Status Updates From On the Origin of Species (W...

“I believe it has been with the great Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.“

“Slow though the process of selection may be, if feeble man can do much by his powers of artificial selection, I can see no limit to the amount of change, to the beauty and infinite complexity of the coadaptations between all organic beings, one with another and with their physical conditions of life, which may be effected in the long course of time by nature's power of selection.”

Finished Chapter 3
(natural selection, instinct, intermediate traits)

Starting Chapter 4

nos obligaron D:

If I have 500 pages left and can read 20 pages a day then this will take me 25 days to finish, so I should be finished by the end of the month (hypothetically)

Dawkins' 2003 version reserves the first edition's 14 chapters intact but abridges by cutting ~50% of the text, removing repetitive examples, lengthy footnotes, some digressions while retaining core arguments & nearly all chapter headings.

Finished Chapter 2: Variation under Nature
Summary:
Darwin argues that variation occurs ubiquitously in wild species, with the line between varieties and species being arbitrary and fluid. Well-marked varieties can become "incipient species," setting the stage for divergence through natural means.

Chapter 1: Variation under Domestication
Darwin illustrates how humans have profoundly modified plants and animals through selective breeding, producing vast diversity from common ancestors, like numerous pigeon breeds from the rock dove. He emphasizes small, inherited variations accumulated over generations, showing modification on a scale relevant to natural processes.