Popular Science Review - Darwin's Dangerous Idea

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Review - Darwin's Dangerous Idea - Daniel Dennett

Subtitled 'Evolution and the meanings of life' Dennett's book is an excellent exposition of the new evolutionary approach that puts evolution at the centre of everything.

Sometimes' Dennett's pet hates (religion and Stephen Jay Gould) get a bashing that is little short of fanatical, but the content is fascinating. Similarly, I can't help detect a bit of physicist envy - biologists always seem to resent the fact that physics and chemistry are more fundamental sciences that biology piggy-backs on. Dennett tries to turn this round, arguing that 'their' evolutionary theory could even be the basis of cosmology.

If, however, you ignore a few points where you feel like pointing out his inconsistencies (and that he rather goes on a bit - well actually, a lot, it's very small print) this should be a real eye-opener for anyone who doubts the validity of evolution.

Also in hardback:

Reviewed by Jo Reed

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