Charles Darwin and his work is celebrated every year on his birthday, february 12th. Reading his iconic book has been long overdue. Here’s my take on The Origin of Species. 

“He must  be a dull man who can examine the exquisite structures of a comb, so beautifully adapted to its end, without enthusiastic admiration.”
 Charles Darwin commenting on the cell-making instincts of the Hive-Bee.

Last year I read The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwins travel journal from his trip around the globe. I wrote a review and I can wholeheartedly reccommend the book.  The collections he made during the trip, the following studies, and numerous experiments that led him to formulate his famous theory. Not to mention all the correspondance he did with the many experts in various fields. Whenever the term “evolution” is mentioned, it is very easy to picture Charles Darwin being the lone genius figuring things out. After all.. in textbooks his picture his usually right there. But in reality this was far from the truth as there was lots of people influencing Darwins thoughts, work and ultimately the reason that the book got published at all. Darwin was probably still a genius though. Just not a lone genius. 

The book is organized as follows. First there are a few chapters where he discusses how animals and plants varies under domestication and in the wild under nature. He then continues in discussing the struggle for existence between individuals and between species. How that inevitably leads to the survival of the better adapted, or survival of the fittest as the more famous expression puts it. There are a few chapters on difficulties and objections to the theory, the geological record, geographical dispersal of species, hybridism between species, instincts and the book is neatly summed up in the last chapter. 

Most chapters has a little overview in the beginning of the following content, as well as a nice summery at the end of the chapter. So you’d think this is pretty easy read. But no it sure isn’t. Some parts are beautifully written where as other parts are more on the difficult side. Long sentences and complicated grammar makes it to be a much more difficult book than it could have been. But then again it was written almost 160 years ago and languages do change. You might even say they evolve. (pun intended). Darwin was also in a rush because other naturalists were stumbling around with very similar thoughts. Alfred Russel Wallace being the most famous of them. His letter to Darwin actually prompted him to write the book to begin with. Originally Darwin intended to write a much larger and more extensive book with all kinds of evidence, experiments, and detailed notes. But he was forced to write quickly. Which he constantly laments and almost apolagizes for. So I guess that could also make the text more difficult to read. Either way I kind of got around this by listening to the audio book during my commute to work. And then reading the carbon copy before going to bed. The audio book was in english and I mainly read a version in norwegian, but I also flipped through the 150th year anniversary edition in english. Some times I was ahead with audio and other times I was reading ahead. either way it was like deja vu the entire book.

Darwin spends alot of time in the book discussing how skilled breeders are able to change the domestic pidgeon. I’m sure that these examples worked alot better in the Victorian era when this was a very popular hobby. But now this is not very relevant any more. I wonder what species he might have chosen instead if he wrote the book today. 

So what is this evolution business anyway? Well.. Charles Darwin summed it up in the subtitle for his book. The full title of the book is “The Origin of Species by means of natural selection of the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.” See what I mean by long and complicated sentences?

It basically means that all organisms tries to increase in number, but as the resources are limited, this results in competition.  There are slight variations between individuals which gives them slightly different rates of success in this competition. The most successful will propegate and will leave more decendants than the less successful. I think you can boil down the evolutionary principle down to this. 

Or as he puts it himself: 
“As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it vary however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form.”

What really hit me while reading this was Darwins keen sense of observation, his ingenuity and his ability to reason. In the chapter about the geographical dispersal of species he discusses how different animals, plants and birds might spread from a continent to distant islands. It is quite obvious that winds might blow birds to distant islands, but he also discusses how these birds might bring seeds with them. Darwin actually tests how the feet of ducks might carry mud, and therefore also seeds, or how long lots of different seeds are able to survive immersion in salt water as well as in the gut of birds and find that alot of seeds germinate after weeks. He calculates the distance traveled by sea currents in the same amount of days and is therefore able to claim with confidence that almost any island can be populated from distant continents. 

During his travels the young Charles Darwin found fossilized sea shells high up in the Andes and he also experienced a major earthquake. 
” A bad earthquake at once destroys our oldest associations: the earth, the very emblem of solidity, has moved beneath our feet like a thin crust over a fluid; – one second of time has created in the mind a strange idea of insecurity, which hours of reflection would not have produced. “
He wrote extensively about the formation of coral reefs and islands, as well as vulcanic islands. This led him to claim that the earths crust had oscillated up and down many times in geological periods. This would explain how the marine fossils were located high up in mountain ranges. It seems like Darwin were only a tiny bit away from realizing that the surface of our planet is divided into large tectonic plates. He even mentions that the he doesn’t believe that the continents had once been attached to each other due to lack of evidence.

Imagine Darwin getting his hands on dated rock samples from increasing distances from the mid-Atlantic ridge as well as detailed charts of the sea bottom. I think he would be absolutely deligthed!

Would I reccomend this book?
It depends I guess.

If you’ve already read a few books about evolution you won’t find anything new in Origin of Species. But you will find lots of interesting little stories, experiments and thoughts by Mr Darwin himself. And that I can definetely recommend! The last chapter of the book sums up the entire book. So if you’re not inclined to read the entire thing you should at least read that. The article on Wikipedia is a great place to learn more about the book.

If you really want to dive in and get your hands on Darwins letters, publications etc. you should check out Darwin Online

“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.” 

