Books - Charles Darwin

Customer Review: Fatally Flawed!:
Richard Dawkins makes a strange and unconvincing case for the theory of evolution!
We are lucky to be here; but we're not here by chance! Yes, Richard Dawkins feels strongly both ways!

The eternal Watchmaker can't exist because even though there is a great `illusion of design', a Designer would need an even greater Designer. This certainly is not my definition of a Designer. He might want to check out `There is a God' by Antony Flew, touted as the `world's most notorious atheist' turned theist, who came up with some great philosophical arguments for theism after a 20-year study.

Against `unimaginable odds', natural selection through a patient natural sieving he calls cumulative selection, working with time and environment, is our very creator! Life is so complex (particularly DNA), it simply could not have happened accidentally. I can finally agree with him on this.

He doesn't explain, however, how life began, including non-material things such as consciousness and self. While we're at it, where did reproduction come from?

If you saw the movie called `Expelled', Ben Stein directly asks Dawkins how life started and he said he didn't know. Stein pressed him and he got a bit miffed, which is unusual for the mild-mannered Dawkins. It also begs the question of how the original stuff of the universe even came to be. How does evolution explain something coming from nothing? Sounds like a pretty shaky foundation to me.

If this is not a fatal flaw for the theory of evolution, I don't know what one is.


Customer Review: It's SCIENCE Folks!:
Forget the "Unintelligent Design" crowd, this is about what's real in terms of what we know about the universe we live in. I Mean, Really! Not that Noah had a Tyranosaurus Rex below decks (they actually claim that!)- I have always wondered which one of Noah's kids cleaned 'that particular' cage out. Nor do I think Hawkins here is all that egotistical, he's trying to point out 'his' way of viewing Darwinism and where he himself believes others have been misquoted or misunderstood (sometimes even by themselves). But the book is readable, funny; & down to earth (like Darwinism itself), and very understandable. For a science book it's up right up there in the league with Timothy Ferris' books on what we look up at; before our own gasses block those out. And there really is no need to debate online about, or with people who don't 'get it'. They have a right to their beliefs, as long as they don't try to shove them down our throats, or worse, the throats of school children (!) as "science"! They are like the members of the Scopps trial jury who after sending him off to prison (yes, movie aside;-he lost!), then went home to their farms in Tennessee, out back to breed their hunting dogs to get a 'better' coonhound; which is exactly the thing they denied mother nature or god the right to do! Like all extreme fundamentalists they take a sentence or phrase out of the bible or koran and 'bend it' to fit whatever they already believe, that's they way they work. So what if the stars & galaxies we see PROVE that the universe is billions & billions of years old (what did Einstein know!), it doesn't say so in 'their' book! Which is what happens when religion goes from a flexible oral tradition that can accommodate new information, to a Fixed Text with a last page! Anyway read Hawkins book, it's fascinating and the clearest thing you'll find on how we got to be who we are, and very, very readable! It took a very long time for our brains to get this big, Use them!

Customer Review: Not what I expected:
The book is not bad, it is just not what I expected. It seemed like it was written for followers. Quite technical for the casual reader. I was looking for more justification for evolution over "intelligent design." It is in there but not for a casual reader.

Customer Review: Great if you're interested in Atheism or Biology:
I bought this book as an exploration into Atheism, to see how they think about things. I'm about halfway through it right now, and I am loving every page. I started reading it to explore the ideas behind Atheism, but I keep turning the pages because I want to read more about the wondrous mechanisms of nature.

Customer Review: This is an outstanding book for the intelligent layman:
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It's been in print so long that virtually everything that can be said about has been said about it.

That being the case here are my observations.

Don't expect to read this book quickly unless you're already well steeped in Darwinian theory. Be prepared to reread paragraphs to make sure you grasp their meaning. Some concepts are difficult to grasp. Dawkins realizes this (from personal experience, no doubt) and does repeat himself often but probably not often enough. Try to read this book at least a chapter at a time. This is not the kind of book you can stop at any point and easily pick it up again days later.

This is the type of book that requires a great deal of engagement on the part of the reader. You have to do a lot of thinking. In many respects Darwin is as hard to get one's arms around as Einstein.

In short, you'll get something out of this book only if you're prepared to invest something into it.

