Book description
In this investigation of orchids, first published in 1862, Darwin expands on a point made in On the Origin of Species that he felt required further explanation, namely that he believes it to be 'a universal law of nature that organic beings require an occasional cross with another individual'. Darwin…
Why read it?
1 author picked On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I think that minor books could be real treasures. I love what Darwin wrote here: the secret of evolution is tinkering.
The creativity of life lies in ingeniously reusing already existing or useless structures, assigning them to new functions. Life is contrivances. Our DNA, our bodies, our brains are no exceptions.
From Telmo's list on The best books about the fact that evolution didn't predict us (and that's not bad news).
If you love On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects...
December on 5C4
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
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