5.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 29/08/2009

A delightful tome which does well to explain the process of evolution with clear concise language and with as little jargon as necessary. It also describes earlier evolutionary theories and their fallacies in a very logical way. Not only that, but the author, being dawkins, lends his pithy, polemical wit to the language to make a subject that could be banal actually quite enthralling

5.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 20/09/2008

Back in the 18th or 19th Century, a man named William Paley came up with a very clever argument to prove the existance of god: Say you find a watch lying on the beach. Just by looking at the watch, you "know" it was made for a purpose. Such an odd collection of materials did not assemble itself. It is not an accident, and it must have been designed by someone specially for the purpose of telling time. Where there is a watch, there must be an intelligent watch maker. Well, human beings are much better designed than watches, so we too must have been created by an intelligent designer. That designer is god.

That's a brilliant argument, and it sure would have convinced me. Dawkins takes that argument, and smashes it to pieces. (He does not insult Paley, of course. Neither did Einstien insult Newton).

Dawkins explains how an object (or plant or animal) can be "designed" by the simple process of natural selection, without anyone to do the selecting. All it takes is replication (sexual reproduction) and limited resources. The laws of physics do the rest. The species that are most successful at surviving tend to survive -- it sounds so simple when you think of it that way. So, each generation has more of the successful models and less of the unsuccessful ones.

Once in a while random copying errors occur. Most of these make the plant or animal less successful, and those genes are not passed on. Once in a while, however, the error leads to a better design, and the new gene wins out. Over long, long periods of time, very efficient and very complicated designs can and will show up, even though they have not been designed by anyone. Just as the Grand Canyon was created by a long slow process, so were we.

If you want to understand evolution, this is the place to start (Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Steven Pinker and many others will pick up from there). If you believe in intelligent design, and want to keep believing, do NOT read this book.

4.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 01/10/2007

If you ever questioned creationism and the evolution theory with thoughts such as "the eye is too complex and could not have come about by chance", then this book will be very eye opening for you.

It outlines the argument for Darwainism and evolution as the creation of life as we know it today. He also covers other topics such as sexual selection, natural selection, gene variations, many aspects of life that are truly fascinating.

He does it in a very easy to read style of language that is not too scientific for the lay person to understand. He makes good use of analogies to re-iterate his points throughout the book.

My only complaint would be that he could over-use the analogies at times and rattle on a bit for my liking. He could loose me there, but then again I'm quite an impatient person. A very interesting read for the people who are still in debate about the evolution vs. god argument.

5.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 22/02/2009

Many thanks for your support

it was purchased as a gift and they loved it;)

5.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 02/04/2007

This book really is a conscious raiser. Even as somebody who felt like I had a good understanding of evolution, this book really made me think and expand my ideas. It's a book that should be compulsory reading for everybody, brilliantly written and changed the way I think about the world. I agree that it's the most important book on evolution since On The Origin of Species.

5.0 out of 5 based on 6 reviews. – Customer review on 29/07/2006

Dawkins is without contention the most effective popularizer of science to the layman.

In 'The Blind Watchmaker' he lives up to this great accolade by tackling definitively one of the most persistent and pervasive areas of confusion and opacity in biological science: evolution by natural selection.

Dawkins systematically explores the rational deficiencies of theories such as group selection, Lamarckism and creationism, while providing a direct and uncomplicated explanation of just how organisms can come to be modified over time without the intervention of a conscious designer, hence the title of the book.

This is the best book for anyone confused about the process of natural selection.