The Blind Watchmaker Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design

Richard Dawkins’s classic remains the definitive argument for our modern understanding of evolution. The Blind Watchmaker is the seminal text for understanding evolution today. In the eighteenth century, theologian William Paley developed a famous metaphor for creationism: that of the skilled watchmaker. In The Blind Watchmaker, Richard Dawkins crafts an elegant riposte to show that the complex process of Darwinian natural selection is unconscious and automatic. If natural selection can be said to play the role of a watchmaker in nature, it is a blind one—working without foresight or purpose. In an eloquent, uniquely persuasive account of the theory of natural selection, Dawkins illustrates how simple organisms slowly change over time to create a world of enormous complexity, diversity, and beauty.

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The Blind Watchmaker

From the author of The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker has been acclaimed as the most influential work on evolution in the last hundred years. In 1802 the Rev. William Paley's argued in Natural Theology that just as finding a watch would lead you to conclude that a watchmaker must exist, the complexity of living organisms proves that a Creator exists. Not so, says Richard Dawkins, and in this brilliant and controversial book, the acclaimed evolutionary biologist sets out to demonstrate that the theory of evolution by natural selection - the unconscious, automatic, blind yet essentially non-random process discovered by Charles Darwin - is the only answer to the biggest question of all: why do we exist? 'I want to persuade the reader, not just that the Darwinian world-view happens to be true, but that it is the only known theory that could, in principle, solve the mystery of our existence' To Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker is nature itself, gradually forming order from the very building-blocks of life: DNA. 'This might just be the most important evolution book since Darwin' John Gribbin 'Richard Dawkins has updated evolution ... his subject is nothing less than the meaning of life' The Times 'Enchantingly witty and persusive ... pleasurably intelligible to the scientifically illiterate' Observer Richard Dawkins is a Fellow of both the Royal Society and the Royal Society of Literature, and Vice President of the British Humanist Association. He was first catapulted to fame with The Selfish Gene, which he followed with a string of bestselling books: The Extended Phenotype, The Blind Watchmaker, River Out of Eden, Unweaving the Rainbow, and an impassioned defence of atheism, The God Delusion.

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Books by Richard Dawkins the Selfish Gene the Blind Watchmaker the Extended Phenotype the Ancestor s Tale the God Delusion

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New Scientist

New Scientist magazine was launched in 1956 "for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery, and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences". The brand's mission is no different today - for its consumers, New Scientist reports, explores and interprets the results of human endeavour set in the context of society and culture.

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New Scientist

New Scientist magazine was launched in 1956 "for all those men and women who are interested in scientific discovery, and in its industrial, commercial and social consequences". The brand's mission is no different today - for its consumers, New Scientist reports, explores and interprets the results of human endeavour set in the context of society and culture.

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Civilizations development and species origin technologies

The origin of life on Earth is the basic view of the world’s concept. At present, its origin and development are treated either from the scientific evolutionary theory points of view or religious mythological ones. At the same time, the evolutionary theory fails to provide grounded explanations to a lot of events which have happened and are observed in nature. The data related to the complexity of life processes genetic programming and many biology and palaeontological facts cast doubt on the possibility of spontaneous occurrence of protein organisms during evolutionary transformations. They indicate that the protein life development occurred in the direction of the planned improvement through the complex technology’s implementation which requires specific scientific knowledge. Therefore, the necessity to formulate the new technological concept of the life appearance on Earth which is provided by the given book has occurred. It summarizes numerous well-known facts which are being interpreted as the result of the highly developed civilization technological developments. The stated views have more grounds for existence than the evolutionary theory and biblical ideas about the divine creation of the world. The fact that society treats all the ideas of the life creation as religious ones and that they are used by the theologians turns out to be the ideological problem. The book is aimed at overcoming the barrier of such non-perception. The analysis performed allows the reader to understand in which cases random events occur, and in which ones there is a logical purposeful intelligent activity, the result of which is the development of self-replicating protein organisms programmed to perform the work necessary to meet the needs of their creators on Earth. Reflections on the possible material nature of the highly developed mind carriers are given. According to the author, a human being is not a passive observer of random evolutionary changes in nature, but has his mission in the artificially developed system of energy supply of Earth along with other protein organisms. If the protein world, including humans, has been created for a specific purpose, then mankind must not violate its implementation and should follow its mission. A new worldview should introduce changes in the main mankind’s activity spheres: science, politics, religion and the human being’s personal life. The book is designed for a wide range of readers of various specialties. Conceptually, it is important for people who do not share the evolutionary theory provisions and existing religious beliefs.

