Review: River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life by Richard Dawkins (The Science Masters Series)

Synopsis: A 1995 popular science book by Richard Dawkins. The book is about Darwinian evolution and summarizes the topics covered in his earlier books, The Selfish Gene, The Extended Phenotype and The Blind Watchmaker. It is part of the Science Masters series and is Dawkins's shortest book. It is illustrated by Lalla Ward, Dawkins's wife. The book's name is derived from Genesis 2:10 relating to the Garden of Eden. The King James Version reads "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads."

River Out of Eden has five chapters. The first chapter lays down the framework on which the rest of the book is built, that life is like a river of genes flowing through geological time where organisms are mere temporary bodies. The second chapter shows how human ancestry can be traced via many gene pathways to different most recent common ancestors, with special emphasis on the African Eve. The third chapter describes how gradual enhancement via natural selection is the only mechanism which can create the observed complexity of nature. The fourth chapter describes the indifference of genes towards organisms they build and discard, as they maximise their own utility functions. The last chapter summarises milestones during the evolution of life on Earth and speculates on how similar processes may work in alien planetary systems. (from the wikipedia page)

Review: This is my first book by Richard Dawkins. After reading the comments, it would appear I lucked-out at reading this first is a good idea, as an introduction to his ideas. I am familiar with some of his ideas, mostly in relation to Atheism, Religion, and Evolution, mostly from watching or listening to his debates.
I was not impressed with this book. I acknowledge part of that was a mis-understanding of what it was about. I expected fewer tangents into honeybees and caterpillars, and more….logic?
He often states “People believe this and it is wrong” but the reasons he gave held no more strength or persuasive power that the arguments he was debating!
Perhaps reading his other works, which are reported to be a more in-depth look at these ideas, will change my opinion. I would hope he has more to offer in the way of logic-based proof for these ideas than what is written in these pages.
As for this book, it is as others say, an excellent introduction to Dr. Dawkin’s ideology and gives a good starting place from which to explore his ideas about the world.

Bookmarks: 2 of 5

Awards: None

ISBN: 0-465-01606-5
Year Published: 1995
Date Finished: 5-29-18
Pages: 172