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Liked It “Clearly biased but a thorough examination of the topic none the less.” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Dennett proposes Darwinian evolution (the random algorithm) is THE only true explanation of biological evolution-- an by extension Dawkins' memes and also by extension excludes Stephen Jay Gould's ideas.
Gary A wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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“If you like to read about Darwin (many don't) this is a great book that combines philosophy with science in explaining evolution.”
Del Ray K wrote this review Monday, September 28 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“Clearly biased but a thorough examination of the topic none the less.”
Darwin wrote this review Thursday, August 6 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Daniel C. Dennett’s book is worthy of its subject matter. That is to say, beautiful in its essence, but complex in its details. Dennett is not trying just to explain Darwin’s core ideas about evolution or natural selection. Rather, he is trying to explain how evolution fits into humanity’s understanding of itself, life and the world. To do so, he has to explain his views on evolution’s context, its implications for human understanding, and the philosophical and scientific currents it rides. He grapples with the emotional uproar that the idea of evolution produced. He works hard to illustrate these concepts, via stories, autobiographical asides, examples, metaphors, drawings, quotes and even jokes. The book is challenging, because of the stimulating content, but absorbing. getAbstract recommends it warmly to readers interested in evolution, and in the intersection of science and culture. Despite its methodical approach, this thoughtful exploration is not for beginners. One other caveat: If you want science blended with faith, Dennett believes that given humanity’s quest for facts, “There is no future in a sacred myth.” He forthrightly tells those who are distressed by this point of view to “close the book now and tiptoe away.””
getAbstract wrote this review Tuesday, April 14 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've had mixed luck with Dennett before, which is why I think I took so long in getting around to read this one. Don't make the same mistake I did. This book is brilliant! It should be noted that by the time I read this I had a secure understanding of evolution. What this book did for me, though, was add some nuance to my thinking about the subject, and painted much of what I already knew in a different light, much to my benefit. I had a few 'aha!' or 'no shit?!?!' moments reading this because of that. I liked it a lot and it's my favorite Dennett book to date.”
Carl S wrote this review Monday, March 30 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I found this very dry reading... maybe I'm not a philosopher at heart.”
Ronin wrote this review Monday, June 2 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I found the opening & ending to be a bit tacky, but this is probably because I have no use for platitudes intended to soften it up for, or bring around those who still believe in tooth fairies & sky bullies. That said, this is probably one of the more important books that attempts to describe evolution as algorithmic processes and the implications this style of thinking should have on our concepts of reality. ”
R. M wrote this review Monday, March 31 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Extremely technical. Stay out of this unless you have a pretty well founded idea of what evolutionary theory can do. If you think you have the ballast, then this book will extend everything that has been thought possible in the domain of evolutionary theory – to the degree that it seems as if evolution is the foundation to everything. A cosmic evolution (not in the narrow our-universe-sense, but deeply and ontologically). As always, Dennett writes the clarity and poetry of very few scientific and philosophical writers. His thought experiments are humouros and feels like going on an intellectual rollercoaster.”
Malte R wrote this review Tuesday, December 11 2007. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
