River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life (Science Masters Series)

I finally get him!!! Guess what? Your DNA is eternal, not you. It flows like a river through us (and all creatures) and we are merely the banks (of the river) that house the DNA for its continuation into next generation, and the next (or not). I have read many of Dawkins' books and articles and this is a winner! If you're interested in learning exactly what Dawkins means by "The Selfish Gene" or the DNA river - this is the read & it's a quickie! The concepts are not as difficult in this book as in many others. Rather, it's a layman's explanation of our beginnings from the replication bombs in space to the biological zygote (or previous bacteria) and on to our own technological replication bombs. Now, I get why he was lead to the next step: memes. A fun read about the river of DNA that flows in all of us! And, it was particularly interesting to learn about Mitochondrial eve and the importance of the female line as it is always a pure line (no mixing of DNA there!), making it much easier for scientists to study.

This is my 6th Dawkins book. I think it would have made a better 1st. It weaves together some of the ideas of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker with only the tiniest smattering of Extended Phenotype in a light introduction to the way Dawkins thinks about evolution. (I don't mean to draw a sharp distinction between Dawkins' view and the broader consensus of biologists - just that he has a particular way of talking about the subject.) Dawkins is an ethologist, meaning much of his own research/training is focused on animal behavior, and I think the best parts of this book reflect that specialty. For example, my favorite part of the book was a fascinating discussion about exactly how honeybees dance to reveal the direction and distance of pollen, along with some experiments conducted to get a feel for how that dance might have evolved. If I had a quibble with this book, it is that I thought the chapter on God's Utility Function was strange. The chapter invited the audience to consider the very line of thinking that Dawkins has argued against in The Blind Watchmaker: to see if we can determine what purpose a Designer would have by contemplating how nature functions. But what follows isn't any sort of slam-dunk rebuttal of that way of thinking. In fact, one could imagine this exercise as a success and decide that the Designer is most concerned about DNA spreading, so we should absolutely legislate against birth control and abortion because the will of the Designer is that we breed and breed abundantly. Further, we could conclude that the Designer wants us to compete for limited resources so that evolution continues, so we shouldn't worry about maintaining biodiversity or over population or rapid consumption of natural resources. Maybe my quibble is showing that 'natural theology' can lead to something every bit as bad as (indeed, indistinguishable from) a society built purely on Darwinian principles (something Dawkins has argued against), but I guess my point is that I don't think Dawkins made his point very strongly in this chapter (which nevertheless had some astute observations). I think there is a definite place in Dawkins' stable of writings for a simple book that just outlines, clearly, 'what evolution is', without focusing on lists of evidence (Greatest Show on Earth? haven't read that yet. Jerry Coyne's 'Why Evolution is True' falls in this category), overcoming objections (Blind Watchmaker, Climbing Mount Improbable) or advocating particular mechanical details (Selfish Gene, Extended Phenotype). But I'm not quite sure this book fills that slot. Nevertheless, it was a good read and I enjoyed many of the examples. Notes on the Kindle edition: The Kindle edition lacks a table of contents, even though the print edition has one. It would be nice if the responsible party would add that back in. The images at the start of each chapter are included at the end of the previous chapter, with the footnotes for that chapter appearing after the image for the next chapter. Seems like there must be some way to keep each chapter's illustration at the start of that chapter. When I finished reading this, Kindle recommended The Ancestor's Tale, which is by far my favorite Dawkins book. But it turns out, they would only let me download a sample or add the book to my wish list; I could not buy a copy. I hope Amazon or the publisher will sort things out so that this book is available to US Kindle customers (UK readers can already get it), as it was, I just felt taunted.

This is a short little book that really explains how DNA and evolution work. It is aimed at a general audience, and it succeeds very well, in my opinion. I bought this book for my son in 1995, to help him in biology, and I was very pleased with it. It was my introduction to the works of Dawkins, and since then I have read "the Selfish Gene" and many others. So many people have borrowed my tattered old copy that I decided to buy this one for a loaner! It would make a nice gift to any high school student who has a lousy biology teacher!

Ovgins of life this book has allowed me to make sense of all the books I have tried to understand make sense of evolution and human life.The author lays it business plan with the eleven phases of our being what we are today, I have several of Mr Dawkins books which were excellent but to a layman this was the best

Upon researching possible biology related books for this review, I kept on finding books written by the author/scholar Richard Dawkins, and I decided that I wanted to know more. After scanning over a few dozen customer reviews on Amazon, I found out that Richard Dawkins is a major proponent of the workings and social implications of Darwinian Evolution, specializing in genetics, and anti-theism. I also found many citations of this man being immensely pompous and arrogant genius, due to his intellectual capacities and convictions. This sounded interesting enough, and I was eager to make up my own mind about his work. My next step was to find a book of his that was a manageable read, that would be a suitable introduction into his writing style and intellectual identity. Passing over his more famous books such as "The Selfish Gene" and the "The God Delusion", I decided on his most concise book titled: "River out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life". In this short read, Dawkins manages to cram an unbelievable amount of insight and information into 5 distinct chapters. With Each chapter, he delves deeper and deeper into the arguments and theories that describe a "Darwinian View of Life", which is far more complex than I ever anticipated. While reading this book, one feels as though Dawkins is whole-heartedly trying to make you understand what seems so simple in his mind (while what is simple for him to understand, would require years of study for an individual of normal IQ). The evidence of this disconnect in level of comprehension is evident in phrases such as "knowing this, one would obviously make the assumption", and "this is a conclusion derived from simple, arm-chair logic" (both phrases relating to concepts of genetic mathematics that flew way over my head). However, while his narration is somewhat difficult to follow at times, his ample and ingenious use of analogies, examples and metaphors result in chapters that ultimately convey their points to even the least scientific of minds (such as mine). For example, Dawkins explains the course that natural selection plays on the height of trees in a forest, by relating it to people shouting above one another at a cocktail party (something we have all experienced). Through the course of this book, he does a beautiful job of deconstructing the illusion of intelligent design, by going back to the very root of all genetic life, demonstrating along the way how many arguments that theists use can be shattered with relatively simple scientific evidence and concepts. He also breaks down the mystery of the foundation of life, by explaining our (probable) natural history in purely genetic, indifferent terms (devoid of human egoism). Prior to reading this book, I considered myself an open-minded person. However, this book showed me just how deep the rabbit hole goes, and I feel more intelligent as a result. All things considered, this book is very difficult to explain in a short review, so you will just have to go ahead and read it yourself.

After the blind watchmaker, I wasn't going to read any more Dawkins until I read the Selfish Gene, but I found this book in a dollar bin and because its so short I went ahead and read it. This book really benefits from its short length, for once Dawkins seems to really stay on track and not ramble on. I sometimes feel that the other of his book are filled with 30% fluff just to make them longer. The book follows a digital river (DNA), and uses that to follow first bacteria type of cells, then multi-part cells, then complex life. I can see people rating this book lower because it often references The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype and The Blind Watchmaker, and I assume that everything included in this book is included in those books with much more detail, so after reading those books this one might become redundant, but I think this one is likely a good introduction to Dawkins thought and writing.

River out of eden is the last of the Dawkins publications I needed to complete my library of this writers books. It turned out to be unavailable in the netherlands so I received it through Amazon. I am a big fan of Dawkins since he explains the issues I learned during my biology study in such a clear and interesting way and is able to lard them with recent and historical facts and stories. Dawkins makes evolution a personal new discovery every time you read. This book is no exception. J.P. Kaas

Richard dawkins is the man! Number one atheist in the world endless books ,endless knowledge