The Blind Watchmaker

The watchmaker belongs to the eighteenth-century theologian William Paley, who made one of the most famous creationist arguments: just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence by accident, so too must all living things, with their far greater complexity, be purposefully designed. It was Charles Darwin's brilliant discovery that put the lie to these arguments. But only Richard Dawkins could have written this eloquent riposte to the creationists. Natural selection – the unconscious, automatic, blind, yet essentially nonrandom process that Darwin discovered – has no purpose in mind. If it can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, it is the blind watchmaker. Acclaimed as perhaps the most influential work on evolution written in this century, The Blind Watchmaker offers an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the most important scientific discoveries of all time.

The best general account of evolution I have read in recent years. It is deep enough to be useful to biologists, yet sufficiently simple and well-written (very well-written in fact) to appeal to the same large audience that enjoyed The Selfish Gene.  Edward 0. Wilson.

As readable and vigorous a defence of Darwinism as has been published since 1859. The Economist.

Beautifully and superbly writtem . . . It is completely understandable but has the cadence of impassioned speech. Every page rings of truth. It is one of the best science books – one of the best any books – I have ever read. Lee Dembart, Los Angeles Times.

In The Blind Watchmaker I was repeatedly astonished at the clarity with which Dawkins sees the problems . . . I wish I could write like that. John Maynard Smith, New Scientist.

A lovely book, original and lively, it expounds the ins nd outs of evolution with clarity, answering, at every point, the cavemen of creationism. Isaac Asimov

This might just be the most important evolution book since Darwin. John Gribbin, Good Book Guide.