Looking for Darwin is a book that weaves together three strands. On one level, it is primarily a science story, an unravelling of Darwin and Darwinism. On another, it is in part a personal memoir, an account of Lloyd Spencer Davis’ journey to find the truth about God, Evolution, Intelligent Design and the meaning of life. It is also a travelogue, documenting the places and people, the reverent and the irreverent things that happen to Davis on that journey.
Looking for Darwin is a search for meaning in a world that pits evolution against creationism, Intelligent Design of an all-seeing God versus the blind hand of Natural Selection.
Background
Over the last 2000 years there has been one idea, above all else, which has altered the way we view the world and our place in it. That idea is evolution by Natural Selection and the originator of the idea was Charles Darwin.
What distinguishes Darwin’s contribution from the myriad other advances in knowledge is that it fundamentally changed our perception of who we are: from the ultimate products of a supernatural Creator to the incidental by-products of a natural process.
Concept
In this book Lloyd Spencer Davis takes you with him on a personal journey as he sets out to tackle the big question that we all, at one time or another, ask:
“What the hell am I doing here?
He travels from the Antarctic to Darwin’s birthplace in England. He retraces Darwin’s journey in the Beagle to South America, the Galapagos, New Zealand and Australia. Finally, he ends up in places as diverse as India, South Africa, the United States and Mexico as he seeks to discover what relevance Darwinism can have for our modern world.
On one level this book is about Davis’ physical journey – the road that he took in his search to understand Darwin. On another it is about a spiritual and mental journey: from Genesis to genetics, from hardcore Christian to Darwinian disciple. And throughout all, the way is leavened by scrutinizing Darwin’s life and ideas with a light touch that is aimed at marrying insight with humour.
The nett result is that you will learn about Darwin almost by osmosis. The story of Darwin is woven into the story of Lloyd Spencer Davis’ personal search for meaning in the world. This is a book that informs you about Darwin almost without you noticing. It is academia in a bun, scholarship made appetizing.