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The Origin of Species -Charles Darwin
The Origin of Species -Charles Darwin
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THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES : Collins Classics Novel

Charles Darwin
BRAND NEW, PAPERBACK

RM14.00

Presents The Theory That Populations Evolve Over Time Through Natural Selection — The Process Whereby Organisms Are Better Adapted To Their Environment For Survive & Produce More Offspring

ISBN 9780007902231
Book Condition BRAND NEW
Format PAPERBACK
Publisher HarperCollins Classics
Publication Date 22 Mar 2012
Pages 624
Weight 0.38 kg
Dimension 18 × 11 × 4 cm
Availability: 1 in stock

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The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England on November 24, 1859. Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.”
 
Charles Darwin’s seminal work is widely considered the most influential scientific treatise of the 19th century. Darwin presents the theory that populations evolve over time through natural selection—the process whereby organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring, which often inherit and perpetuate those advantageous characteristics. It also put forward the theory of common descent, which proposed that biological diversity was the result of a branching pattern of evolution from a common ancestor.
 
In natural selection, organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate more descendants than organisms of the same species that lack the variation, thus influencing the overall genetic makeup of the species.


Darwin’s book introduced the scientific theory that populations evolve over the course of generations through a process of natural selection. The book presented a body of evidence that the diversity of life arose by common descent through a branching pattern of evolution. Darwin included evidence that he had collected on the Beagle expedition in the 1830s and his subsequent findings from research, correspondence, and experimentation.
 
Various evolutionary ideas had already been proposed to explain new findings in biology. There was growing support for such ideas among dissident anatomists and the general public, but during the first half of the 19th century the English scientific establishment was closely tied to the Church of England, while science was part of natural theology.
 
Ideas about the transmutation of species were controversial as they conflicted with the beliefs that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and that humans were unique, unrelated to other animals. The political and theological implications were intensely debated, but transmutation was not accepted by the scientific mainstream.
 
The book was written for non-specialist readers and attracted widespread interest upon its publication. Darwin was already highly regarded as a scientist, so his findings were taken seriously and the evidence he presented generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion.
 
Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on key facts and the inferences drawn from them, which biologist Ernst Mayr summarised as follows:
● Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived to reproduce, the population would grow (fact).
● Despite periodic fluctuations, populations remain roughly the same size (fact).
● Resources such as food are limited and are relatively stable over time (fact).
● A struggle for survival ensues (inference).
● Individuals in a population vary significantly from one another (fact).
● Much of this variation is heritable (fact).
● Individuals less suited to the environment are less likely to survive and less likely to reproduce; individuals more suited to the environment are more likely to survive and more likely to reproduce and leave their heritable traits to future generations, which produces the process of natural selection (fact).
● This slowly effected process results in populations changing to adapt to their environments, and ultimately, these variations accumulate over time to form new species (inference).
 
Darwin, who was influenced by the work of French naturalist Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck and the English economist Thomas Malthus, acquired most of the evidence for his theory during a five-year surveying expedition aboard the HMS Beagle in the 1830s. Visiting such diverse places as the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, Darwin acquired an intimate knowledge of the flora, fauna, and geology of many lands. This information, along with his studies in variation and interbreeding after returning to England, proved invaluable in the development of his theory of organic evolution.
 
The idea of organic evolution was not new. It had been suggested earlier by, among others, Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus Darwin, a distinguished English scientist, and Lamarck, who in the early 19th century drew the first evolutionary diagram—a ladder leading from one-celled organisms to man. However, it was not until Darwin that science presented a practical explanation for the phenomenon of evolution.
 
In the book’s introduction, Darwin recounts conceiving of his theory when he traveled as a professional naturalist on a ship called the HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836. On board, he kept a journal of data about his observations, even writing a rough draft of what would be his conclusions before acquiring all of the necessary supporting evidence.
 
After 20 years keeping the findings to himself because he feared a public rejection that could ruin his life, he published them in the form of On the Origin of Species when a colleague named Alfred Russel Wallace sent him a letter about similar findings.
 
In the book’s first chapters, Darwin explains the skeleton of his theory. In each biological generation of an organism, animals and plants create many more individuals than nature can sustain with the appropriate resources. Though they can be categorized together, these organisms are all unique at some level in their behavior and physical profiles, and are able to pass on their features to successive generations.
 
In each new generation, the individuals who are best equipped to survive their environment gain an advantage, progressively adapting to fit the demands the environment imposes on them. This theory explains, for example, the evolution of men from apes, who evolved by using their developing capacity to form tools and metaphors to defeat other tribes of apes that impinged on their territory or threatened their lives.
 
After explicating his theory, Darwin discusses the many different obstacles he encountered while trying to publish the book. He notes early on that he intends for it to become a founding text of a new era of biological science, trickling into other fields including religious studies, anthropology, and classics.
 
However, at the time of his revelations, the predominant explanation for the origins of life was a creationist one, which asserted that an omnipotent and infallible god was responsible for the features, arrangement, and variety of all of life.
 
Darwin’s views differ because they necessitate a rejection of the notion of a single divine creator and posit that the traits of individuals matter in the evolutionary process. It also differs by proposing that all organisms share a common ancestor.
 
Very aware that his evolutionary theory might clash with religious people, Darwin frequently refers and responds to creationist theories in his novel, showing how his evolutionary theory offers better explanations for the phenomena they are addressing.
 
He also discounts all evidence that is non-factual, in contrast to religious biologists who would often incorporate baseless ideology in their findings. Though Darwin remains neutral about whether or not a divine creator exists, he takes care to position his work so that it can be understood by religious people.
 
In Darwin’s conclusion, he goes so far as to suggest that a creator did indeed exist at the very beginning, breathing “life” into the first organism so that it could propagate and create more complexity over time. In other words, while he postulates that life could have a divine origin, it was later taken over by the “natural” processes of variation, mutation, and natural selection that continue to define how life goes on today.
 
By the time of Darwin’s death in 1882, his theory of evolution was generally accepted. In honor of his scientific work, he was buried in Westminster Abbey beside kings, queens, and other illustrious figures from British history. Subsequent developments in genetics and molecular biology led to modifications in accepted evolutionary theory, but Darwin’s ideas remain central to the field.
 
This Charles Darwin’s classic that exploded into public controversy, revolutionized the course of science, and continues to transform our views of the world. Darwin’s theory of evolution has long excited controversy and, at times, outright hostility, but it has prevailed within the scientific establishment and is foundational to the field of evolutionary biology.
 
Thinkers and writers in other fields have co-opted many of the ideas Darwin put forth in this work, using them to justify arguments for or against colonialism, free-market economics, and creationism, among other practices and ideas.
 
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About the Author
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was an English geologist and naturalist who is best known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. In 1853, the Royal Society presented him with the Royal Medal for his studies of geological formations and fossils. He is buried in Westminster Abbey, near the grave of Isaac Newton.
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