The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution written by Richard Dawkins sets out to convey his most compelling evidence for biological evolution. In several of his previous books about biology and religion, Dawkins assumed that his audience understood and accepted the evidence for evolution. Dawkins offers evidence from the fields of paleontology, embryology, anatomy, genetics, artificial breeding and geography for the ‘fact’ of evolution. This book serves to explicitly present proof for biological evolution to those who doubt evolution.
Dawkins begins the book by stating that one of the major problems facing the scientific community is that a significant number of people do not believe in evolution. He relates the example of a history teacher, whose students refuse to accept that the Roman Empire
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There are several instances in the book where he takes shots at religious ideas like creationism and the Intelligent Design. These antagonistic and condescending remarks may not appeal to the audience he hopes to persuade. Additionally, to refute the creationists, who dismiss evolution as ‘just a theory’, Dawkins insists that evolution is an undeniable fact. The theory of evolution is constantly changing, and it’s still far from being complete. Because the theory of evolution is still changing, there are persons who will not accept evolution strictly as a fact. One possible way to circumvent this problem would be to think of evolution as both a theory and a fact under different conditions. This idea is based on the distinct between evolution as history and evolution as science. Evolution can be deemed as a historical fact based on the justification that living things and fossil evidence reveal that evolution has occurred. But evolution is not a scientific fact because it is not a final and absolute truth; evolution is likely to change, just like any other scientific