The Descent of Man (Penguin Classics) Paperback – Illustrated, June 29, 2004

The copy I bought was an OCR scan of a physical book: better than many scanned books, but still with some annoying flaws in the scan/conversion process. Definitely readable, though. As for the text: I think that "Origin of Species" is a more enjoyable book to read, and it does a better job of explaining Darwinian theory than Descent of Man does. But having said that, Descent of Man is a very worthwhile read, and whether you are a Darwinian evolutionist or an anti-evolution creationist, every person with a high school education of higher should at some point actually read Darwin. I often feel that people argue the subject of evolution without having actually read Darwin, basing opinions on third or fourth-hand interpretations of what he might have meant or said. Reading Darwin's own words takes it back toward the starting point, and his cautious, conservative, (even pious) approach may surprise both advocates and opponents of "Darwin's Theory of Evolution."

This book has no page numbers. It does not contain the pictures and diagrams from the original, only their captions, making them completely worthless. The index is a listing of items with no page numbers and it represents about a fourth of the total pages. I can't tell you exactly its portion of the book, because there are no page numbers. No publisher is listed. There is a small statement at the end of the book: Made in the USA, San Bernadino, CA, 20 May 2020. The book is not under copyright, but that does not excuse this poor, useless copy of a masterpiece. I ordered it for a class and didn't discover the scam until it was too late. Shame on all those involved.

"The Descent of Man and Principles of Sexual Selection", by Charles Darwin, [...] First Edition Feb. 24, 1871, 2nd. Ed. Sept. 1874. Re-Pub. 2007. SC 675/523 pgs. 152 Index 152 pgs. 8 7/8" x 6 1/8".This has heavy, loquacious prose, characteristic of 19th Century writing style which provided greater specificity in meaning, and, simultaneously instilling a greater rather than lesser wordiness in construction of logically structured thoughts, hereby occasioning some modest rereading frequency by many for clarity.What is especially notable in Darwin's writings was his attempt to provide such completeness of theory as to insure and provide full grounds for one to contemplate his (Darwin's) possession of feelings of insecurity - or, perhaps, by a compelling fear that any understatement might provide weakness of his arguments allowing someone else gaining recognition for his theory. Nonetheless, the works by Darwin are monumental and the work of a genius - especially in the amount of material he instilled into his `proofs', all without aid of a word processor or computer. I imagine he may have used index cards. He touched only lightly on the topic of creationism, knowing controversy would erupt, but, he nonetheless reserved a room for God; Charles was, himself, a caring, sincere, sensitive person and worldly person.The book is a slow, at times tedious, read; and, after 182 pages, the subject matter turns to "Principles of Sexual Selection" that deals with the secondary sexual characters: how those arose, became transformed and were progressively modified by sexual selection (sexual choices) rather than natural selection. This subject is taken up systematically by Orders & Classes, from lowest to highest, and finally to the Mammals, Primates, etc. to Man/Woman where virtually everything is considered: -- size, hairiness, strength, beauty, marriage customs, etc. The extensiveness of detail, often appearing minute, in diverse species or subspecies, geographic location, herd size, foods, etc. is awesome - but Darwin supported is writings with intensely scripted references to learned scholars in botany, biology, and anthropology, that, along with numerical support of his data, provides a comfortable bed for his arguments in support of his Natural Selection Theory.Interestingly, even with DNA evidences to support Ontogeny and Phylogeny, there are those who still see only a fabrication of purposeful lies by atheists and non-God Fearing peoples.- finis -

This is the writing of Darwin himself. Darwin was one of the most acute observers in the world along with Michael Faraday but his presentation of material was not exciting . Excellent in facts but difficult to stay with. I will continue to try to read him but this may take some time.

Just wish a sticker wasn't on the cover but it's still good.

Darwin was a genius, no question about it.

Great book by a genius of our time.....natural selection is the intelligent design we think of as God.

appreciated info old style writing and language a little strsnge but gosh its old so am i

This book was sold under false pretences. It is a photo reproduction of part of the original book. Many of the most important chapters are missing. It is abour half the size of the original world famous publication. Apart from this it is extremely expensive.I only realised it was a reproduced, shortened veresion of the original whilst browsing in Waterstones I came across a full verssion. I am begining to loose my faith in Amazon who make a habit of this practice. In future I will look elsewhere

Not the best quality, pages are very thin and tear easily but you get what you pay for I suppose.

Well written. Feels like On the Origin of Species volume two. There is more focus on sexual selection than the title suggests, although human evolution is still covered in great depth.

Awesome!!!

(This review relates to the Penguin Classics Edition)Gosh, this is a long book.There are three sections. Sections I and III look at the evidence for the development of humans from more primitive creatures and sexual selection in humans. Section II (about half the book) is devoted to sexual selection in everything from insects to mammals.So is it worth reading? In their introduction, Adrian Desmond and James Moore suggest that it forms the second volume of a trilogy (with  On the Origin of Species  and  The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals ) and that you really need to read all three to understand Darwinism as Darwin saw it. Part of this is to do with Darwin's two big ideas: natural selection and sexual selection. The other part is about the interrelationship of Darwin's science with the worldview of a Victorian country gentleman and the politics of the day; not least the politics of race, which is explored more thoroughly in Desmond and Moore's recent  Darwin's Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins .If you're serious about Darwin and have read "On the Origin of Species", I would recommend tackling this, although you might be forgiven for not ploughing through the whole of Section II. As other reviewers have mentioned, Darwin's language, his views on race and gender and his ideas on the "improvement" of the human race can make uncomfortable reading in the 21st century.In addition to the text and original black and white illustrations, there is an excellent introduction, a comprehensive index and the occasional foreign language quotations are given in both the original and an English translation. On the Origin of SpeciesThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsDarwin's Sacred Cause: Race, Slavery and the Quest for Human Origins