Happy Darwin Day!

Today is the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, and hence the occasion to celebrate Darwin Day! Seeking some appropriate reading material for the occasion, I’ve begun a book that’s been sitting unread on my shelf for a long time, The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins. In the first paragraph of his book, Dawkins writes;

Living organisms had existed on earth, without ever knowing why, for over three thousand million years before the truth finally dawned on one of them. His name was Charles Darwin.

I am among the ‘layman’ readers that Dawkins says he had in mind when he wrote the book 33 years ago, and I predict I won’t always quickly grasp that my body as well as those of every other living thing on the planet are in fact ‘survival machines’, designed solely to protect the genes that we carry within us. Science wasn’t a strong subject for me. But I’m gonna try. I was glad to see the Washington Post put an article on Darwin and advances in the study of evolution on the front page of the paper today, well placed.

for further reading…

On Darwin’s Birthday, Only 4 in 10 Believe in Evolution
Gallup Poll

7 Major “Missing Links” Since Darwin
National Geographic Magazine

Feb. 12, 1809: Darwin — Adapted There, Evolved That
Wired Magazine

And not to overlook today’s other notable 200th, Happy Birthday also to Abe!