If you want to learn about evolution in general you are probably better off reading a few books by Richard Dawkins. Especially The Selfish Gene or Greatest Show on Earth.

For the Norwegian crowd I can definetely recommend Darwins teori or Evolusjon by Erik Tunstad. Both are great! 

Why should you learn about evolution?

The theory of Evolution connects us to every other living being and proves that we are all related. Just like earthworms, emus and elephants we have evolved into what we are today. Evolution punches a big hole in the belief that humans are separate from nature. There is very little about our nature that does not find its counterpart in other animals. Albeit sometimes in simpler form.
According to the primatologist Frans De Waal whenever we try to specify something that humans are special, after a few years it is discovered in other parts of the animal kingdom. Whether it is the use of tools, use of language, walking on two legs, waging war, and even altruism has its animal counterpart. 

Evolution also punches a big hole in our tendency for essentialism. Meaning our inclination to think that species are fixed enteties in time and space. Biology is a messy field and variety in all kinds of expression is to be expected. It should not come as a surprise that sex, gender and our sexuality is complex. Homosexual behaviour is as natural as anything and has been documented in hundreds of species.

Proper knowledge about evolutionary biology should demolish the human tendency for homophobic attitudes, for racism, gender inequality etc. 

By learning and understanding evolution you will understand how and why almost all fruit and vegetables we eat today didn’t exist in the past, You will understand why we cannot cure the influenza once and for all, why antibiotics work and why resistance to them is a very real danger. we might actually loose that incredible tool in a short time.

“Evolution is the single best idea anyone has ever had” in the words of the contemporary philosopher Daniel Dennett. 

Rating: 6/6

#CharlesDarwin #OriginOfSpecies #Evolution #mementomori #BookReview #bokanmeldelse #DarwinDay

482 books left!

We are already done with the first month of the year and it is time to write about my reading goals.  As well as a few lines about my relationship to audio, ebooks and paper books.

My goal for 2017 was to read at least one book per month, and as early as in june I realized that it would be easy to accomplish that. When the end of december had come and gone I had published 15 reviews and had read quite a few books more than that. 

Several of the books I read last year was first found on Storytel, which basically is an app for audio books here in Norway. You pay a monthly fee and then you listen to as many books as you want. I ride my bicycle for about one hour every day to and from work, so I have plenty of time for radio, podcasts and the already mentioned audio books. And Storytel was the introduction to several of the books I read last year. A couple of the books I listened to was so interesting that I bought them in paper too. I do the same with ebooks books. Some of the books I read or listen to are of such quality that I want them to be a part of my library. 

The different formats have their advantages and their disadvantes for sure. You can listen to your audio books every where you go, but at the same time it is difficult to stay focused. The instinct to avoid large moving objects gets priority over whatever I’m listening to. At least then I’m on my bike and the large approaching object is a bus. ebooks books are great because you can search them quickly, and they don’t take up any space. But then again it difficult to borrow a ebook book from a friend. Bringing it to the beach or the bath tub can quickly become quite expensive. The paper book will never run out of battery, and it is easy to mark it, fold the corners of interesting parts and lend them to friends (the entire book, and not just the folded pages dummy). But then again searching through a paper book for a specific sentence is slow and tedious work. 

I consume books of all formats and I am usually reading at least a couple of books at the same time. Some books I read in bed, other while I’m on the bus and others I listen to whenever I can fit it into my day. But the really good ones I usually buy in several formats. I get all the advantages listed above and I can ignore the downsides. The one thing I miss so far is a link between audio and ebooks. Just as I can read a book on my iPhone, pick up my iPad and continue where I left off. I wish I could do the same when I’m crossing from audio to ebook. 

The children books of old had it all figured out. They were read aloud to you and you were told when to turn the page. Just what I need as an adult too! 

My interest in ancient history, the Middle East, and mythology led me to The Epic of Gilgamesh. I think I’ve heard it mentioned several times in podcasts about history. And then this fall I found it on Storytel, so I thought it was about time to learn more about it.
This poem is regarded as the first great work of literature according to Wikipedia. It is an old sumerian poem and tells the story of Gilgamesh who is king of the city of Uruk. He and his buddy Enkidu fights enemies and after Enkidu is killed, Gilgamesh avenges him. This epic adventure also tells of a huge flood that covered the earth. There are several similarities with the flood story in the Bible. I borrowed this book at the local library and the copy I read even had a line by line comparison. This flood story have probably influenced the authors of the Bible when they compiled their stories. Very interesting read for sure. The Epic of Gilgamesh would be great for a movie for children or even a blockbuster action movie. And its not too long either. 

I am now working my way through the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. I concider it to be one of the most important books of all time. Because it shows the relationships between all living organisms, including us humans. And therefore I’ve got several paper copies of it, I’ve bought it in my Kindle app, and I’m also listening to it. Expect a review coming this way very soon. 

While writing this entry I came across this collection of websites where you can download audio books. 
Knock yourself out! 

Oh yeah.. my reading goals for 2018? Well… Since I managed 15 published reviews in 2017, I will raise that to 20 reviews! 

 

#EpicofGilgamesh #audiobooks #bookreviews #digitalbooks #kindle #paperbooks #mementomori

483 books left!