The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection: Or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (Penguin Classics)

by Charles Darwin (Author), Charles Darwin (Author), J. Burrow (Editor)

• Used

  Paperback
  1982

  $3.89

  With his revolutionary work The Origin of Species , Charles Darwin overthrew contemporary beliefs about Divine Providence and the beginnings of life on earth. Written for the general public of the 1850s, it is a rigorously documented but highly readable account of the scientific theory that now lies at the root of our present attitude to the universe. Challenging notions such as the fixity of species with the idea of natural selection, and setting forth the results of pioneering work on the ecology of animals and plants, it made a lasting contribution to philosophical and scientific thought.

• Used

  Paperback
  1994

  $3.22

• Used

  Hardcover
  1998

  $5.21

• New

  Paperback
  1998

  $7.43

  With an Introduction by Jeff Wallace. 'A grain in the balance will determine which individual shall live and which shall die...'. Darwin's theory of natural selection issued a profound challenge to orthodox thought and belief: no being or species has been specifically created; all are locked into a pitiless struggle for existence, with extinction looming for those not fitted for the task. Yet The Origin of Species (1859) is also a humane and inspirational vision of ecological interrelatedness, revealing the complex mutual interdependencies between animal and plant life, climate and physical environment, and - by implication - within the human world. Written for the general reader, in a style which combines the rigour of science with the subtlety of literature, The Origin of Species remains one of the founding documents of the modern age.