Darwin Vs Quammen

Darwin and his theory of evolution are famous worldwide and extremely important to the scientific community, but he is incredibly misunderstood. Everyone claims to have some knowledge about the things he did and said, but they often misconstrue his work. Though the general masses are right that he “concocted ‘the theory of evolution’” (Quammen, 2006, p. 12), they are a bit muddled in their thinking.

Many people believe that Darwin started a movement, but in reality he was just a biologist who wrote books on his findings. Quammen makes it a point to talk about how the terms “Darwinism” and “Darwinian” are often misused. Darwinian is more likely to refer to someone who shares similar attributes with the famous scientist than it is to someone

Almost from the beginning, Darwin grouped humans with other animals, knowing that they too can undergo the process of natural selection. Many people, even those who claim to accept Darwin’s theory, cannot think of evolution in terms of humans. It’s too big of a paradigm shift, and difficult even for other evolutionists to fully understand. The idea of evolution rests in natural selection, of which Quammen explains, “[n]atural selection is a purposeless process but an efficacious one. Impersonal, blind to the future, it has no goals, only results. Its sole standards of valuation are survival and reproductive success” (p. 14). What this means is that natural selection is not working towards anything in particular. The only reason it exists is to increase the chances of survival and reproductive success in a

He considers himself very lucky because he has gotten to spend so much time with field biologists on his job as a journalist, and has come to admire them greatly. It was this attraction that brought Quammen to Darwin. Darwin spent five years abroad doing field research, and that was more than enough time for him. After this, he became a bit of a recluse. This is the area of his life that Quammen is most interested in dissecting. Darwin developed his ideas not on the Beagle, but inside the comfort of his own home after many years of festering. In Quammen’s eyes, the time Darwin spent compiling his research and thoughts is much more exciting than his time on the Beagle. The most important of Darwin’s discoveries is that of natural selection. Quammen describes it as “marvelous and shocking and grim” (p. 19). Throughout the novel, Quammen tries to “explore the scary materialism” (p. 20) that was the very basis of Darwin’s