Harper Collins is proud to present its range of best-loved essential classics How fleeting are the wishes & efforts of man! how short his time! & consequently how poor will his products be compared with those accumulated by nature during whole geological periods' Still considered one of the most important & groundbreaking works of science ever written Darwin's eminently readable exploration of the evolutionary process challenged most of the strong beliefs of the Western world Forced to question the idea of the Creator mid-nineteenth century readers were faced with Darwin's theories on the laws of natural selection & the randomness of evolution causing massive controversy at the time However Darwin's theories remain instrumental in providing the backbone to modern biology today