
God and Science on the Galapagos Islands by Edward J Larson
From the author of the Pulitzer Prize--winning Summer for the Gods, a vivid and very human story of the Galapagos Islands. More than any other place on Earth, the Galapagos Islands are the workshop of evolution. Isolated and desolate, they were largely overlooked by early explorers until Charles Darwin arrived there in the 1830s. It was Darwin who recognized that Galapagos' isolation and desolation were advantages: the paucity of species and lack of outside influences made the workings of natural selection crystal clear. Since then, every important advance and controversy in evolutionary thinking has had its reflection on the Galapagos. In every sense-intellectually, institutionally, and culturally-the history of science on these islands is a history of the way evolutionary science was done for the past 150 years. Evolution's Workshop tells the story of Darwin's explorations there; the fabulous Gilded Age expeditions, run from rich men's gigantic yachts, that featured rough-and-ready science during the day and black-tie dinners every night; the struggle for control of research on the Galapagos; the current efforts by "creation scientists" to use the Galapagos to undercut evolutionary teaching; and many other compelling stories.EDWARD J. LARSON received the Pulitzer Prize for History for Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate over Science and Religion. He is the co-author of Modern Library's The Constitutional Convention: A Narrative History from the Notes of James Madison and author of The Return of George Washington: Uniting the States, 1783-1789, and A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800. He was an inaugural fellow at the National Library for the Study of George Washington. Larson is University Professor of History and holds the Hugh & Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University. He travels widely as a media commentator, visiting instructor, and guest speaker.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780465038107 |
| ISBN 10 | 0465038107 |
| Title | God and Science on the Galapagos Islands |
| Author | Edward J Larson |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Basic Books |
| Year published | 2001-03-29 |
| Number of pages | 336 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |