An excellent introduction for the layman
Posted to Amazon on 30 October 2007 under the headline above. Five stars.
If you are a beginner interested in the subject of evolution, the first book you should read is Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. This would be a good book to read next. Mayr does an excellent job giving an overview of Darwin’s evidence and arguments, and then filling in the gaps, at an introductory level, with the subsequent discoveries of modern science. The chapter on the descent of man is especially fascinating.
Mayr is a professional biologist (and one of the principal architects of the mid-twentieth century modern evolutionary synthesis of Darwinian natural selection and Mendelian genetics), and while some parts may seem a bit technical at first, this book is written for the intelligent layperson and is certainly not beyond such a person’s grasp, particularly with the aid of the glossary included at the end. Those who do not find it very difficult may then want to move on to Mayr’s other works, which are aimed at a more scientific audience (some of which to such an extent as to be nearly unreadable by a lay audience). But here he does a good job of bringing it down to the level of the interested beginner.
All in all, easily one of the best introductions to the subject, by one of the greatest minds in the field.
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