Evolution's Workshop

by Larson, Edward J

• ISBN13: 9780465038114
• ISBN10: 0465038115
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-18
• Publisher: Basic Books

Summary

More than any other place on Earth, the Galapagos Islands are the workshop of evolution. Isolated and desolate, they were largely overlooked by early explorers until Charles Darwin arrived there in the 1830's. It was Darwin who recognized that Galapagos' isolation and desolation were advantages: the paucity of species and lack of outside influences made the workings of natural selection crystal clear. Since then, every important advance and controversy in evolutionary thinking has had its reflection on the Galapagos. In every sense-intellectually, institutionally, and culturally-the history of science on these islands is a history of the way evolutionary science was done for the past 150 years.Evolution's Workshop tells the story of Darwin's explorations there; the fabulous Gilded Age expeditions, run from rich men's gigantic yachts, that featured rough-and-ready science during the day and black-tie dinners every night; the struggle for control of research on the Galapagos; the current efforts by "creation scientists" to use the Galapagos to undercut evolutionary teaching; and many other compelling stories.

Author Biography

Edward J. Larson is the Richard B. Russell Professor of History ad Law at the University of Georgia.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xi
Introduction: Enchantments Old and New	p. 3
Creationist Conceptions
Cursed by God and Nature	p. 15
The Natural Theology of Hell	p. 35
What Darwin Saw	p. 61
Evolutionary Debates
Collecting on Classic Ground	p. 89
California Stakes Its Claim	p. 119
The Amateurs Take Over	p. 145
Ecology Matters
Brave New World	p. 175
The House That Lack Built	p. 197
Paradise and Purgatory	p. 221
Appendix	p. 245
Notes	p. 247
Index	p. 311
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