Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification

"Luck, or Cunning, as the Main Means of Organic Modification" by Samuel Butler is a 19th-century exploration into the interplay between what is passed down and remembrance and pushes back against the standard Darwinian ideas of how life changes over time by reintroducing planning into the history of living things. Starting with Butler's statement of purpose, the book looks closely at how living things grow and change, claiming that what is inherited and what is remembered are closely related; after talking about his move from a concentration on dividing life forms to closely studying Darwin's theories, Butler thinks back on his talks with big thinkers of the time like Alfred Tylor and Herbert Spencer. He makes it clear that truly understanding where we come from means accepting that planning plays a part in how things change, also when we act on instinct, it is the same as using memories that have been passed down, this is a point he hopes to prove in the book.