Every few years I make a pilgrimage to a very special place. In Temple Cloud, near Bath, is a building that is my heaven. It has this divine quality because it houses hundreds of books, some quite old. I buy about twenty books and spend the next few years reading them. The last time I went I was becoming more interested in their non-fiction section of old Pelican books and went away with a good selection of physics, biology, education and history.
One of them was the very first to be read, William Howells 'Mankind in the Making', discussing evolution. Published in 1959 it goes into detail about evolution in human beings, from the first early days of walking upright to what could be called modern day humanity, with a informative yet easy enough to read style. These books may seem a bit more formal than todays non-fiction casual easing-you-into-their-arms friendliness but they don't condescend as much as you might think. Their aim is to be enlightening not to be your friend.
In this instance they are the best kind of authority. They that know more than you do and are happy to pass that knowledge for your own benefit. In short: a true educator.
In this department I know little about evolution other than the basics, a theory that seemed to me in Secondary School eminently plausible. That animals adapt to their surroundings seems safe to accept and I found it easier to do so. What I couldn't grasp was the billions of years needed to see species adapt into new species (still it is a tough job and a fit subject for meditation), nor did I understand just how revolutionary the idea is. So here comes Howells doing the job that I had trouble to do for myself. And what a job it is
What's interesting is that this is not supposed to be a remarkable book. In fact the presentation of facts almost seem banal and totally accepted. Though the idea of evolution, in it's present Darwinian form, has only been around for just over a hundred years yet biologists have made it a cornerstone of biology, showing that without it you get an incomplete picture of the diversity of life. The implications of this idea is fleshed out by Howells, who joins the dots and links the links of the theory.
I found this book to be compelling- testament to the fact that I actually finished it in good time- and it's story, the story of us, fascinating. The fact that our foot is our most human characteristic surprised and delighted me as did many other of the facts that are contained in this book. The fact that evolution works on such a large timescale is a challenge to the imagination and its one that stimulates me to think deeper and provokes my wonder.
How could it be that a dog was once a wolf? How could it be that we are so shaped by the world that our forms change? It is exciting and inspiring to know that our day to day lives contain this almost cosmic quality where our behaviours today are the new limbs of tomorrow.
Howells does a fine job at explaining patiently everything a lay person would want to know about evolution. The style might seem a tad deated but it is perfectly readable for someone who wants a good primer on the subject and doesn't know where to start.
It's a book that I'll enjoy re-reading in order to dredge up the fine jewels from the depths of evolutionary theory. To think of when I am in the woods or in front of a fire.
