Rare Charles Darwin Book Found On Toilet Bookshelf - AP

[WillyT]

I love stories like this, LOL!

<snip>

LONDON — An auction house says it is selling a rare first edition of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" found in a family's guest lavatory in southern England.

Christie's auction house said Sunday the book — one of around 1,250 copies first printed in 1859 — had been on a toilet bookshelf at a family's home in Oxford.

The book will be auctioned on Tuesday — the 150th anniversary of the publication of the famous work. Christie's said the book is likely to sell for 60,000 pounds ($99,000).

Darwin's "The Origin of Species" outlined his theory of natural selection — the foundation for the modern understanding of evolution.

Celebrations around the world this year have marked the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth.

<snip>

Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jhUUF0KXQY4SIiIia-nEnq9IOmHAD9C4IL2G0

"Darling... What do you want to do with those old books in the guest loo?"

:wow:

[HopeHoops]

1. Survival of the shittest?

:hide:

[WillyT]

4. Origin Of Feces ???

:hide:

:rofl:

[HopeHoops]

7. Or perhaps reserve toilet paper.

Well, if it was in a GOP bathroom.

[ddeclue]

14. DUZY #2!

[ddeclue]

13. DUZY#1!

[MineralMan]

2. Actually, it would make excellent reading in that situation...

taken in bits, it's fascinating.

I'm surprised it didn't end up in the dust bin.

[barbtries]

3. were they on cash in the attic?

one of the shows i do miss since giving up TV.

[Naturyl]

5. I'm conflicted about Darwin.

As a scientist, he was without peer and a historical giant.

However, the social legacy of Darwin's ideas has been disastrous. And no, I don't mean atheism. I mean "social Darwinism" - the underlying common philosophy of fascism, nazism, American conservatism, and just about every brand of sociopathy.

With "survival of the fittest," Darwin inadvertently empowered every brand of misanthrope out there.

[aikoaiko]

9. Of course yo uknow that Darwin never wrote the words "survival of the fittest"

That was Herbert Spencer.

Darwin is in no way responsible for pundits and politicians creating bad policy or political movements.

[Naturyl]

11. Yep, I actually did know that

Nonetheless, it has been universally associated with Darwin in the popular culture.

I'm not blaming Darwin, just pointing out that his cultural legacy has had some ugly unintended consequences.

[Warren DeMontague]

16. Astounding that war, genocide, oppression and cruelty didn't exist until the 20th century.

Yes, clearly, when man operates instead under strict religious rule and values, things are hunky dory.

[Warren DeMontague]

15. One wonders how the Inquisition managed to kill all those people, without Darwin's ideas.

Give me a fucking break. Sociopaths have always had excuses to kill people and prey on the weak. Darwin didn't start it, encourage it or even increase it.

And even if his ideas were responsible for everything from genocide to the heartbreak of psoriasis, it wouldn't make them any less true.

[NightWatcher]

6. I'm sorry sir, that book has been flagged

[aikoaiko]

8. I wish journalists would use the full title of this book...

...On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

[japple]

10. Gee, wonder if those Old Farmer's Almanacs that I've got on the

back of my toilet will be worth something in 150 years?

[WillyT]

12. Kick !!!

:kick: