Evolutionary Biology: The Darwinian Revolutions Part 1

by Allen D. MacNeill

With Evolutionary Psychology I and II, Allen D. MacNeill of Cornell University led a thought-provoking series of lectures on why people do the things they do. In Evolutionary Biology I, MacNeill addresses a different side of the coin by examining the biological component, from Charles Darwin’s and Gregor Mendel’s “dangerous ideas” to contemporary thought leaders and the forming of the modern synthesis of this vital field of study.

Genres: Evolution, Audiobook, Nonfiction

8 pages, Audio CD

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

aka Professor Allen D. MacNeill

Reviews

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 2 out of 5]

A story of evolution that begins with the greeks is an interesting take. We spend a lot of time learning about the philosophy of science and with religious views on kinds, and warning bells start to ring at the amount of time spent covering creationism. You'd think it's just setting up the attitudes of Darwin's time, but as we round out the lectures to the influence of the evolution/creationism debate on American politics the framing becomes more clear.
Aside from the US-centric focus and devolving (ha) to belief and racism, the course had a lot of good sides, giving a wider history than usual, more about Darwin's personal journey including plenty of excerpts from his books, and showing how species and change was an ongoing debate to which Darwin had a lot of great guesses, but little hard proof (just missing the work of Mendel himself).

The series ends with an overview of the latest (well, two decade or so) biological revolutions like the genomic angle on evolution and sets up a teaser for the next entry, but this one was almost entirely on the emergence of Darwin and historical debates surrounding the topic.

Alternative: What Darwin Didn't Know: The Modern Science of Evolution More up to date, less focus on american politics and despite the name still primarily concerned with Darwin and evolution in its historical context.

[Tyler Marshall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a high quality listen.

I enjoyed the funny accents. Top notch lectures, and a top notch narration.

[Troy Blackford · Rating 5 out of 5]

These lectures were highly informative and bridged a gap in my understanding of evolutionary biology, running between Darwin's death and the development of the so-called 'Modern Synthesis' in the 1930's and 50's. I very much appreciated the substance of these lectures, though I was a little weirded out by the frequent lapses into 'funny accents' the lecturer uses when quoting people from antiquity, like Darwin or Hume. He makes a point in the intro about having been in a number of off-Broadway plays, and you get the sense he is enjoying having a captive audience for his accents, but the cartoony 'performances' of the accented quotes distract majorly from the substance of the quoted material. It's like... I just want to hear what Darwin had to say, not hear a ridiculous rendition of how someone might imagine he said it. But, content-wise, this was tops.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better series of lectures I've listened to.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting information, but the author likes to quote scientists' writings in silly voices and accents. Which got extremely annoying very quickly.