The Evolutionists – Aristotle to Zoroaster via Darwin

Were we all created? Or did we evolve? If so, from what and how? The author does not pretend to know the answers, but instead has trawled over several centuries and some very prominent names. Amongst these of course is Charles Darwin, always associated with his book On the Origin of Species. His grandfather, Erasmus, was of the opinion that we all originated from snails! Lamarck has been ridiculed for his belief that an example of a different pathway to evolution was by lifetime experience, which would be transmitted to future generations. This was evidenced by the long neck of the giraffe assumedly having arisen as a consequence of reaching up high for the choicest tree leaves. But the nuts and bolts of the question came under closer scrutiny with the discovery by an Austrian monk, Gregor Mendel, of genes and their role in the inheritance of characteristics in peas. Subsequently the discovery of DNA illuminated the fascinating path whereby species might evolve as a consequence of trackable changes in DNA.

Much of the foregoing is straightforward for the lay reader, but it is admitted that some parts delve deeper, and assume more knowledge of biology. However, at the end, the author comes clean and admits that there is much that we don’t know, but slowly the curtain of knowledge is being opened and some startling facts have and will continue to emerge.