On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin, a Book Review

Initial Thoughts on On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin

I first read and reviewed On Natural Selection (Penguin Great Ideas) by Charles Darwin in May 2005 for my newsletter Ambeck Edge, and included it on this blog in July 2009. Recently I was reading a novel, and in it, the serial killer chose his victims using Darwin’s survival of the fittest theory as justification for his actions.

I was reminded of the book review On Natural Selection and profile of Charles Darwin, and decided to revisit it. I'm not sure about you, but I know for myself that I need to be reminded of great ideas.

Have you read?

Charles Robert Darwin, Naturalist Who Presented the Origin of Species Theory

Self-Mentoring Strategy

To get the most from this SummaReview of Darwin's On Natural Selection, after you have  read the book review/summary, reflectively answer the following questions:

1. What can you learn from the ideas in the SummaReview?
2. What is one action that you can take as a result of reading this SummaReview?
3. What are five takeaways from On Natural Selection by Charles Darwib?
4. What has made an impression on you while reading?
5. Is there a framework that you can use in your life and work?
6. How do the concepts in the SummaReview relate to what you already know?
7. How can you combine key ideas from the profile to what you already know to create a new idea?
8. Is this a book you’d like to read for yourself? Why? Why not?

What is On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin About?

Darwin defines natural selection as the

“preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variation.”

So what does this all mean? Darwin further adds,

“Variations neither useful nor injurious would not be affected by natural selection, and would be left a fluctuating element, as perhaps we see in the species called polymorphic… Natural selection can act only by taking advantage of slight variations; she can never take a leap, but must advance by the shortest steps.”

This book wasn't the easiest to read, and I found it quite “dry”. But, in my quest to find out where really good ideas come from, I made the sacrifice and slogged through it. I have selected fives ideas from On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin. For the five ideas below, how can you use them in different contexts to resolve/understand modern day problems?

Five Great Ideas from On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin

1. When a plant or animal is placed in a new country amongst new competitors, though the climate may be exactly the same as its former home, yet the conditions of its life will generally be changed in an essential manner. If we wished to increase its average numbers in its new home, we should have to modify it in a different way to what we should have done in its native country; for we should have to give it some advantage over a different set of competitors or enemies.
2. Individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind.
3. When a species, owing to highly favourable circumstances, increases inordinately in numbers in a small tract, epidemics often ensue.
4. The more diversified the descendants from any one species become in structure, constitution, and habits, by so much will they be better enabled to seize on many and widely diversified places in the polity of nature, and so be enabled to increase in numbers.
5. Natural selection is working behind the scenes all the time throughout the world whenever the opportunity arises. It works to improve each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life. You cannot see these slow changes taking place, until after a long period of time has elapsed, we see that the forms of life are now different from what they formerly were.

We could take idea number two and look at it in the context of education. It's a reasonable assumption to make that people who are more educated have a better chance of succeeding than those who have less education. Or, for that same idea, we could say, someone who has an idea and knows how to take action, will be more successful than someone who has ideas but do nothing about them.

Success in this context is not restricted to financial success. Idea number two also reminds me of Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers: The Story of Success (Review) because the most successful people have had breaks and that gave them an advantage.

Why don't you take one of the above five ideas and see what new ideas you can generate?

Final Thoughts on On Natural Selection by Charles Darwin

I recommend On Natural Selection (Penguin Great Ideas) by Charles Darwin because I am sure that you will come up with your own five ideas. This is not a book that you would read for entertainment, but it will certainly stretch you.

Commit to read one book that’s difficult to read. Our menu of books should include books that we read for entertainment, to deepen our understanding of a topic, and for information, and these books should vary in complexity, to add rigor to our thinking.

Books by Charles Darwin

The Origin of Species: 150th Anniversary EditionFrom So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)Darwin: The Five Essential WorksThe Descent of ManThe Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches (Penguin Classics)Oakshot Complete Works of Charles Darwin (Illustrated, Inline Footnotes) (Classics Book 10)The Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsThe Autobiography of Charles DarwinThe Autobiography of Charles Darwin: 1809-1882