By MICHAEL RUSE - JOHN BARBER - THE GLOBE AND MAIL
Added: Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:00:00 UTC

Thanks to Mark for the link.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/endless-forms-most-beautiful-indeed/article1309860/

Famously, Richard Dawkins has said: “It is absolutely safe to say that, if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in evolution, that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I'd rather not consider that).” In his new book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, Dawkins sets out to show why he holds that opinion. When you are finished reading, you may be stupid or insane, perhaps even wicked, but you will certainly not be ignorant.

In making the case for evolution, Dawkins follows the path set about 150 years ago by Charles Darwin in his Origin of Species. First, there is a careful and detailed discussion of the ways in which humans have changed species through selective breeding. So, for instance, paralleling Darwin's discussion of the changes wrought in pigeons, Dawkins tells us about Russian geneticist Dmitri Belyaev, who bred foxes for tameness, and the wondrous changes that came about in just a very few generations – staggering evidence of the power of what today's evolutionists call differential reproduction.

It is (the equivalent of) this latter that we get in abundance for evolution – the fossil record, the Galapagos tortoises and finches, the isomorphisms (homologies) between the forelimb of human, horse, bat, bird, porpoise and now, today, the homologies at the molecular level between organisms as different as humans and fruit flies. I am not sure about being wicked, but this is what makes denial of evolution stupid bordering on insanity.
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http://www.theglobeandmail.com/books/endless-forms-most-beautiful-indeed/article1309860/
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TAGGED: BOOKS, REVIEWS, RICHARD DAWKINS