Reviews

One Long Argument: Charles Darwin And The Genesis Of Modern Evolutionary Thought by Ernst W. Mayr

sekerez's review against another edition

5.0

"One Long Argument" presents the history of Darwinism with brilliancy and conciseness.
It offers a compelling portrayal of Darwin, as a one-of-a-kind genius whose differences in mindset from other scientists and philosophers have engendered decades-long misunderstandings.
It also explains the tenets of Darwinian evolutionary thought with both clarity and philosophical nuance, without ever getting lost in the biological detail.
Lastly, it records the development of "Darwinism" in evolutionary biology with enlightening sociological considerations.
I would never say it is one of my favourite books - I also can't find anything wrong with it.
Enthusiastically recommended to anyone tangentially interested in the topic of evolution.

miocyon's review against another edition

5.0

A nice overview of the development of evolutionary theory by Darwin, and the work that was done after him up to the time of publication. The book is from 1991, so much of the new research is dated (e.g., the material on molecular evolution), but the rest of it is Mayr writing at his best. The parts on the Evolutionary Synthesis are particularly good, since Mayr was heavily involved in the work of that time. His biases as a fairly strict selectionist are evident throughout the book. I don’t necessarily think he’s wrong in this way, but it does change the bent of the presentation a bit. A good read for those familiar with evolutionary theory and who want to go a bit deeper on it’s origins and development.