Product Description:
The only complete edition. Charles Darwin's Autobiography was first published in 1887, five years after his death. It was a bowdlerized edition: Darwin's family, attempting to protect his posthumous reputation, had deleted all the passages they considered too personal or controversial. The present complete edition did not appear until 1959, one hundred years after the publication of The Origin of Species. Upon its appearance, Loren Eiseley wrote:

"No man can pretend to know Darwin who does not know his autobiography. Here, for the first time since his death, it is presented complete and unexpurgated, as it exists in the family archives. It will prove invaluable to biographers and cast new light on the personality of one of the world's greatest scientists. Nora Barlow, Darwin's granddaughter, has proved herself a superb editor. Her own annotations make fascinating reading."

The daring and restless mind, the integrity and simplicity of Darwin's character are revealed in this direct and personal account of his life—his family, his education, his explorations of the natural world, his religion and philosophy. The editor has provided page and line references to the more important restored passages, and previously unpublished notes and letters on family matters and on the controversy between Samuel Butler appear in an appendix.
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Customer Review: Speaks to Darwin's heart more than his theory:
Charles Darwin is one of the most influential persons in the past two hundred years. His theories have had major repercussions for science, as well as for our historical and religious understanding of ourselves. If you want to begin understand the mind of Darwin (but not his theory of natural selection - read "Origin" for that of course), read this book. It contains the unexpurgated reflective autobiography of Darwin, and it will be a good window into his ideas and thoughts, though I hope you do not stop there. Read more of Darwin. Unsure of his direction early in life, Charles Darwin became a scientific stickler for accurate details, and of course the monumental founder of the idea of natural selection. Darwin's religious notions, some of his biography, as well as the (almost comic) table of "proofs" whether to marry or not show a serious and light-hearted side to this complex man. Only regrets - I wish there were more information contained herein, and that the latter part of it was better organized (or that it had less to do with the tedious Samuel Butler dispute).

Customer Review: The descent of Mr. Darwin:
Reading the memoir that Darwin wrote for his family, two qualities of the man stand out above all others. The first is his intense humanity--indeed, his lovability. He is modestly self-deprecating in a totally uncalculating way; his devotion to his father, wife, and children shines through, as does his compassion for suffering animals; and his reminiscences of childhood, youth, and young adulthood are quaintly idiosyncratic (he doesn't remember and record "big" events so much as funny or curious little ones that lodged in his memory). He comes across as an incredibly decent guy.

Second, he is a scrupulously honest thinker. He abandons his early Christianity (although he admits that he was never very fervent) because his understanding of natural selection rules out the possibility of a Paleyesque divine design in nature, and he rejects the idea of eternal damnation because it seems to him hideously unjust. (The bulk of his religious reflections are found in pp. 85-96.) He is devoted to the empirical method, carefully collecting and collating years and years worth of data before drawing conclusions from them. He especially notes, he tells us, data that seem to run contrary to his hypotheses, because he knows how easy it is to "forget" such inconvenient facts. And he takes great delight in his scientific work. Curious that Darwin laments on at least two occasions that he's lost his youthful taste for poetry, art, and music. His love of the natural world surely is as artistic as scientific.

I highly recommend this autobiography to all persons interested in the on-going fracas over evolution. It goes a long way to revealing the real man too often demonized by polemicists.

Customer Review: Darwin's autobiograph is great:
This is a wonderful book. It provides an insightful view of Darwin himself, with only light reference to his revelations about nature and evolution. By reading this book, one learns that Darwin was not the dark, confrontational, angry person religious people try to portray him (they are projecting, I think). Rather, Charles Darwin was a man full of life, wonderment, and humor. He was a very sociable humanitarian who cherished his family, children (10!), and associates. Most of all, he had an insatiable thurst for knowledge about nature, and was a complete devotee to the scientific method. His contribution to our understanding of biology is, of course, historic, but he was also a central figure in the immediate functions of the scientific community of his day. His work lead to the realization that religion is myth, but he does not dwell on this, but mentions it in passing. Instead, he writes about the beauty of the diversity and functionality of nature and how Natural Selection has provided such a rich environment.

Customer Review: The simplicity of genius:
Listening to Charles Darwin talk about his life, from his earliest childhood experiences, proved to me, yet again, that really great people completely lack pomposity and artifice.

Darwin spends barely anytime talking about his great works, he really just sets the scene in which these works took place. And because that scene was so firmly Victorian with society tightly bound by religion and class, you also realise what a brave man he was in pursuing his scientific observations.

This is only a small book, the actual biography I read in a couple of days. This edition was edited by his grand-daughter and in the end notes some space is devoted to a row between Darwin and a Mr Butler - who you may well ask was Butler, its interesting to note how all these other characters fade into history's darkness, whilst the legacy of Darwin's work lives on.



