BuzzFlash Reviews

January 26, 2006

On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (Paperback)
by Charles Darwin

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Put simply enough, this book -- which sold out on its first day of publication in 1859 -- laid the foundation for the theory of evolution, which we thought had been definitively accepted in the United States after the Scopes trial.

But, alas, as we know, a tribe of cave people (aka Fundamentalists) emerged from the American political wilderness and went to war with a theory that was accepted as scientific fact by the beginning of the last century.

"The Origin of Species" is essential reading for anyone who wants to know what the "creationists" and "intelligent design" radical religious spinners are trying to discredit, a century too late.

It's not a gripping novel or polemic. It's a studious, brilliant scientific treatise that comes to terms with the dynamic and ever-changing flow of life. In many ways, Darwin brought us the foundation of the two main poles of thought at odds today in the United Sates: evolutionary democracy vs. a static government; an evolving view of life vs. creationism; a dynamic Constitution vs. Strict Constructionism; things that change vs. things the are fixed in place; a world constantly recreated by men and women vs. a world frozen in place by a deity.

If the United States politically survives the assault on democracy and the Constitution by the Busheviks, we will return to the legacy of Darwin, for it is so perfectly representative of the dynamic nature of American life. Until Bush II, we were a nation of innovation, creativity, scientific advancement, and a bottomless taste for the newest consumer product. We were an evolving nation, all about change and growth.

In fact, our economy is the logical financial mirror to Darwin's biological theory of evolution. The Bush economic perspective is based on the fixed commodities of cheap labor and depletable natural resources. The Busheviks are not economic innovators, because that would require an evolutionary outlook. The Busheviks are most similar to the stagnant agricultural economy of the pre-Civil War South, when everything, including slavery, was fixed in its place.

Darwin penned "On the Origin of Species" after his celebrated journey on H.M.S. Beagle. It was met with shock by the fundamentalists in England at the time. One noted antidote has a bishop's wife exclaiming of the book, "Descended from the apes? My Dear, let us hope it is not true. But if it is, let us pray that it will not become generally known."

To BuzzFlash readers, it is just another contemporary Bushevik astonishment that perhaps the groundbreaking book of the 19th Century is still enduring full scale attacks by religious fanatics in the 21st Century.

Of course, George W. Bush, himself is living proof of evolution. He's evidence that some of the Homo Sapiens species are really still apes.

This is an indispensable book. Hold it up when you see Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell or James Dobson. They will shrink, like Dracula, back into their dark lairs of demented evil.

If you want to learn more about Charles Darwin, click here.

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