12 PM on October 18, 2006
Then he praised Jesus.
posted by Citizen Premier at 8:12 PM on October 18, 2006
I would like to read, or read about, Darwin. What one book would you suggest as a starting point? A recent biography? Origin of Species? Voyage of the Beagle?
posted by stbalbach at 8:56 PM on October 18, 2006
posted by stbalbach at 8:56 PM on October 18, 2006
This doesn't quite answer your question stbalbach, but The Beak of the Finch does a wonderful job of using really exciting and monumental research being conducted on Galapagos right now to eludicate evolution in general, with lots of interesting biographical interudes about Darwin's life. It won a Pulitzer Prize.
posted by Falconetti at 9:08 PM on October 18, 2006
posted by Falconetti at 9:08 PM on October 18, 2006
Remember, these are all just theories.
posted by brain_drain at 10:52 PM on October 18, 2006
posted by brain_drain at 10:52 PM on October 18, 2006
Voyage of the Beagle is a remarkably good read stbalbach - especially if you plan on visiting any of the places he did.
posted by rongorongo at 2:22 AM on October 19, 2006
posted by rongorongo at 2:22 AM on October 19, 2006
That site is fantastic, can't wait to have a proper look once the traffic dies down a bit. Nice to see images as well as the text.
stbalbach, I'd recommend Voyage of the Beagle too, it's a fascinating book, and gives a great insight into Darwin's love for nature and his enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge. A good place to start, I'd say.
posted by tomsk at 3:05 AM on October 19, 2006
stbalbach, I'd recommend Voyage of the Beagle too, it's a fascinating book, and gives a great insight into Darwin's love for nature and his enthusiasm for acquiring knowledge. A good place to start, I'd say.
posted by tomsk at 3:05 AM on October 19, 2006
> I would like to read, or read about, Darwin. What one book would you suggest as a
> starting point? A recent biography? Origin of Species? Voyage of the Beagle?
There was a big Darwin exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History on the occasion of the Darwin bicentennial, put together by Niles Eldridge (the fellow who, along with Stephen Jay Gould, was responsible for the idea of "punctuated equilibrium" in evolutionary progression, an idea that hasn't swept all before it but has strongly contributed to the modern understanding of the subject, despite what Dawkins, who was wrong and an asshole about other things also, claims.) Eldridge followed up the exhibition with a book, Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life, which is a good starting point, though it isn't a general history of Darwin and his times. Instead it focuses on the growth of The Big Idea in Darwin's mind, based on his notebooks, in the (very long) interval between his return from the Beagle voyage and the publication of the Origin.
If you want to really get into it, E. O. Wilson has edited and contributed essays to a single-volume edition of the four biggest of the biggies (Voyage of the Beagle, the Origin, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.) N.b., James "double helix" Watson published a similar effort but the editions aren't complete, the additional material isn't very extensive, basically it's like he tossed it off in a weekend to make a quick buck off the Darwin bicentennial. Not Recommended, and shame on Watson.
posted by jfuller at 5:24 AM on October 19, 2006
> starting point? A recent biography? Origin of Species? Voyage of the Beagle?
There was a big Darwin exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History on the occasion of the Darwin bicentennial, put together by Niles Eldridge (the fellow who, along with Stephen Jay Gould, was responsible for the idea of "punctuated equilibrium" in evolutionary progression, an idea that hasn't swept all before it but has strongly contributed to the modern understanding of the subject, despite what Dawkins, who was wrong and an asshole about other things also, claims.) Eldridge followed up the exhibition with a book, Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life, which is a good starting point, though it isn't a general history of Darwin and his times. Instead it focuses on the growth of The Big Idea in Darwin's mind, based on his notebooks, in the (very long) interval between his return from the Beagle voyage and the publication of the Origin.
If you want to really get into it, E. O. Wilson has edited and contributed essays to a single-volume edition of the four biggest of the biggies (Voyage of the Beagle, the Origin, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals.) N.b., James "double helix" Watson published a similar effort but the editions aren't complete, the additional material isn't very extensive, basically it's like he tossed it off in a weekend to make a quick buck off the Darwin bicentennial. Not Recommended, and shame on Watson.
posted by jfuller at 5:24 AM on October 19, 2006
There's Adrian Desmond's Darwin biography. Comprehensive, but long.
posted by Leon at 7:22 AM on October 19, 2006
posted by Leon at 7:22 AM on October 19, 2006
jfuller: How was Dawkins wrong about punctuated equilibrium? I thought his argument against its importance was basically "Everyone knew that evolution didn't move at a constant speed".
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:36 PM on October 19, 2006
posted by Joakim Ziegler at 1:36 PM on October 19, 2006
David Quammen has a new Darwin bio that is short and has gotten good reviews. I've read quite a lot of his other work and I find him an excellent writer.
posted by matildaben at 2:13 PM on October 19, 2006
posted by matildaben at 2:13 PM on October 19, 2006
> How was Dawkins wrong about punctuated equilibrium? I thought his argument against
> its importance was basically "Everyone knew that evolution didn't move at a constant speed".
Exactly. That's phase three of the standard three phases of acceptance of a new scientific idea:
1. It's false.
2. It's trivial, unimportant, or only occurs in a few exceptional cases.
3. We knew it all along.
Reminds me of Grace Hopper revealing that there's nothing new about object-oriented languages, objects were already implicit in COBOL four decades ago.
"We knew it all along" isn't Dawkins' only argument, of course. There's also the smarmy cheap shots, such as the one in The Blind Watchmaker where he refers to the "grandiloquent era…of middle-period punctuationism [which] gave abundant aid and comfort to creationists and other enemies of scientific truth."
posted by jfuller at 5:19 PM on October 19, 2006
> its importance was basically "Everyone knew that evolution didn't move at a constant speed".
Exactly. That's phase three of the standard three phases of acceptance of a new scientific idea:
1. It's false.
2. It's trivial, unimportant, or only occurs in a few exceptional cases.
3. We knew it all along.
Reminds me of Grace Hopper revealing that there's nothing new about object-oriented languages, objects were already implicit in COBOL four decades ago.
"We knew it all along" isn't Dawkins' only argument, of course. There's also the smarmy cheap shots, such as the one in The Blind Watchmaker where he refers to the "grandiloquent era…of middle-period punctuationism [which] gave abundant aid and comfort to creationists and other enemies of scientific truth."
posted by jfuller at 5:19 PM on October 19, 2006
Thanks for the book recommendations. "The Beak of the Finch" looks like a perfect intro, and "Voyage" can't go wrong
posted by stbalbach at 12:07 PM on October 20, 2006
posted by stbalbach at 12:07 PM on October 20, 2006
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posted by owhydididoit at 6:49 PM on October 18, 2006