The Greatest Show on Earth

the evidence for evolution

1st Free Press hardcover edition
  • 4.57 ·
  • 14 Ratings
  • 55 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 24 Have read

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 4.57 ·
  • 14 Ratings
  • 55 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 24 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by ImportBot
December 20, 2023 | History

The Greatest Show on Earth

the evidence for evolution

1st Free Press hardcover edition
  • 4.57 ·
  • 14 Ratings
  • 55 Want to read
  • 2 Currently reading
  • 24 Have read

Sifting through rich layers of scientific evidence, Dawkins' "The Greatest Show on Earth" is a stunning counterattack on advocates of "Intelligent Design," explaining the evidence for evolution while exposing the absurdities of the creationist "argument."

Publish Date
Publisher
Free Press
Language
English
Pages
470

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth
2010, Free Press
Cover of: Greatest Show on Earth
Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
2010, Transworld Publishers Limited
in English
Cover of: The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth: the evidence for evolution
2009, Free Press
hardcover in English - 1st Free Press hardcover edition
Cover of: The greatest show on Earth
The greatest show on Earth: the evidence for evolution
2009, Bantam
in English

Add another edition?

Book Details


Published in

New York

Table of Contents

Only a theory?
Dogs, cows, and cabbages
The primrose path to macro-evolution
Silence and slow time
Before our very eyes
Missing link? What do you mean, 'missing'?
Missing persons? Missing no longer
You did it yourself in nine months
The ark of the continents
The tree of cousinship
History written all over us
Arms races and 'evolutionary theodicy'
There is grandeur in this view of life
Appendix. The history-deniers.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (p. [447]-454) and index.

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
576.8
Library of Congress
QH366.2 .D374 2009, QH366.2 .D374 2009b

The Physical Object

Format
hardcover
Pagination
ix, 470 p., 32 p. of plates
Number of pages
470

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL24391629M
Internet Archive
greatestshowonea00dawk
ISBN 10
1416594787, 1416597786
ISBN 13
9781416594789, 9781416597780
LCCN
2009025330, 2011377118
OCLC/WorldCat
311765210

Work Description

Britain's greatest science writer comprehensively rebuts the creationists by pulling together the incontrovertible evidence for evolution. Charles Darwin's masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, shook society to its core on publication in 1859. Darwin was only too aware of the storm his theory of evolution would provoke but he would surely have raised an incredulous eyebrow at the controversy still raging a century and a half later. Evolution is accepted as scientific fact by all reputable scientists and indeed theologians, yet millions of people continue to question its veracity. In The Greatest Show on Earth Richard Dawkins takes on creationists, including followers of 'Intelligent Design' and all those who question the fact of evolution through natural selection. Like a detective arriving on the scene of a crime, he sifts through fascinating layers of scientific facts and disciplines to build a cast-iron case: from the living examples of natural selection in birds and insects; the 'time clocks' of trees and radioactive dating that calibrate a timescale for evolution; the fossil record and the traces of our earliest ancestors; to confirmation from molecular biology and genetics. All of this, and much more, bears witness to the truth of evolution. The Greatest Show on Earth comes at a critical time: systematic opposition to the fact of evolution is now flourishing as never before, especially in America. In Britain and elsewhere in the world, teachers witness insidious attempts to undermine the status of science in their classrooms. Richard Dawkins provides unequivocal evidence that boldly and comprehensively rebuts such nonsense. At the same time he shares with us his palpable love of the natural world and the essential role that science plays in its interpretation. Written with elegance, wit and passion, it is hard-hitting, absorbing and totally convincing.

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
December 20, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
September 6, 2023 Edited by Ruslana Binko //covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6257082-S.jpg
August 16, 2023 Edited by oploskoffie Edited without comment.
December 22, 2021 Edited by dcapillae merge authors
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page