Books : River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life (Science Masters Series)
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by: Richard Dawkins
List Price: $15.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.65 You Save: $4.30 (27%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 575
EAN: 9780465069903
ISBN: 0465069908
Label: Basic Books
Manufacturer: Basic Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 192
Publication Date: August 22, 1996
Publisher: Basic Books
Sales Rank: 226059
Studio: Basic Books
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
How did the replication bomb we call 'Life' begin and where in the world or rather, in the universe, is it heading? Writing with characteristic wit and an ability to clarify complex phenomena (the The New York Times described his style as 'the sort of science writing that makes the reader feel like a genius'), Richard Dawkins confronts the ancient mystery. 'Dawkins is above all a masterly expositor, a writer who understands the issues so clearly that he forces his readers to understand them too. River Out of Eden displays these virtues to the full.' --New York Times Book Review 'Dawkins has gone to the heart of his subject and presented it with energy, insight, verve.' --Los Angeles Times '[River Out of Eden] abounds with metaphors that make things brilliantly clear....an excellent introduction to many important evolutionary ideas.' --Nature
Amazon.com Review:
Nearly a century and a half after Charles Darwin formulated it, the theory of evolution is still the subject of considerable debate. Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins is among Darwin's chief defenders, and an able one indeed-- witty, literate, capable of turning a beautiful phrase. In River Out of Eden he introduces general readers to some fairly abstract problems in evolutionary biology, gently guiding us through the tangles of mitochondrial DNA and the survival-of-the- fittest ethos. (Superheroes need not apply: Dawkins writes, 'The genes that survive . . . will be the ones that are good at surviving in the average environment of the species.') Dawkins argues for the essential unity of humanity, noting that 'we are much closer cousins of one another than we normally realize, and we have many fewer ancestors than simple calculations suggest.'
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - River Going Nowhere
"River Out of Eden is a meandering tale of the evolutionary route, from the single cell to civilization and culture, with a few stop-offs for those who didn't make it. The science is Dawkins at his best, but salted with his unproven hypothesis that human beings are merely refined animals: a conclusion that is not his own, but that of his mentor and teacher Niko Tinbergen. It is an hypothesis he grabs from thin air all through the book, without a scintilla of evidence---except his own unreasoned ... Read More
Rating:  - Regarding Science-Ejected Vitalism:
Vitalism is a hugely science-ejected concept, though many CAM or 'natural health' cabals claim that vitalism survives scientific scrutiny.
A few favorite quotes from this book:
"after Watson and Crick, we know that genes themselves [...] are long strings of pure digital information [...] the genetic code [...is] a quaternary code, with four symbols [...] the machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like [...] this digital revolution at the very core of life has dealt ... Read More
Rating:  - This was a bestseller?
Dawkins must not have been trying very hard in this one. A lot of different ideas - most of them repeats of stuff he's done before (and since) - the sort of thing he can apparently do without thinking too hard about it. If you've read Dawkins before, you'll know the sort of thing: natural selection, Argument from Personal Incredulity, etc. Okay, he has kind of linked everything to his title, the idea of humanity being a gene flow from our remotest ancestors, but it still has a sense of being cobbled ... Read More
Rating: - Good Read
I enjoyed the writing style and flow of this book. It was a nice read.
Rating: - DNA just is and we dance to its Music
As mentioned in other reviews of Dawkins's books I enjoy his writing and his passion for explaining science to the general public in an understandable way. I have given this book 5 stars because of the way he explain his arguments... although I don't agree with them. Now for a reply which is divided into the following parts:
1. Good Explanation of Mitochondrial Eve
2. Evolution in small Gradations: No Evidence forthcoming
3. Darwin's Argument from Personal Incredulity
4. ... Read More
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