This is one of those books where you get the impression the author was sort of nagged or pressured into producing the work. Dawkins’ other works on biological evolution are less formulaic and you cover vast amounts of ground with a kind and gentle guide. After years of confronting and being confronted by the “Scientific Creation” crowd, it’s amazing that our favorite atheist doesn’t come out swinging when doing a book specifically intended to “prove evolution.”
Instead of the anticipated acerbic rejoinders, we are cordially welcomed as if by an old friend, and invited to sit and think things through. For me, one of the greatest gems came right at the start. Quoting Ernst Mayr, Dawkins demonstrates the influence of the old Platonic Ideals and how their logical contingencies forced human thinking into accepting the idea of fixed species. Removing this obstacle to our thinking, he then goes on to inspire us further with the wonders of creation while documenting with overwhelming evidence the true record of natural history on our planet. I have stepped around this issue of the Platonic Ideals myself without really making the connections in biology that Dawkins does.
My own experience tells me that very few Fundamentalist Creationists would be inclined to read this wonderful book. If, however, you are open to wonder and enjoy the amazing panorama that surrounds us all, this book is for you. Dawkins avoids being “preachy” in the manner that he comes across at times in the “God Delusion.” In “The Greatest Show on Earth” we find the Oxford biologist in his field of expertise and having a great time.
The book is filled with many illustrations and drawings which are helpful in explaining the sometimes complex workings of biology. We also are treated to a large number of full color photographic plates.
The concluding two chapters of the book present us with the theological puzzles. What does the immense suffering observed in the geologic record tell us about the “justice of God?” (Theodicy). And, given both Darwin’s and Dawkins’ presentation that it was specifically “through death and famine… the production of the higher animals directly follows,” why would God use such a means to create man in His own image? I don’t pretend to have the complete answers for such a riddle, but isn’t this pretty much what we see in the Bible’s record as well? Death is in the world. The world is ruled and shaped by death. However, because One overcame death, we have the hope that this current state of affairs will be overturned and that death itself will be destroyed.
I can’t pretend that Dawkins is motivated by this same hope as I am. He explicitly denies it elsewhere. I do, however, appreciate the fact that he is in a discussion about things that are real and things that really did happen (Earth’s Natural History). There is a great contradistinction here between our Oxford atheist and the “Young Earth Creationist” crowd. The YEC’s want me to find my hope in a delusion. Dawkins gives me the truth and then says, in effect, “Good luck with that.”
Thank you, Professor. I appreciate the candor. I am sobered by the reality. And, I do still find more than enough room for that hope.
