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On the Origin of Species

By: Charles Darwin
Narrated by: Peter Wickham
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Publisher's Summary

Perhaps the most influential science book ever written, On the Origin of Species has continued to fascinate for more than a century after its initial publication. Its controversial theory that populations evolve and adapt through a process known as natural selection led to heated scientific, philosophical, and religious debate, revolutionizing every discipline in its wake. With its clear, concise, and surprisingly enjoyable prose, On the Origin of Species is both captivating and edifying.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

Public Domain (P)2016 Naxos AudioBooks

What listeners say about On the Origin of Species

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A book that transformed the way we think of the world

This long book is not for everyone, but if you want to get an insight into thinking in the mid to late 1800's then I could recommend listening patiently. I thoroughly enjoyed start to finish.

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3 people found this helpful

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I should had listened to this ages ago

Awesome journey. I struggled with the sections on plants but the rest was straight forward. The guy really loves pigeons.

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  • 26-11-2018

Beautiful writing

Loved this book considering the subject Darwin’s writing its a real treat. I put reading this book off for many years because I had preconceived ideas about it. I recommend this book to anyone it’s a real treat enjoy!

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Overall?.... I personally would have preferred David Attenborough, but

Credit needs to be given where it is deserved and Darwin’s efforts are nothing short of someone worthy of historical comment however, I personally wasn’t convinced by Darwin’s argument and did not enjoy his argumentative efforts: Although, his experiments are definitely worth the read/listen and the life dedication coupled with commitment put forward by Darwin is worthy of historical mention as it is, but flawed.
The narrator was very much suited to the task! Well done
Take out Darwin’s argument and replace with David Attenborough’s spirit and it would have been much more WOW in my humble opinion.
‘One cannot comment on something with 100% conviction unless one is complete on all the facts and without doubt; does anyone obtain this qualification? Especially pertaining to experiments that are imperfect and our assumptions as human beings are always muddled with bias, personal experience, individual perception and environmental influence to name a few: ‘Darwin falls within this category’.... as do we all
Again... lastly... great experiments and descriptions that the reader may enjoy and info that ‘can be built upon’, but ‘not completely relied upon’

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The best scientific discovery

This book details a groundbreaking discovery that lead to the understanding of how life evolved starting from microorganisms. It meticulously describes the process of evolution and involved a tremendous amount of research and analysis. This finding completely changed the way we think about living beings and dispelled the belief that life was created. Charles Darwin must have had a high degree of conviction and courage to publish his findings.

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Beautiful

I've read a lot of academic papers in my time, and many of them are written - either incidentally or deliberately - to be impenetrable by layman minds. However, even though this work by Darwin was written so long ago, it is so well written that some parts read almost like poetry. The final sentence of the of the book is a good example. I only wish Dawin could have seen how prophetic so many of his estimates of what we would learn in the future ultimately were.

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