River Out Of Eden: A Darwinian View Of Life (Science Masters Series)

Dawkins re-initiated the debate over evolution's mechanics with The Selfish Gene. For his lucid explanation of the gene as the foundation for life's workings, he was dubbed The Great Reductionist by those uncomfortable with the concept that genes tend to override the treasured idea of "free will" overriding Nature. With River Out of Eden, Dawkins proves his ability by presenting an even more comprehensible account of how DNA is the foundation for life's mechanics.

He begins with the idea that all life had ancestors - all of which succeeded in producing offspring. Their success at reproducing overshadows the fact that most life forms ultimately went extinct over the vast span of Earth's time. Extinction is due to failure to produce offspring that survived to further reproduce new generations. The reasons for this failure are uncountable and obscure, but the issue remains success or failure. Tracing the ancestral line allows us to envision rivers of life. The rivers aren't composed of water, but of DNA. DNA over time, acts as a "digital river" with sections turning on or off in the process of making proteins. And proteins are the bricks that build organisms and all their parts.

From an almost purely descriptive beginning, Dawkins moves on to demonstrate how many of those "parts" could evolve over the many millennia available to them. Among the favourite organs used to oppose natural selection is "the eye". How could such a complex part of life work half complete? Well, for starters, better than 49% complete. A statement that can be applied to all the body parts in various organisms when viewed over the long stretch of years available to change gradually. Wings, finding mates, locating food sources, all the "complex functions" we see in today's life came from earlier, simpler beginnings. Dawkins' chapter "God's Utility Function" is a must read and understand for anyone wishing to comprehend how many of these features came into existence. They didn't all arrive in a finished state.

Dawkins is adept at illustrating his points. Among his more clever tricks is the portrayal of a sentence reading clearly even with different typefaces for each word. You can still read and understand the meaning. But the appearance differs in each case. He also gives an excellent account of how genes govern energy expenditure for various types of creatures. Each has its own variant, but an "audit" of how the genes benefit from the arrangement reveals why it's a successful strategy.

The key to all these patterns is the idea that somehow, somewhen, a molecule that later became DNA learned to replicate. He posits Graham Cairns Smith's suggestion that DNA, or more likely its precursor, RNA, learned the trick from clay crystals. This remains the most likely explanation for life's origins, but requires the reader to recognize that the replicating molecule preceded any discernible organism. Cairns Smith's concept removes forever the idea that life's driving force occurred by chance. It was a relatively simple chemical and physical process. It may not appear elegant, but the mechanism has the elegance of plausibility.

This whole book carries the argument against "creation by design" into the camp of Darwin's enemies. Dawkins lists the contentions of the "creationists", then adroitly unravels them through pure logic and good science. Those who feel daunted by arcane biological treatises on life need only take up this excellent summation of why Darwin was right. Those who quail at the idea DNA drives our existence can take heart. It's all part of what's required in achieving a better idea of who we are. A major step in that understanding is in this book.


A Great Introduction   February 14, 2001
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

This slim little volume manages to accurately depict the concepts and philosophy underpinning the rest of Dawkins' work without going into as much technical detail. If you're unfamiliar with Dawkins' work or with evolution in general, this is the Dawkins book to read first. On the other hand, if you only plan to read one Dawkins book, I'd suggest "The Blind Watchmaker" instead - it fleshes out the topics in a little more detail, with additional explanatory material.

That said, "River out of Eden" is one of Dawkins' best works of prose. It's both rare and gratifying to see such a brilliant scientist who also possesses a talent with words. Wit, wisdom, and erudition combine to make this book a great success. In fact, the book contains the single sentence I can pick out of Dawkins' entire body of work as most his most effective and captivating writing (it's at the end of Chapter 4, "God's Utility Function" - read the book to find it! :)

If you enjoyed this book, or would like to find out more about Dawkins' work, try these two websites:

http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/default.asp (The World of Richard Dawkins)

http://library.thinkquest.org/C004367 (Replicators: Evolutionary Powerhouses)


A book that had a great influnece on how I see the world   June 15, 2000
Ernest Boehm (Des Plaines, IL United States)
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

Richard Dawkins has written two book very similar to each other. River Out Eden and the Blind Watch Maker. The Blind Watch maker is more complex and more detailed. But River out of Eden lays out Darwinian theory beatifully and in an understandable form. Darwin is hard to read and this book flows well for the lay person (Such as Chemical engineers like my self)

He confronts the attacks agianst Darwin by creationist and biologist alike. He is a great defender of Darwin. If you are a scientist outside biology this is a great book, a great book for young students confused by Darwin, and for Creationist who want to understand their Chief opponents (Darwin and Dawkins).

Some of the Dawkins ideas such as the idea of the selfish Gene and his ideas on Gene "cooperation" are described in this book. If you want a taste of Dawkins read this book. If you like itand want more detailed imformation and theory read the blind watchmaker.

I rate this book as one of the most important books that I have ever read.


Dawkins the Pioneer   June 19, 2000
First Things First (Burbank, CA United States)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful

River Out of Eden is a beautiful short book, which I believe holds many keys to taking the ceiling off of our minds, and allowing us to soar unfettered into new understandings of our evolutionary origins and our human potential in the universe. Dawkins suggests that we have reached a watershed, in that the unraveling of the DNA code, and modern astronomy now make tribal myths and traditional religion obsolete. We pay a price for this information. It comes at the expense of being taught the not very soothing fact that we as humans, are, quite simply, life-support systems which genetic information (DNA) uses to survive and perpetuate itself. But what about musical talent and good looks and great skill at skateboarding? Aren't these the ineffable and spiritual qualities which set us apart from all things? Sorry. According to Dawkins, these are simply genetically evolved traits which serve the DNA by making the individual more likely to attract a mate, reproduce, and hence, perpetuate the genes which caused those traits. While this book may be unsettling at first blush, one is left with a feeling of awe and wonder that we have evolved to such a degree that we can look back at the stars and chemistry which resulted in ourselves, and shiver with wonder at what we may learn next.


I didn't really grasp natural selection until...   August 1, 2001
J. L. Fromme (Andover, MA United States)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

This was the first of Dawkins' books that I encountered. He develops a picture, step by step, of what evolution actually means AND does not mean. I felt, after reading this book, that for the first time I had obtained a worthwhile understanding of the topic. He expresses it in terms that I could understand, yet the concepts were much more sophisticated than what I learned in Secondary school and Undergrad Bio courses (as an engineering student).

This book was so fascinating that I have subsequently gone on to read all his books.