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Charles Darwin

Like many other ignorant people, I maligned Darwin and his theory of natural selection freely for years. Then I took the time to read it. I am still ignorant, but I no longer malign this book. It is a difficult and beautiful book.

The Tree of Life
3:05
The Evolution of the Eye
6:58

I suspect that Darwin made the book difficult on purpose in order to discourage “smatterers”, as Isaac Newton once called those with a smattering of learning in his field. In the passage I have titled “The Tree of Life,” Darwin uses the term ornithorhynchus for platypus and lepidosiren instead of lungfish.

Darwin is a reverent man who writes beautifully of life and all of “creation” as he calls the world over and over again.

The book was written for the ignorant who long to know, not for the believers who “know” already. This book is all over the internet in free downloadable formats. I hope these little selections posted here give pleasure, whether or not they enlighten.