Customer Review: A quick, informative, and inspiring read:
This autobiography is a fun and easy-to-read journey through the events that made Darwin into a meticulous visionary. It serves as an excellent spark to make any person into a Darwin-enthusiast. Regardless of how you feel about his theory of evolution, Darwin's life experiences as described in this book can teach you to examine the world and everyday occurrences in a new and fascinating way.

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this account of Darwin's life was the value that Darwin himself placed, not on conventional means of gathering knowledge (he refers to many of his early university Professors and lectures as wastes of time), but on the people that he met and the questions raised by the world around him. Darwin's observant and inquisitive nature is expressed genuinely in this book and can inspire any reader to share in the sense of wonder that Darwin takes from the simple, everyday interactions with the natural world.

Product Description:




Customer Review: Lovely Book, Four and a half stars:
Picked for a book club read, not realizing it was geared toward a younger audience. Several of us really enjoyed it, though we all found the writing style very simple (just right to include the younger audience.) You get to know Darwin as "Charles", a husband and father, a human being in the context of a family; and are charmed and touched by his relationship with them. And the story of how his discoveries effected his beliefs and thus his relationships with those he loved most, keeps you enthralled, especially for people who have experienced the effects of differences in belief in their personal relationships with those they love, who have the context of the full depth of their emotions to draw from when they are only hinted at in the book. It follows the story of his relationship with Emma and family life from it's start to the ends of their lives, and his scientific work in the context of his daily life with his family. Simple and understated, drawing the picture from the historical sources, some in our book club longed for more, and it certainly could have been made more exciting as historical fiction, where you could have gotten inside their heads a bit more, but I find a beauty in the story told as simply as it was. When differences in belief so often spark contention that tears people apart, I found this a beautiful story of triumph of love for our fellow beings, in a striking place: one of the first couples to have felt the impact of the theory of evolution.

I came away with greater respect for Darwin most deeply because of this one thing: his care and respect for the feelings of those whose religious devotion was disturbed by his theories. When after his death, Emma edited out certain passages of his personal writings, which were not intended by him to go public, because she said she thought people would take them the wrong way, at first you may think she is trying to clean up what she doesn't agree with. But I get the feeling from what you learn about the two, that more likely she knew that Charles didn't like offending and hurting people, and was more likely to withhold a thought of his that might be taken as being disrespectful or in mean spirit to others who held contradictory cherished beliefs. Not that he didn't feel justified in his beliefs, but that he would take the utmost care that others would not perceive the slightest mean spirit or disrespect in his intent.

One thing that struck me was how being part of a distinctly upper class, the life Darwin led that enabled him to devote his time to his studies, was surely starkly different than the lives and constraints of those in the working and poorer classes. While this was not a theme brought out at all in the book (appropriately, as this was not the scope of the book), I couldn't help become aware of it while reading the account of what his daily life and home was like.

Seeing Darwin's studies in the context of his home life, and ordinary daily musings and observations of the things around him, can also be a great model for the young scientists among us.

Customer Review: Interesting Take on Darwin:
I have been interested in Charles Darwin and his ideas ever since I took an Anthropology class my freshmen year in college. I rarely read non-fiction books (outside of memoirs) but CHARLES AND EMMA: THE DARWIN'S LEAP OF FAITH by Deborah Heiligman definitely intrigued me. This book explores the relationship between Darwin, the man behind the concept of evolution, and his wife Emma who was a woman with very strong religious convictions. I thought the idea of a book that examines their relationship might be interesting to read. Plus it was a book geared for children ages 12 and up, so I thought I probably wouldn't have any problems understanding the science in it!

I have to admit that when I first picked up this book, I wasn't sure it was for me; however, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed reading it. I thought the science parts were interesting and didn't bog down the reader with a lot of technical jargon -- the explanations were clear and easy to understand. And, I really liked learning about the Darwins' marriage and their children.

What I like most about this book were the parts about Charles and Emma and how they handled their differences in faith. From all accounts, their marriage seemed to be very strong and they certainly respected each other (although Emma did fear that Darwin's beliefs may keep him from heaven.) I thought it was fascinating how they reconciled such a huge difference in their marriage.

I really enjoyed learning more about Darwin as a man. While there is no doubt that he was an absolutely brilliant scientist, he also seemed to be such a sensitive man and caring father. He adored his wife as evidenced by his correspondence with her when they were apart, and it seemed like he managed to find time to play with his children despite his busy work schedule. I am amazed by how productive he was since he spent much of his time seriously ill. I truly believe that his frailties were compounded by the stress he incurred with his very controversial scientific discoveries.

