A C Grayling
A Theory to Believe In
A Reason for Everything: Natural Selection and the English Imagination
By Marek Kohn
Faber & Faber 392pp £20 order from our bookshop
UNQUESTIONABLY, THE BIOLOGICAL theory of evolution by adaptive natural selection is one of the most significant ideas in human history. The fact that it remains contested by creationists to this day is proof enough of the impact it has had on humanity’s perception of itself and the world, not least through its effects on religious thought, whose inclusive ambitions to explain the origins, duties and destiny of humankind it has impugned.
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
'It’s history from a bird’s-eye view. From that perspective, we humans are a passing phenomenon.'
Nigel Andrew on three contrasting books about birds by @RSmythFreelance, @JenGAckerman & @JonathanSlaght.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-gyrfalcon
Sign up to our e-newsletter and get highlights from the new issue and gems from the archive, as well as exclusive competitions and subscription offers straight to your inbox.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/freenewsletter
'These are first thoughts, but they’re made to last, in a way that makes you wonder how well something that feels so raw really can last.'
@sarahditum weighs up the final book in Ali Smith's seasonal quartet.
https://literaryreview.co.uk/seasons-heatings