Charles Darwin went to his printer 156 years ago with the book
that stood science, philosophy, religion and mankind on their collective heads.
On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in
the Struggle for Life was a smash
hit—in the bookshops, at least. The first press run of 1,250 copies sold out
quickly, and the book went through six editions in 13 years.
A few years ago a
first edition copy was sold by Christie’s for
$194,500. Bibliophiles guess that perhaps 1,000 copies of the first edition are
still tucked away in institutional and private libraries.
Several
of them are sold every year.
You
probably know that, although the book enjoyed some degree of popularity among
both scientists and late 19th century popular science readers,
Darwin’s startling conclusion that human beings evolved from ape-like ancestors
was wildly debated and disputed immediately after he published the book. The
debate, dispute and denial continues today.
It
seems to me that the “evolution deniers” got a 100-year head start on the today’s
global climate change deniers.
For
some folks, it is an apparently enduring capacity of human nature to ignore
facts and scientifically rigorous thinking when some combination of ignorance,
myth, belief, greed and fear makes it comfortable to do so.
Read here about the other evolution theorist, Alfred Russel Wallace
Copyright © Richard Carl Subber 2015 All rights reserved.
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