Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this title in exchange for my honest opinion. For some reason, this was down on my list of "to read," but I'm glad I read it when I did. If you are curious, a thinking person and want a great book on the beauty of design....pick this up. I feel like it's not going to get as much traction as it deserves. I hope I'm wrong.

I have read a number of books by Darwinists and Design zealots and I have historically felt weighted down by their personal ambitions, fears and / or dogmatic worldviews. It just feels like we have lacked the objectivity to have an honest discussion of what the facts are telling us. Until now.

Perry Marshall’s Evolution 2.0 offers a different voice to this battle weary topic. Perry – an engineer, entrepreneur and researcher of patterns, actually frames the discussion differently – choosing to detail what he discovered during his own personal period of discovery. His research uncovered the beauty and adaptive power of the cell – which can evolve quickly and purposefully – on purpose and by design. Perry also shares how cells & organisms have the internal power to edit or re-engineer itself when necessary. And this editing process occurs quite rapidly.

Most innovations and new models come from outsiders. Perry Marshall may be this outsider, bringing a fresh voice to the discussion of how and why we are changing.

I have read this book twice and have been both encouraged, excited and an amazed by his insights. This is a book worth studying.
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When I was in college I wanted to be a zoologist. I didn't become one, largely because I had serious philosophical and scientific problems with Darwin (and I've read lots of Darwin & other biologists). At that time even questioning Darwin mildly was the kiss of death in graduate school.

In the decades since then I've kept zoology as a hobby and done a fair amount of reading. My opinion of the prevailing scientific "orthodoxy" of evolution, what Marshall calls "Evolution 1.0," is even lower than it was. Unhappily I haven't found alternative explanations or theories that make sense.

That is not until this paradigm-shifting book. Coming from outside biology, he's an engineer by training, and with a questioning mind, Marshall comes up with a great explanation of the origin of species and of evolution. This book presents his case in a packed, but very readable, way.

I was so impressed, not only with his theory, which draws on so many more fields than just biology, but with the breadth of his research and with his ability to explain difficult concepts clearly. It's eye-opening. There are well over 600 citations of books and papers, along with technical appendices. These make up almost half the book.

My only concern with it is that sometimes he can be a bit loose in his definition of "species." I'm not confident that he isn't confusing variety or sub-species with species. Other than that small point (because sub-species can become species), the book us outstanding.

Critics of his book cite several objections that are more like sour grapes than actual criticism. Some complain that he is a Christian and that's why he is against evolution 1.0. These critics tend to bring their own opinion of Christianity into their opinion but allow their beliefs to color their view of the topic.

Others complain that Evolution 2.0 is just another form of Intelligent Design. Marshall addresses this topic directly in the book. Thinking that there is a designer of some sort behind biologic processes is not intelligent design, So I must figure those critics did not read the book.

Finally some critics complain that he brings too much of his personal life into the book. I did not find this to be a problem. Although he does bring up his training and his career in the book he uses them to illustrate his points and to show his reasoning. I thought that it made the book stronger for the average reader and added weight to his arguments.

This is an important and ground-breaking book. Read it.

A treatment of Intelligent Design from the focus of the genetic code. Though all the arguments may not rigorously stand in the face of scientific scrutiny, many of the issues raised needs serious discussion - purely from a scientific point of view. For example, the question whether code or life came first is a chicken or egg problem for long. The contention that intelligent code can never come from random events needs a serious scientific explanation. However, the book could have been better off if it had confined to the scientific aspects of the origin of the code, analogy to information theory and evolution of life. Linking it to Bible narratives had weakened the logic of the book.

Perry Marshall is an electrical and communications engineer and he brings an unique outsider's perspective to the age old question: Where do we come from?

Evolution 2.0 takes us on a logic driven journey into the opposing theories of Neo-Darwinism (evolution though random and accidental mutations) and Intelligent Design (evolution through an intelligent designer).

Perry Marshall has taken centuries of increasingly complex biological and scientific exposition and painstakingly distilled it into user-friendly, understandable language for his readers. Each chapter is conveniently followed by a Bullet Point Summary that updates and keeps track of the unfolding arguments.

I found the Five Blades of Evolution (namely, Transposition, Horizontal Gene Transfer, Epigenetics, Symbiogenesis and Hybridization) fascinating and highly illuminating. Perry Marshall cleverly explains these daunting scientific concepts in a understandable way, without dumbing it down.

Evolution 2.0 has greatly expanded my understanding of evolution and the raging divide.

Thank you Netgalley for the free book in exchange for an honest review.

I am just sorry to say that I do not believe in God or any religion. As an Atheist myself and especially a BIOLOGY lover and enthusiast, none of the arguments pro God and against Biology and Evolution appealed to me.

I will leave this book to religious people who have faith in God. It is not for me.