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The Extended Phenotype

In The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins crystallized the gene's eye view of evolution developed by W.D. Hamilton and others. The book provoked widespread and heated debate. Written in part as a response, The Extended Phenotype gave a deeper clarification of the central concept of the gene as the unit of selection; but it did much more besides. In it, Dawkins extended the gene's eye view to argue that the genes that sit within an organism have an influence that reaches out beyond the visible traits in that body - the phenotype - to the wider environment, which can include other individuals. So, for instance, the genes of the beaver drive it to gather twigs to produce the substantial physical structure of a dam; and the genes of the cuckoo chick produce effects that manipulate the behaviour of the host bird, making it nurture the intruder as one of its own. This notion of the extended phenotype has proved to be highly influential in the way we understand evolution and the natural world. It represents a key scientific contribution to evolutionary biology, and it continues to play an important role in research in the life sciences. The Extended Phenotype is a conceptually deep book that forms important reading for biologists and students. But Dawkins' clear exposition is accessible to all who are prepared to put in a little effort. Oxford Landmark Science books are 'must-read' classics of modern science writing which have crystallized big ideas, and shaped the way we think.

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The View from Mount Improbable

In May 2005 Penguin will publish 70 unique titles to celebrate the company's 70th birthday. The titles in the Pocket Penguins series are emblematic of the renowned breadth of quality of the Penguin list and will hark back to Penguin founder Allen Lane's vision of good books for all'. In this extract from Climbing Mount Improbable Richard Dawkins, bestselling author of The Blind Watchmaker, gives an introduction to evolutionary biology and unravels the mysteries of the highest peak of all: the eye.

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Working and Winning Or The Deaf Boy s Triumph

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From Poor House to Pulpit or The Triumphs of the Late Dr John Kitto

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First Things

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Die Dschungelb cher

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Science in the Soul

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Richard Dawkins - author of The Selfish Gene, The Blind Watchmaker, and The God Delusion - is one of science's greatest communicators. This anthology of more than forty pieces is a kaleidoscopic argument for the power and the glory of science. Breathtaking, brilliant and passionate, these essays, journalism, lectures and letters make an unanswerable case for the wonder of scientific discovery and its power to stir the imagination; for the practical necessity of scientific endeavour to society; and for the importance of the scientific way of thinking – particularly in today’s ‘post-truth’ world. With an introduction and new commentary by the author, subjects range from evolution and Darwinian natural selection to the role of scientist as prophet, whether science is itself a religion, the probability of alien life in other worlds, and the beauties, cruelties and oddities of earthly life in this one. Alongside the explications, the celebrations and the controversies are wonderfully funny ventures into satire and parody, and moving personal reflections in memory and honour of others. Science in the Soul is a sparkling showcase for Professor Dawkins' rapier wit, the clarity, precision and vigour he brings to an argument, the beauty of his prose, the depth of his feeling and his capacity for joy.

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Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith

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The Participatory Mind

We take I.Q. tests but not Compassion Aptitude tests. Yet mind and emotions need to be seen as two different parts of the same spectrum if the battered human psyche is to be mended. Skolimowski sees the opportunity for a new order to be brought about if the Western mind can return to, then reintegrate, the spiritual.

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Reason in the Balance

A critique of the all-pervasive naturalistic assumptions and presuppositions in American academia, government, and the judiciary, and their effect on education, public policy, and law.

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In Focus

Native and nonnative speakers who need a concise guide to academic writing will appreciate this useful book. In Focus: Strategies for Academic Writers covers a wide variety of common academic writing tasks, including paragraphs, summaries, short essays, critical reviews, synthesis papers, argumentative papers, research papers, and impromptu response writing. This textbook incorporates the process approach to writing and presents strategies for every aspect of the pre-writing and writing process. The Focus Approach helps students analyze the writing task at hand and clarify the goals of their projects, while the Power Writing Process allows students to complete the writing and revision of their assignments one step at a time. The textbook also addresses the problem of writer's block and provides techniques to help students cope with anxiety associated with writing. This is the first book in a two-book IN FOCUS writing series. Myra Shulman is faculty, Georgetown University.

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Of Pandas and People

Is a controversial work. Gives the pros and cons of both the biological-evolution theory and the intelligent-design concept.

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Climbing Mount Improbable

How could such an intricate object as the human eye - so complex and so precise - have come about by chance? In this masterful piece of popular science, Richard Dawkins builds a powerful and carefully reasoned argument for evolutionary adapatation as the force behind all life on earth. The metaphor of 'Mount Improbable' represents the combination of perfection and improbability that we find in the seemingly 'designed' complexity of living things. And through it all runs the thread of DNA, the molecule of life, responsible for its own destiny on an unending pilgrimage through time. Evocative illustrations accompany Dawkins' eloquent descriptions of astonishing adaptations in the living world.

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Books do Furnish a Life

'Richard Dawkins is a thunderously gifted science writer.' Sunday Times Including conversations with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Steven Pinker, Matt Ridley and more, this is an essential guide to the most exciting ideas of our time and their proponents from our most brilliant science communicator. Books Do Furnish a Life is divided by theme, including celebrating nature, exploring humanity, and interrogating faith. For the first time, it brings together Richard Dawkins' forewords, afterwords and introductions to the work of some of the leading thinkers of our age - Carl Sagan, Lawrence Krauss, Jacob Bronowski, Lewis Wolpert - with a selection of his reviews to provide an electrifying celebration of science writing, both fiction and non-fiction. It is also a sparkling addition to Dawkins' own remarkable canon of work.

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