The Greatest show on earth by Richard Dawkins
Book Review
Audiobook
Genre – Non Fictional book
Running length 14 hours 35 minutes
Narrated by Richard Dawkins and Lalla Ward
Rating- 4/5
I must say since this is my third successive audiobook narrated by Richard and Lalla, I have got used to the change in narration in between and it does not bother me so much! Also the majority of portion is being narrated by Richard which makes it even more better since then it is the Horse’s mouth.
The book is literally an extension of his previous two books and of course it is about Evolution which he calls as the greatest show on Earth and which is his bread and butter now!
With frequent reference to Charles Darwin and David Wallace and his origin of species and sometimes quoting verbatim from that book and the two scientists work.
The constant fight between creationist and evolutionary biologist is referred time and again just like the God Delusion and this is a never ending battle.
He starts by how the Evolution is called a Theory and not Law and how this is a constant fodder for the creationist and he then goes on to mention how many things such as how sun is so big or how earth is bigger than moon and round can actually be never proven for sure but we know this as fact. He changes the theory to theorem just like in mathematics since that according to the Oxford English Dictionary is a fact!
I think the fact of the matter is that if you believe in evolution which is a scientific fact then you will be do so no matter what since the evidence is so overwhelming and if you are a creationist you would not no matter what Dawkins or anyone else says!
He talks about the Gorilla suit experiment with visuals and how eye witness is very unreliable (this was mentioned in Daniel Kahneman book also)
He also talks about the different radioactive dating system and their pros and cons.
He talks about so many fascinating creatures and this is probably the best part of the book since the accompanying PDF has some amazing photos of these amazing feature of nature! The image number is referenced in a different tone and you must look into it when you can.
He talks about how both Charles Darwin and David had predicted that when they saw a flower with such a long receptacle for nectar; they predicted that there will be an insect or moth in this case which will have long tongue! They also showed these two images side by side and it was surreal!
He also mentions in this book and the selfish gene and this was mentioned even by BIll Bryson in his book of how in spite of being in the same time both Darwin and Mendel did not meet each other or discuss the relevance of each other’s work which would have been a big milestone in the study of evolution!
He also explains how if you think that we have evolved from chimps or from any other animal then that is not how evolution works! He states that you must imagine that both human and chimps have evolved from the same ancestor who had the features of both human and chimp and then like a fork on the road (his exact words!), the pathway split in such way that one path lead to human while the other to chimp! And the genetic mixing is not like mixing of two colours; its like the child getting half of his parent’s gene and one fourth of his grand parents and so on!
He talks of Overwhelming evidence which indicates that eukaryotic photosynthesis originated from endosymbiosis of cyanobacterial-like organisms, which ultimately became chloroplasts! So the evolutionary origin of photosynthesis is to be found in the bacterial domain. Significant evidence indicates that the current distribution of photosynthesis in bacteria is the result of substantial amounts of horizontal gene transfer! Imagine that bacteria is the ancestor of plant!
Even using predator and prey he states how evolution works! With a joke in the end! A gazelle is given the gift of nature to be consistent. To run for long and to run fast but it normally has a slow start! A cheetah can run fast and be quick! It’s chief power is the element of surprise! The sudden attack and the quick start! But if the chase continues then it stops since it cannot maintain the speed! That’s why the gazelle does not give hope though in the end the one gazelle which does not run that fast or is not persistent or is a little slower than the other gets eliminated. The joke is a famous one which goes like this, “Chased by a bear, a guy starts wearing the running shoe to which his friend says, “what’s the point? You cannot outrun a bear!?; He replies, “I only have to outrun you!”.
Another funny incident he narrated was about how unlike diseases, which are often named after their discoverers, new species are named by their discoverers but never after themselves. It is a nice opportunity for a biologist to honour the name of another, or, as in this case, a benefactor. WD Hamilton was once on a small boat on an expedition up the Amazon when he was stung by a wasp.
‘Bill, do you know the name of that wasp?’ His compatriot joked with him since he was a famous entomologist; does he have the satisfaction that he knew the name of this wasp!
‘Yes,’ Bill murmured gloomily in his most Eeyoreish voice. ‘As a matter of fact it’s named after me.’!!
He talks about long tails of spider monkey, he talks about the angler fish and about the phenomenon of how so many birds fly in a pattern!
The kākāpō, also known as owl parrot, is a species of large, flightless, nocturnal, ground-dwelling parrot! Richard states that, according to the evolutionary biologist Douglas Adams, these birds have wings but with such a stout and fat body, they really can’t fly! Apparently their ancestors could but these birds have forgotten that! The more interesting thing about this is that they have forgotten that they have forgotten to fly! So once in a while they jump down from a tree to soar up in the sky only to fall down on the bushy grass like a brick! And get up with whatever pride they have left till the Amnesia strikes again!
Heikea japonica is a crab which is seen in and around Japan. It is considered sacred and magical since the impression on its body closely resembles the Kabuki mask of a Japanese Samurai warrior! If you search these two in google images you will be amazed and awed at the unquestionable similarity! It’s like the crab literally carved the mask on its body as a mark of respect! According to Richard Dawkins, one explanation is that this perceived miracle could be attributed to the fact that whenever the fisherman sees a crab with a similar image, he would throw it back out of respect and over a period of time the population of similar crabs increased! Selective evolution to become original! Of course Richard does not believe this to be so straightforward and gives other equally compelling explanation!
He also gives big importance to an experiment carried out by biologist about E COLI which has been going on for decades which gives direct support to evolution due to the cell lines and their mutations and you can read the book just for this section!
He talks about how creationist are trying every trick in the world to make their opinions matter and how it has crept into our schools with support from everyone! In the end he also presents dismal statistics on how people believe in evolution is a very small way.
All in all this is a very entertaining book and much more fast paced and fluid than other books and a must read!
Check it out when you can!
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