Summary Of The Greatest Show On Earth By Richard Dawkins

The Greatest Show on Earth, by Richard Dawkins, is a persuasive book written to convince readers that evolution is scientific fact. It lays out the facts quite nicely, balancing data with ideas expertly. However, the argument part of this book is lost in Dawkins' arrogance and pomposity. The constant stream of insults directed at Creationists will never convince anyone to change their views, nor does it make the book pleasant to read. If the reader can look past the constant jibes, this book does an excellent job of proving evolution to be scientific theory.

Summary

Dawkins begins by explaining the difference between a scientific theory and the general form of theory. He coins his own word, 'theorum', to use throughout the book, in order to differentiate between scientific theory and typical theory (pp. 13). He does this in order to discourage doubtful readers from believing that evolution is in fact, "just a theory". Then, Dawkins gives a brief explanation of evolution, and the most important point: there is no one point where a species changes to a different species. Every generation looks as similar to each other as the previous did (pp. 25). Then the reader discovers that artificial selection is occurring very near them, with dog breeding (pp. 74-76), and the true age of the earth as

When it becomes clear Dawkins is passionate about what he is saying, his writing flows beautifully and the points come across well. However, far too often, he goes on a tangent, sometimes for pages at a time, talking about experiments and studies that are not relevant to the topic at hand. In addition to this, the number of pages that overwhelm the reader with data and statistics often lead to despair at the thought of toiling through another page. Although these downsides to the book are irritating, the subject matter is so fascinating that the reader is always excited to find out what lies on the next