On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection - Hardcover

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection is both a key scientific work of research, still read by scientists, and a readable narrative that has had a cultural impact unmatched by any other scientific text. First published in 1859, it has continued to sell, to be reviewed and discussed, attacked and defended. The Origin is one of those books whose controversial reputation ensures that many who have never read it nevertheless have an opinion about it. Jim Endersby's major new scholarly edition debunks some of the myths that surround Darwin's book, while providing a detailed examination of the contexts within which it was originally written, published and read. Endersby provides a new, up-to-date and very readable introduction to this classic text and a level of scholarly apparatus (explanatory notes, bibliography and appendixes) that is unmatched by any other edition. The famous classic on evolution that revolutionized the course of science. Darwin's theory that species derive from other species by a gradual evolutionary process and that the average age level of each species is heightened by the "survival of the fittest" stirred popular debate of his time to a fever pitch. "Next to the Bible, no work has been quite as influential."--Ashley Montagu.