Greatest Show on Earth

With this tremendous follow-up to his blockbuster The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins takesadvocates of intelligent design by the scruff of the neck and unfolds the evidence for evolution with characteristicpanache.In 2008, a gallup poll showed that 44% of Americans polled believed God had created man in his present form within the last 10,000 years. In a PewForum poll in the same year, 42% of those polled believed that all life on earth has existed in its present form since the beginning of time. In this environment, inwhichCreationism is being taught in schools and educators are being asked to ''teach the controversy'' behind evolution, a delightfully exasperated Dawkins has decided totell us how it all really works. In visceral, crystalline prose, Dawkins sets up each creationist objection to evolutionand takes it to task,bit by bitdestroying the idea that the natural worldneeded an intelligent designer.But this is more than an argument.Thisis a thrilling tourinto our distant past and into the interstices of all life on earth. Taking us through the case for evolution step-by-step, Dawkins looks at DNA, selective breeding, anatomical similarity, molecular family trees, geography, fossils vestiges and imperfections, the stages of human evolution, and theformula for a strong scientific theory -- tearing down the Intelligent Design theory in the process. This will be the last word in the evolution debate, and it will add the legions of God Delusion readersto the already science-hungry audience who bought the latest Steven Pinkeror devoured Bill Bryson’s The History of Nearly Everything. The God Delusion stimulated, even set the terms of, one of the world’s most vigorous public debates: the question of God’sexistence. The Greatest Show on Earth will provide readers with the tools to join this vital debate effectively.And Dawkins’ infectious passion for the world’s beauty will convert all but the most doctrinaire creationists.