neo-x wrote:Hi, can any one suggest a good beginners book to understand the evolutionary theory?
I would appreciate a book which does not delve into, why ID or creationism is wrong, I don't want any philosophical takes on it. I would like a book which a student would be reading.
I've never seen or read a book like that, tho there may be one.
How much of a "beginner" are you? Have you taken any biology courses, for example?
Why do you want to study and understand evolutionary theory?
None of the books and articles that I read in the five years I put into the general field really said anything about "why ID or creationism is wrong". They didnt talk about Native American creation stories, Hindu deities, or any of that.
Evolutionary theory, really theories, plural as K pointed out is a kind of bundle or related topics. It involves genetics, geology, anatomy, etc and so on.
And likewise, for evolution to be "wrong", so would great chunks of all the physical sciences have to be "wrong."
Simple example: Physicists calculate the rate at which the rotation of the earth is slowing. So, making up an example, 200 million years ago there were 400 days in a year.
Some geologists / paleontologists find a fossil coral with both daily and annual growth rings, and they count, ok, 400 per year. This fellow must be about 200 million years old. And lets say radiometric dating gives the same value.
One finds, too, that the assemblage of marine fauna associated with the coral is profoundly different from that of today.
What is one to make of this? Surely not that atomic theory and astrophysics must be thrown out.
