Audio Book Review: Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, read and annotated by Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and 10 other books abridges and reads Darwin’s master-work, On the Origin of Species. While the original version of the Origin of Species shook the world (and perhaps still does), many say that it’s long, dry and a tedious read. Dawkins adeptly abridges Darwin’s weighty tome and reads it in under six hours. With ease and courage of conviction, Dawkins leads readers feel like they are being read to by Darwin himself! While listening to this audio book is a great way to breeze through Darwin’s master-work, the concepts can get a little complex to properly digest in the auditory format at times. Sometimes I found myself wanting to rewind, highlight particularly stunning statements, or make notes in the non-existent margins. So while the audio-format of this book has its advantages, it also has limitations. I think this recording would’ve been perfect if it came with a print copy of Dawkins annotated transcript. That way I – and other readers – could follow along visually, and have the complete audio-visual experience. All in all this audio book is a great way to get the basic grasp of Darwin’s masterpiece, but probably not the best resource to deeply explore the details and nuances of the Origin.

-Lauren