I think high school aged children would probably appreciate this book more than younger ones. It isn't a difficult book to read, but it is a little on the long side (around 250 pages.) It most definitely will appeal to children who are interested in science and Darwin's ideas because some parts of the book do go into detail about his observations and writings. That's not to say that some readers will also enjoy the more biographical parts of the story as well as the love affair between Darwin and his wife.

Customer Review: Biography at it's best:
What a refreshing book! After all that's been written about Charles Darwin it's hard to believe that any new slant on this genius's life could be mined. But author, Deborah Heiligman, has found her way by giving us a bird's eye view into the love story between Charles and his devout wife Emma. Though science and religion are important keys to Charles and Emma's lives, Heiligman wisely uses a conversational tone, full of wit and humor, that keeps the pacing at the right level for middle grade and high school readers. What makes this a stand out read is the author's deft hand with details which she uses to paint a vivid picture of 19th century England. I loved that she starts out with a list young Darwin made of the pro's and con's of marriage! Not exactly Mr. Spontanious, but his loyalty to Emma and his children never wavered.
What also comes through is the author's sympathy for two people of such opposing views, who somehow manage to come together and actually thrive. It really is a testament to the strength of their love when you read about their many struggles and heartbreaks within their own family. It's biography at it's best.

Customer Review: Fascinating Biography of Charles and Emma Darwin:
Few books offer as much human insight, inspiration, humor, and encouragement to enjoy science as this one. Heiligman has a sure touch as a biographer, using the telling remark or anecdote to flesh out the characters and explain their struggles, conflicts, and resolutions. Anyone who would like a short book on one of the world's great thinkers--and the conditions of home life that allowed him to prosper intellectually--can do no better than this. The tension between religion and science as Heiligman explains the Darwins' marriage and personal faith just adds to this engrossing story. Superb!

Customer Review: Getting the inside story:
I enjoyed reading this book. It gave me more inside information on Charles and his relationship with Emma. I think it humanizes Charles in a way many people may not see. Learning about the length of time he worked with his theories,the sensitivity toward his wife and her beliefs that he had, and reconciling his scientific ideas with his own religious beliefs, helped me to understand his struggle more. I believe middle and high school students could read and enjoy this book, and of course, adults. I think it is a bit too much for elementary students.

Product Description:
"Quammen brilliantly and powerfully re-creates the 19th century naturalist's intellectual and spiritual journey."--Los Angeles Times Book Review Twenty-one years passed between Charles Darwin's epiphany that "natural selection" formed the basis of evolution and the scientist's publication of On the Origin of Species. Why did Darwin delay, and what happened during the course of those two decades? The human drama and scientific basis of these years constitute a fascinating, tangled tale that elucidates the character of a cautious naturalist who initiated an intellectual revolution. .



Customer Review: Good science, mediocre theology:
I was interested to learn more about how Darwin developed his theory and on that score this is an excellent account. He is a fine writer and the chapters on the development of Alfred Wallace's work and on the writing of Origin of the Species are especially good--real page turners in fact.. The author conveys a convincing portrayal of an exacting scientist who also was an honorable man who dearly loved his family.

Why three stars? I was put off by the author's frequent forays into theology. I am not a person of strong belief and the author's claims about Darwin's own religiosity are persuasive. The problem is his not very veiled view that belief in Darwin's theories is incompatible with religiou belief. He backs off from saying that directly, but essentially says it nonetheless. To make that claim convincing he would need a much stronger footing in contemporary theology than he appears to have. It is quite possible that he has no interest in acquiring that knowledge, of course, but he should understand that the nature of religious faith is not a constant--the same for everyone today as it was in Darwin's rather different world. While the issue is not mentioned on the dust jacket or referred to in the index, it is clearly a strong subtext for the author, but one over which he would have done well to exercise some Darwin-like restraint.

Still, I am very glad I read the book and it has made me want to read Origin of the Species.

Customer Review: excellent background to the theory:
This book is excellent for those who want not only to understand evolutionary thinking, but also to have some insight into how that thinking developed.

The book is concerned mainly with the period between Darwin's return from the voyage on the Beagle to when On The Origin of Species was published. The author discusses Darwin's life at home and his interactions with other scientists and naturalists, directly and by mail.

I was left with the feeling that I had a much better understanding of Darwin as a person, and how personal factors (especially his relationship with his wife and children) affected his whole approach to the subject. I also got some insight into Darwin's development as a scientist, and both the experiences and the people that were most influential.

