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Test F : Further questions about

Darwin and The Origin of Species

1. Darwin, making extensive use of the geological record, considers it ( a ) complete and satisfactory ( b ) incomplete but an invaluable source of data on the origin of species.

2. Species refers to a group of animals or plants ( a ) lower (b ) higher than a genus.

3. Members of a species share common characteristics, and can interbreed and reproduce their kinds. ( True or False? ) 4. Members of a genus share common characteristics, but are not necessarily able to interbreed and reproduce their kind.

(True or False? )

5. Of the following factors, which ones play a major role and which a minor role in natural selection?

MAJOR

MINOR

( a ) The struggle for existence

( b ) Variation of individuals

( c ) Heritability of traits

Appendix B 401

6. Darwin compares the power of natural selection to that of man's selection. Which does he think is greater?

7. The Latin phrase Natura non facit saltum appears in the table of contents. Can you translate this phrase? Can you state the significance of the phrase for Darwin's theory?

8. What is the significance of geological dispersion and of natural barriers such as the oceans on the evolution of species?

9. In his Introduction to The Origin of Species, Darwin refers to the origin of species as "that mystery of mysteries, as it has been called by one of our greatest philosophers." Can you state fairly exactly the problem that his work sets out to solve? You might try to do this in no more than a sentence or two.

10. What is Darwin's theory-in a nutshell? Can you state it in no more than 100 words?

Tum to p. 415 for the answers to Test F.

You have now completed the two-part exercise at the second level of reading. As before, you will have noted that the questions draw not only on the texts read but also on historical and other information. Indeed, you may feel that some of the questions were eminently unfair. And so they would be, if any critical decision depended on your ability to answer them. That, of course, is not so. We hope that the questions you were unable to answer, or that you found it very difcult to answer, will not irritate you, but will instead lead you to search in the works that have been only superficially discussed here for better answers than the ones we have given. Better answers are available in the works themselves. And also answers to many more interesting questions that we have not had the time, the space, or the wit, to ask.

402 HOW TO READ A BOOK

I l l . Exercises and Tests at the Third level of Reading: Analytical Reading

The text used for the exercises in this part of the Appendix is this book itself. We would prefer it if this were not so.

There are many books that it would be better and more fruitful to practice analytical reading on. But over against that preference there is one overriding consideration: this book is the only one that we can be sure that all persons taking this test have read. The only alternative would be to reprint another book along with this one, and that is out of the question.

You will recall that the analytical reader must always attempt to answer four questions about whatever book he is reading: ( 1 ) What is the book about as a whole? ( 2 ) What is being said in detail, and how? ( 3 ) Is the book true, in whole or part? ( 4 ) What of it? The fifteen rules of reading, as they are listed on pp. 163-64 and discussed at length in Part Two, are designed to help the analytical reader answer these questions. Can you answer them about this book?

You must be the judge of whether you can or not. There are no answers at the end of this Appendix to these four questions. The answers are in the book itself.

Not only is it true that we have done the best job we could of making these matters clear in writing the book. It is also true that in an important sense it would be inappropriate to try to help you any more than we already have. Not only is analytical reading work-it is lonely work. The reader is alone with the