The first book I have chosen to blog about is called The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins. Mr. Dawkins has written a number of thought provoking books over the years. The Selfish Gene and the Blind Watchmaker are both other books by him that I have read previously and enjoyed.
The purpose of the book is quite evident and the author does not waste any time in letting the reader know that he wrote the book to counter the claims of the proponents of "Intelligent Design" by explaining evolution.
I have yet to read the entire book but in the beginning chapters the author guides the reader into the first part of his argument by showing how various gene pools of plants and animals have been changed over the years by both natural and artificial selection.
In the section that discusses natural selection he explains why the male of a certain bird species has much brighter plumage then the female of the same species and how the female bird helped this process by preferring to mate with males that possess bright plumage. In the section that covers artificial selection he highlights how human selection in plants and dogs have produced offspring of both that have little resemblance to their gene pool ancestors.
Stay tuned for more on this book!
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