If you haven't read Charles Darwin's seminal work then that
is really something you need to correct. Perhaps you think that you know all
about evolution and natural selection and see little value in going back to
such an old book that must surely be outdated by now. Or perhaps you feel
intimidated by the science of evolution, see it as encroaching too much on your
worldview or simply dealing with ideas beyond the prowess of your feeble
intellect. Both such positions are indefensible. Some 158 years on from its
initial publication, Darwin's Origin
remains essential reading for those who aspire to understand the world around
them. It is accessible to any educated person regardless of one's lack of
technical knowledge in biology, geology, taxonomy, etc. But you don't have to
see reading Origin as a chore,
something to be endured so that you can maintain your small modicum of
credibility among the intelligentsia. Rather, reading Origin should be seen as a delight, akin to watching a new season
of Planet Earth as narrated by David
Attenborough.
As an example, in Origin
Darwin speculates on the age old question of how it is that honeybees are able to make honeycombs. In
his day (and in ours) some people asked how it was that bees "knew" to make
hexagons, with some insisting that the bees were capable of measuring precise
angles as they constructed these mathematical objects. Darwin never attributes
to genius what can be adequately explained by hard work, and speculates that
the bees first make circular honey compartments, as doing so requires the bees
only to rotate about a fixed point, requiring no special skill, and then
speculates that as such circular cells increase in proximity to one another
they will gradually begin to take on the shape of hexagons. Darwin references another species of bee, which actually does make circular rather than hexagonal compartments, and points to this as a likely ancestral behaviour for the progenitors of the honeybee. Actually, it would
not be until 2013 that the construction of bee cells was observed in sufficient
detail (Karihaloo et al., 2013). Then it was discovered that the bees indeed
make circular cells adjacent to one another and then through a process not
entirely understood, warm up the wax. The warm wax flows more easily and
adjacent circular cells merge and then cool into a hexagonal lattice.
If all there was to be gained from reading Origin was technical knowledge, key
arguments in favour of Theory A as opposed to Theory B, then it would be of
little value for the common person. But to read Origin is to gain a deep appreciation for the natural world, it is
to become infected with the affection and adoration of a naturalist toward all
living things. It causes one to see both struggle and perfection in nature's
ingenious machines, to be impressed by the exquisite complexity and order that
has arisen out of the most seemingly simple and fundamental rules and
ingredients. Upon reading Origin one
may find one's own empathy and compassion increased, and one may find new
respect for even the most hated of pests. Perhaps you will see that the hideous
housefly who so pesters you is not so hideous, perhaps you will come to admire his
spectacular compound eyes, and maybe even spare him the wrath of your swatter
and instead show him the way to the window, recognizing in him nothing more
than the struggle for existence, that same struggle in which we all share.
Nowadays evolution is often taken for granted, though
sometimes rejected by the willfully ignorant. But to really appreciate the
theory, to get a full understanding for what it says in its most basic form and
its explanatory power, you have to go back to the Origin.
Addendum
Darwin's The Descent of Man should also be read, though it has proven less durable over time than Origin. In attempting to chart out the course of evolution of a single species (man) Darwin takes the evidence of his day to the absolute limits and makes more erroneous speculations in the process. Descent includes an extended section on sexual selection which remains interesting but is perhaps overly drawn-out. Descent also contains more hints of casual racism and sexism than Origin, which some readers may find particularly odorous. These hints reflect chiefly the Euro-centrism of Darwin's environment. In Descent, Darwin argues that the various races of man are races and not distinct species. Viewed from a modern lens such an argument may appear offensive, but the fact that it needed to be made reflects in part the entrenched racism, but also simply the ignorance of the time. For his time, Darwin was a progressive. Descent feels less like a summation and explanation of accrued knowledge than Origin and more of a call to seek out evidence in support or in refutation of its speculations.
References
Darwin, Charles. (1872 - 6th ed., Original publication 1859)
The Origin of Species. London: John
Murray.
Darwin, Charles. (1871) The
Descent of Man. London: John Murray.
Karihaloo BL, Zhang K, Wang J. (2013) Honeybee combs: how the circular cells transform into rounded hexagons.
J R Soc Interface 10: 20130299. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2013.0299
