Darwin's book

[RedDragon94]

How many of us have read Origin of Species? What did you think of it?

 

[Altfish]

I've dabbled in and out of it; I have a reprint copy.

What do I think of it? Well it's ok but it is of its time (ie 1850's) and not the easiest read. BUT it is still ground breaking.

 

[Valjean]

Tedious.

 

[RedDragon94]

I've dabbled in and out of it; I have a reprint copy.

What do I think of it? Well it's ok but it is of its time (ie 1850's) and not the easiest read. BUT it is still ground breaking.

I have a copy that I purchased a while ago. I might dabble in it as well.

 

[RedDragon94]

Tedious.

Old language usage?

 

[Altfish]

I've dabbled in and out of it; I have a reprint copy.

What do I think of it? Well it's ok but it is of its time (ie 1850's) and not the easiest read. BUT it is still ground breaking.

Having said that, has anyone tried a modern science book? One that is supposed to be 'popular' A Brief History of Time is even harder work!!

 

[The Reverend Bob]

Old language usage?

Darwin could be a bit too florid, I want science not poetry

 

[RedDragon94]

Darwin could be a bit too florid, I want science not poetry

Oh, I might enjoy this then.

 

[Skwim]

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Don't care for verbose 19th century English. Bores me to sleep, which is why I never got very far in the book. Plus the fact that so many statements bear correcting that it's pretty useless. I started reading it only out of curiosity.

For those who want to take a look at it, click HERE.

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[Skwim]

Having said that, has anyone tried a modern science book? One that is supposed to be 'popular' A Brief History of Time is even harder work!!

That's probably because time is more abstract than evolution. Hence, more of a challenge.

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[Evangelicalhumanist]

Yes, I've read it, and still have a copy at home. At my age (don't ask!), Victorian language is a little less foreign than for many these days, but even still, yes, it's not an easy read. And I agree with @Skwim that it does contain errors and omissions. This is hardly surprising, considering the massive amount of data that Darwin was examining, entirely on his own.

But the joy of reading it is to come face to face with the pure genius of his thought, given what he had to work with. And here I'll make a seeming contradiction: where I said he had a "massive amount of data," it is also true that he had a miniscule amount of data compared to what is available online with a few keystrokes today. And what all that immense amount of new data shows, and shows clearly, is just how much Darwin achieved with what he had.