Chapter-by-chapter thoughts on Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution
by John C. Snider © 2009
Chapter 13: There is grandeur in this view of life
Well, here we are: the big finish. Dawkins chooses to close his book by taking the last half of the last paragraph of Charles Darwin’s magnum opus On the Origin of Species and offering his own ruminations one each phrase. It’s a little awkward, to be honest; in the end, it comes across like the overly-detailed commentaries offered by fundamentalist evangelicals, where they provide whole essays on the meaning and context of each word in a Bible verse.
To be fair, Dawkins doesn’t slavishly praise Darwin’s every word. For example, he objects to Darwin’s claim that the higher animals are “the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving.” Dawkins argues instead that human achievements, from great art to great architecture–even love itself–might better fill that position.
Dawkins also carefully hews to the original (i.e. first edition) wording of the text, noting that the phrase “by the Creator” was only placed in later editions, presumably because Darwin was feeling public pressure for the godless nature of his theory. Fair enough, but I can’t help but wonder had it been the other way around–had Darwin included “by the Creator” in his first edition and removed it from subsequent editions–which text would Dawkins have used?
Dawkins wraps up his commentary by speculating on how abiogenesis (how life could have arisen from inanimate matter) might have occurred. He notes that, while DNA needs certain enzymes to catalyze, RNA (a kindred molecule) has both replicative and enzymatic capabilities, and therefore may have been the precursor for DNA-based life. I don’t claim to understand, except in the crudest sense, how this all works, but it I find it interesting that scientists are able to speculate in a meaningful way as to the chemical steps that might have lead to life on earth.
Appendix: The history-deniers
Although he covered it at the beginning of the book, Dawkins tacks on this appendix to discuss in more detail the overall views of the public, both in America and in Europe, toward evolution by natural selection. As he pointed out in Chapter 1, roughly 40 percent of the American public denies evolution, and in Britain it’s around 20%. Depending on which European country you look at, anywhere from 7% (Iceland) to 51% (Turkey) discount the theory of evolution. So we’ve got our work cut out for us.
Overall, The Greatest Show on Earth is a worthy addition to the Dawkins oeuvre. It’s not his best book, and sometimes he is his own worst enemy when it comes to his stated goals of public outreach. In retrospect, he might have been more effective had he started out by quoting the disheartening poll results but avoiding name-calling, and just launched into the business of convincing readers by the power of his evidence. Still, Dawkins’ bite is part of what makes his books sell, so perhaps a watered-down Dawkins would not be nearly so interesting. If nothing else, he keeps the debate in the news, and in that regard, at least, he performs an invaluable service.
The Greatest Show on Earth is available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 12.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 11.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 10.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 9.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 8.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 7.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 6.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 5.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 4.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 3.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 2.
Read my thoughts on Chapter 1.
I refuse to ignore the test blog entry! :-) Nice review, BTW…I found myself agreeing with you through most of it. I felt a little let down overall by the new book myself.