(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

Having found that I'm hopelessly addicted to popular science books, especially those dealing with evolution, natural selection, and other wonders of biology, I promised myself that I'd pick up this foundational classic at some point. So much of what I had known previously about Origin was from reading the works of Dawkins, Quammen, and others, and I felt it was vitally important to take up Darwin's masterpiece and see for myself what he had to say. It is quite safe to say it was an excellent decision, and Origin stands up just as well in 2009 as it did when it was published 150 years ago.

Darwin's enthusiasm for the natural world comes through strongly on every page. I can easily imagine him sitting in his workshop, encouraging me, the reader, to see what he sees, to notice the details he explains with such passion. And he does not skip the scientific data. Darwin's arguments are strongly based on observation, experimentation, and an amazing convergence of multiple disciplines. Throughout the book, the reader feels he might be sitting in a room while Darwin leads a fascinating exhibition with the help of eminent biologists, zoologists, geologists, anthropologists, naturalists, and others.

I especially loved reading Darwin's original words dealing with biogeography and the migration of life. It is stunning just how prescient he was in so many things which he admits freely are greatly educated guesses. Sure, there are places where his thoughts were later shown incomplete or erroneous, but the vast bulk of his thoughts showed keen insight that often took many decades of research to prove correct. Darwin was quite literally one of the very few fundamental thinkers to ever risk putting his thoughts into writing, and his work is even more impressive given how little was known about genetics at the time by anyone but the largely-unknown Gregor Mendel.

While the book is quite dense at times, it is well worth the reader's effort to push through and experience this book's amazing insights. Darwin's enthusiasm is infective, and I think any reader of science who is interested in reading the classics should take the time to read and enjoy this groundbreaking and fascinating work. Five big stars. ( )

I recommend reading of this book because of the importance of it. When Charles Darwin published this in 1859 it rocked the English speaking world. Up to that point the religious idea of creation was unquestionably accepted. Religion held a lot of power over people and their lives. Then this book came out, and it put into question all that the English world held dear about God and creation. I don't know if any piece of literature has had such a profound affect on society and its beliefs. When I read it, I thought that it might be boring because of the scope of the work, but it's actually not boring because it's simply and plainly written. Remember the whole theory of evolution originated from this one work. ( )

Facsimile of first edition, with "An Historical Sketch" and "Glossary" from sixth edition. ( )

Excellent book. Christopher Hitchens is amazing. ( )

Given my previous experience in reading Victorian-era literature (Dickens, Hardy, etc), I had thought that a book of scientific discussion would be even more weighty and inaccessible. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Darwin actually has a rather light touch to his writings, and even the rather complex and difficult ideas that he covers are easily digested. Ironically, the editor's introduction (written by Burrow in 1968) is much denser in his language.

The world, or at least our understanding of it, was very different 150 years, and many great minds were working towards finding the answers to the many questions that surrounded them. Darwin wrote this book after many years of observing the world, and also discussing and learning the observations of many of his contemporaries.

Despite the books 'changed the world' status - much of what Darwin writes was not new in 1859, although all of the ideas about evolution and variation had probably never been collected into as comprehensive a theory.

One thing that I had to keep reminding myself was that the book was written 150 years, and that much more scientific investigation in to the subject has been conducted which has shaped the Theory of Evolution into its current form. This was most prevalent whenever Darwin discussed the cause and effect of variation (and why a variation might continue through multiple generations) - although it is understandable that this should be an unknown for Darwin since the science of genetics was to take a few decades to come about, and then the actual mechanism (DNA) wouldn't be understood until well over a century after he wrote his book.

The Origin of Species is an excellent start for people interested in biology and searching for answers as to why life on the planet is the way it is. But it does need to be followed up with reading on the vast amount of work that has taken place over the intervening 150 years. ( )