Wonderful book - tough listen

This was/is a very interesting book. However it was a challenging listen given the scientific vocabulary and referrals to charts (that are not available...). Not sure it is a book to listen to. Still it was most interesting materiel.

10 people found this helpful

Historic ... a must read

I'm not sure I could "read" this book because it goes on forever. But it was good listen. You have to make allowances because of when it was written and tough sell it must have been over the creationists. Even though you already know all the concepts, it still makes one look at nature with a new perspective and marvel at the vast diversity of life.

9 people found this helpful

Great piece of history!

Taking into consideration the time it was written it's great to see how elegantly Darwin discusses reason over faith. (It should be read taking into consideration it's time. Also for the time spent describing fauna and flora it's sometimes a heavy reading)

6 people found this helpful

Classic, but still very relevant

The narration is superb, but Darwin sure did go into a lot of detail that most readers today probably will not be interested in. Still, I'd never take the time to read this myself, so I'm very happy there are narrations like this.

4 people found this helpful

In the beginning...

"Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."

it has been over 40 years since I first read "On the Origin of the Species." From where I stood at that time in my life, being raised in a strictly fundamentalist Christian environment, Darwin's tretise on nature was akin to the "Book of Satan" in my household. The version I read way back then was targeted at young readers but the concept of evolution versus spontaneous creation by a Creator seemed so... strange. And then, to consider the time scale of millions and billions of years for things to evolve versus the mere six thousand years the world had existed according to my familial beliefs was inconceivable.

Thus have been the mental wrestlings of many people who want to believe this fantastic story of creation but are nagged by the questions that scripture doesn't answer and can't be satisfied by merely accepting the pat answer that "such are the mysterious ways of God."

I was inspired to return to Darwin's seminal work while reading "Way of All Flesh" as it was written contemporaneous to "Origin's" recent publishing and wide circulation and the accompanying cultural and spiritual battle it was fueling in the realms of both academia and the church.

To many, Darwin's theory was tantamount to heresy. But when you realize the dozens upon dozens of prior tretises in all scientific fields accompanied by Darwin's own decades of research and observation that formed the basis of his thinking and understanding the unfathomable resistance he knew was about to fall upon him from those who diametrically opposed any suggestions of an evolutionary process, you realize how not only important, but, how brave this work was.

And still is.

3 people found this helpful

What an intellect!

Little did I know that Darwin was such an incredibly well rounded scientist! He made his own very detailed observations, but he also knew the worlds scientific literature. He had detailed knowledge of biology ecology geology and paleontology. His ability to reason and discover circular arguments in other peoples logic is impressive. He made very solid arguments substantiated by major pieces of evidence at a time when only dogmatic religious views dominated the intellectual world. To this day we owe him a debt of gratitude!

2 people found this helpful

Groundbreaking book.

He describes the evolutionary process in such depth and provides so much evidence that it really is a wonder that people still doubt it to this day. The first addition is a little easier to get through, but this (the 6th) edition addresses all of the faulty arguments put forth by his critics at the time. After all, it’s only a theory, just like gravity.

2 people found this helpful

climate change is enviable

Read more, learn more. The more you know, the more you can fight back against ignorance.

1 person found this helpful

Not the first edition.

For those who care about these things, this audiobook is based on a later edition of the book--probably the sixth, though this is not specified in the description. If you're looking for the first edition, try the Penguin audiobook.

1 person found this helpful

Darwin’s classic still reigns supreme!

In addition to the elucidation of his irrefutable “descent with modification “ concept, Darwin’s superlative use of the English language, enhanced greatly by narrator selected for this audio recording, causes this work to be nothing short of a pure delight!