I think this is the most important bit of the book, from page 46 in the print: "Charles Darwin once wrote, "man may be excused for feeling some pride at having risen ... to the summit of the organic scale." This statement was fitting to its time, an era when any respectable Victorian gentleman naturally placed respectable Victorian gentlemen on the top rung of the evolutionary ladder. The trouble lies in the whole notion of evolutionary ladders and summits, the idea of a directional process climbing toward some notion of perfection... The mind returns to it unconsciously, despite being surrounded by direct evidence to the contrary. If evolution progresses toward singularity, then how do we explain diversity - the 20,000 different grasses, the 35,000 dung beetles, the profusion of ducks, rhododendrons, hermit crabs, gnats, and warblers? Why are the most ancient forms on the planet, bacteria and archaea, more diverse and prolific than all other species combined? Given time, evolution is much more likely to provide us with a multitude of solutions than it is to give us one ideal form. My mistake lay in assuming that seeds had perfected the "best" methods for storing energy. I wanted to think that natural selection had eliminated the various possibilities until only one or at most several strategies remained, each adapted to a particular environment (forest, field, desert, etc). The reality is far more complicated and far more interesting, like evolution itself - an endless and elegant articulation of the possible."

Where do you guys listen to your audiobooks or purchase them?

Library Indie Bookstore through Libro FM Audible Spotify

Curious to hear. I'm looking for options!

“I told you, he’s a murderer. It’s his profession.”

I just know how utterly convincing she was and I would love to see how stupefied the men were🤣