The Greatest Show on Earth

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:10 pm

Richard Dawkins' latest book. All about evolution.

Just got my copy and I'll be reporting back.

Anyone else here reading / planning to read it?

Bearguin · Post by **Bearguin** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:13 pm

I'll wait for the movie.

grayman · Post by **grayman** » Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:26 pm

Tell us how the ending turns out.

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 6:54 pm

I'm a few chapters in, and so far it's really excellent. He lays it out step by step better than I have ever seen before.

Furthermore, filling in lots of gaps in stuff I thought I already knew.

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 7:15 pm

Any clowns? There ought to be clowns.

DrMatt · Post by **DrMatt** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 8:56 pm

Pyrrho wrote:Any clowns? There ought to be clowns.

Don't bother.

They're here.

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Sun Sep 27, 2009 10:13 pm

Did I miss the news flash that Dawkins isn't cool any more?

Anaxagoras · Post by **Anaxagoras** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:28 am

Abdul Alhazred wrote:Did I miss the news flash that Dawkins isn't cool any more?

I still like him.

As far as the book goes, I like to read while straphanging so I prefer a paperback. I would like to read it someday, though.

DrMatt · Post by **DrMatt** » Mon Sep 28, 2009 3:52 am

Anaxagoras wrote:
Abdul Alhazred wrote:Did I miss the news flash that Dawkins isn't cool any more?
I still like him.

As far as the book goes, I like to read while straphanging so I prefer a paperback. I would like to read it someday, though.

We won't tell the straph infection.

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:07 pm

Update: I finished it.

Dawkins really presents evolution in a logical order.

It is not for the most part an anti-creationist polemic as such. But whenever he gets to a bit especially misrepresented by creationists, he hammers it.

The last chapter was a bit preachy. I don't care for the Dawkins approach to the "meaning" of life. But he kept it separate and at the end, so it's all good.

Bearguin · Post by **Bearguin** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:23 pm

Abdul Alhazred wrote:Update: I finished it.

Good.

Can I borrow it?

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:33 pm

Bearguin wrote:
Abdul Alhazred wrote:Update: I finished it.

Good.

Can I borrow it?

Pyrrho · Post by **Pyrrho** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 1:59 am

Abdul Alhazred wrote:Did I miss the news flash that Dawkins isn't cool any more?

He stopped being cool when he joined the Brights and started the A stuff.

Sorry, I get a little tired of people with causes to sell, and I have no use for the cult mentality.

Doctor X · Post by **Doctor X** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 2:13 am

"It's not enough that you're right! You have to be a dick about it!"

--South Park

--J.D.

punchdrunk · Post by **punchdrunk** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:12 am

I'm reading it now. He's just gotten past artificial selection and has taken it to natural selection. So far so good.

I watched "The Botany of Desire" on PBS tonight; if you get a chance to see it, I recommend it. It's about how natural and artificial selection have made apples, tulips, marijuana, and potatoes four of the most successful plants on the planet. I thought the part about apples was especially interesting.

Abdul Alhazred · Post by **Abdul Alhazred** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 9:11 am

Pyrrho wrote:Sorry, I get a little tired of people with causes to sell, and I have no use for the cult mentality.

He's good when he sticks to his expertise, which he mostly does in this book.

I understand evolution better now, though I was not totally uneducated about it before.

Skip the last chapter and you won't miss anything.

DrMatt · Post by **DrMatt** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:10 pm

Interestingly enough, Darwin proceeds from artificial to natural selection, too. Darwin's audience was mostly familiar with artificial selection, though. Dawkins's audience mostly isn't, any more.

manny · Post by **manny** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:08 pm

DrMatt wrote:Interestingly enough, Darwin proceeds from artificial to natural selection, too. Darwin's audience was mostly familiar with artificial selection, though. Dawkins's audience mostly isn't, any more.

Which is really sad. If anyone in the world ought to understand evolution it's Kansans. When they get all stoopid about evolution I want to show them all the scraggly grassy thing they used to call maize and ask them what the hell happened to turn it into the huge juicy kernels they grow today.

hammegk · Post by **hammegk** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 5:29 pm

manny wrote:
DrMatt wrote:Interestingly enough, Darwin proceeds from artificial to natural selection, too. Darwin's audience was mostly familiar with artificial selection, though. Dawkins's audience mostly isn't, any more.
Which is really sad. If anyone in the world ought to understand evolution it's Kansans. When they get all stoopid about evolution I want to show them all the scraggly grassy thing they used to call maize and ask them what the hell happened to turn it into the huge juicy kernels they grow today.

And if they have more intelligence than a slug they'll tell you corn is corn .. and that great danes and chihuahuas are dogs.

DrMatt · Post by **DrMatt** » Thu Oct 29, 2009 11:51 pm

manny wrote:
DrMatt wrote:Interestingly enough, Darwin proceeds from artificial to natural selection, too. Darwin's audience was mostly familiar with artificial selection, though. Dawkins's audience mostly isn't, any more.
Which is really sad. If anyone in the world ought to understand evolution it's Kansans. When they get all stoopid about evolution I want to show them all the scraggly grassy thing they used to call maize and ask them what the hell happened to turn it into the huge juicy kernels they grow today.

Denial. And of course, injuns couldn't have had anything to do with it.