Mention Books Conducive To Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
| Original Title: | Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life |
| ISBN: | 068482471X (ISBN13: 9780684824710) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Literary Awards: | Pulitzer Prize Nominee for General Nonfiction (1996), National Book Award Finalist for Nonfiction (1995) |
Daniel C. Dennett
Paperback | Pages: 588 pages Rating: 4.04 | 14120 Users | 265 Reviews
Specify About Books Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
| Title | : | Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life |
| Author | : | Daniel C. Dennett |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 588 pages |
| Published | : | June 12th 1996 by Simon Schuster (first published May 10th 1995) |
| Categories | : | Science. Philosophy. Nonfiction. Biology. Evolution. History |
Narrative As Books Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
In a book that is both groundbreaking and accessible, Daniel C. Dennett, whom Chet Raymo of The Boston Globe calls "one of the most provocative thinkers on the planet," focuses his unerringly logical mind on the theory of natural selection, showing how Darwin's great idea transforms and illuminates our traditional view of humanity's place in the universe. Dennett vividly describes the theory itself and then extends Darwin's vision with impeccable arguments to their often surprising conclusions, challenging the views of some of the most famous scientists of our day.Rating About Books Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
Ratings: 4.04 From 14120 Users | 265 ReviewsDiscuss About Books Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life
A slog. Dennet's prose is seldom clear, too much time spent on arguing about words. Most of Dennet's digressions (70% of the book) seem designed to signal the author's breadth of learning rather than to promote understanding.I hate to abandon a book before I finish it, but some books just force my hand in the matter. I picked up this book because I had always heard of Daniel Dennett, as he is one of the infamous "Four Horsemen of Atheism" (also including Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchins). I wanted to read some of his work, saw this book, and thought the title provocative. However, the more I read, the more of a chore it became just to pick up the book. I don't want to give the wrong impression -
This should not be anyone's first book about evolution, natural selection or Charles Darwin. Dennett, and this book in particular, was referenced in so many other books I'd read on evolution that I felt I needed to read one of his, but was somewhat surprised to find myself in something so abstract that I occasionally had trouble following him. If you're looking for a book about the nuts and bolts of evolution and natural selection this is not it. On the other hand, for those who are scientists,
As I neared the end of my second month of slogging through this book, I asked myself, "What keeps you going? Each night you read a page or two, re-read half of those, and then start again the next night."The answer is that this book is so dense and well written that it deserves to be savored and thought about. For an evolutionary neophyte like myself (both in evolutionary time, and in terms of how much I know about the concept of evolution) the book has some fairly difficult and complex
1. Roughly 47% of Americans believe the theories in this book to be complete and utter bullshit at best, and at worst the work of the devil. That same 47 percent of the population that doesnt believe in evolution also do not believe in the Sumerians or Dinosaurs. There is nothing that can be said to make them see that they could possibly be wrong about the world being created roughly 6,500 years ago, but that is fine because I believe the world was actually created 10 seconds ago, and it was
For those of you Game of Thrones fans, Daniel Dennett is like the George R. R. Martin of Darwin. For those of you Darwin fans, George R. R. Martin is like the Daniel Dennett of Dungeons & Dragons. For those of you Dungeons & Dragons fans, you're probably already familiar with both George R. R. Martin and Daniel Dennett, so I guess you guys (probably not girls, but maybe) are the intended audience of this review. Before going any further did you ever notice how Daniel Dennett and George
In this book Dennett makes an authoritative case against the necessity of what he calls "skyhooks" in order to explain life and meaning. Skyhooks are the deus ex machina of science, invented to make the case for human exceptionalism. Dennett's able to show that evolutionary theory can dissolve just about any argument in favor of skyhooks into plain, old-fashioned incrementalism.The vast majority of the book is devoted to this topic; considerably fewer pages are allocated to describing how
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