Darwin Loves You Natural Selection and the Re-Enchantment of the World

George Levine ... tries to vindicate Darwin for students of literature by emphasizing his modest 'sense of wonder,' the almost mystical awe at the sheer existence of life in the universe; Darwin disenchanted believers in Heaven, but he reenchanted lovers of Earth. Levine's book is one of the most appealing and subtle attempts to bridge biology and the humanities. -- Adam Gopnik The New Yorker Levine restores and celebrates Darwin's humanness, arguing for the vital important to modern democracy of a radically secular, ethical engagement with the world...an engagement that is scientific and sympathetic. -- Angelique Richardson Times Literary Supplement Levine argues persuasively that an understanding of Darwinism can lead to a secular enchantment of the sort experienced by Darwin himself. Publishers Weekly George Levine's book Darwin Loves You confronts Weber's problem of the loss of enchantment head-on. Levine's thesis is that this all-too-common view of science in general and evolution in particular is dead wrong and that, in fact, Darwinian evolution provides a model for what he calls 'secular re-enchantment.'...The book is erudite and wonderfully interdisciplinary. -- Robert T. Pennock American Scientist Levine's readings of Darwin himself are infectiously enchanted ('Who else would have thought of playing the piano for worms?'), and emphasize the crucial point that Darwin's scientific achievement depended on his capacity for imaginative sympathy with other animals. -- Steven Poole The Guardian Levine's intelligently designed case for secular enchantment seeks to show that Darwin's theories, long reviled by literal creationists, can co-exist with a deep love of natural beauty that does not depend on divine creation. -- Kathy English Globe and Mail A considered, carefully worked and sensitive argument for Charles Darwin the man. -- Henry Nicholls Times Higher Education Supplement Darwin Loves You combines passion, subtlety, critical scrutiny and moral purpose... Levine is surely right to see hope for our own times in an avowedly Romantic Darwinism. ek Kohn," The Independent George Levine has written a fascinating book about the impact of Charles Darwin's ideas on Western culture and how they affect people's moral and spiritual values... This book, which represents an admirable attempt to humanize Darwinism, is welcome in today's climate... This book should appeal to the lay public concerned about the growing threat of fundamentalism. Choice Levine's Darwin is a dedicated and scrupulous observer who insisted on scientific clarity and rational precision whether studying finches, barnacles, worms, or human beings. Levine is inspired by the great naturalist's awe before the ordinary, which he characterizes as a kind of inverted sublimity. -- Steven G. Kellman San Antonio Current