Customer Review: Brash but compelling Darwin reading:
David Quammen's The Reluctant Mr. Darwin fills an interesting niche within Darwin biographies, falling somewhere in between the brevity of Janet Browne's Darwin's Origin of Species and more comprehensive undertakings like Adrian Desmond and James Moore's Darwin. Clearly drawing upon his skills as a popular science writer, Quammen's candid and colored portrayal of Darwin is equal parts fascinating and divisive. While the narrative Quammen crafts is delightfully dense with Darwin's idiosyncrasies and the various contexts surrounding the development of his work, his unapologetic interpretation of events may turn off some readers.

Quammen begins the book right after the Beagle voyage, dropping the reader into Darwin's rush to situate his life in London. The first third of the book thus focuses on the interaction of the different factors that influenced the ideas eventually supporting the Origin of Species. Yet there are also plenty of details regarding the incubation of the ideas behind Darwin's Origin of Species. He was consumed by meetings with Lyell and Gould to identify specimens from the voyage and working out concepts in his notebooks that would form the basis for his theories on transmutation and natural selection. His reading of Malthus provided Darwin with the key to evolution via natural selection, while his meetings with Joseph Hooker and Lyell gave him the confidence to tighten his ideas of transmutation. Quammen does a good job of balancing this narrative with glimpses into Darwin's personal life; we see his rationality at work in his weighing of the pros and cons of marriage, as well as the common thread of genuineness that pervaded both his interactions with his wife Emma and his writing.

The middle third of the book is devoted mostly to the major points of contention regarding Darwin's Origin of Species. Quammen's commentary throughout is insightful but often inconsistent; his instincts as a popular science writer can be both a strength and a detraction. For example, his framing of the controversy between Wallace and Darwin works well, crafting a compelling underdog narrative that brings Darwin's flaws regarding pride into sharp focus and provides the rationale for the kickstarting of the Origin. He also makes good points when trying to justify the twenty year gap between the start of writing and the Origin of Species, noting that it is not about which factors were most responsible but about how the factors interact.

Yet there are several instances where Quammen makes sensationalized assertions regarding Darwin's life and detracts from the integrity of the narrative. His various discussions on the role of religion in Darwin's life are certainly guilty of this. Quammen makes sure to emphasize the theme of religion's incompatibility with Darwin's work; even in the beginning Darwin is depicted leading a double life of subverting religion, working out his ideas in his "seditious notebooks." It gets worse later on, when, in his analysis of the argument in the Origin of Species, he says that Darwin's conception of evolution is not challenging the existence of God but the special status of man. It is a fascinating idea and true to some extent, but it does not warrant the undoing of the effort he spent to establish the incompatibility of Darwin's ideas with religion. Such instances exemplify how Quammen's flair for the dramatic can undermine a solid narrative.

The final third of the book finds Quammen rushing through the legacy of the Origin of Species and an overview of evolutionary biology. His survey of the Origin of Species wants to be too much for the space it is allotted; it wants to be critical and reverent but cannot pursue either to the fullest extent. The discussion of Mendel and evolutionary biology also seemed unfinished; while there is a good deal of background on Mendel's experiments, Quammen skims over how Mendel's work translated into the modern synthesis that revitalized Darwinism in the 20th century, offering instead a comprehensive but ultimately non-informative equivalent of a reading list.

Despite these shortcomings, Quammen does manage to craft a nuanced and intriguing portrayal of Darwin, acknowledging him as the genuine and benevolent man he was in his life and writings yet refusing to shy away from his flaws. The Reluctant Mr. Darwin provides an ultimately flawed but well-researched and accessible complement to the more neutral biographies available on Darwin. If you do decide to pick up this book, however, I would also recommend reading Janet Browne's Darwin's Origin of Species, as it provides a more unbiased perspective on the events in Darwin's life and fills in some of the time gaps left in Quammen's book.


Customer Review: Sugar for Curiosity:
Mr. O... has done a beuatiful job of holding the reader's interest as he
weaves the life of Darwin into the evolution of his theory. Prior to this
read I had declined opportunities to visit the Galapagoes.Now with curiosity
peaked I'm ready to go. Wow! A most informative read. rlb

Customer Review: An Excellent Overview of Darwin and His Work:
This is a superb overview of life of Charles Darwin after he returns from the voyage of The Beagle in October 1836. Mr. Quammen is an excellent non-fiction writer, with an easy style that flows and pulls you into the story and continues to make it interesting throughout. He chose to write only the years after the Beagle voyage in the interest of brevity and focus on the more important work done after 1836, especially of course, On the Origin of Species. This is not an in-depth biography and isn't intended to be.

In about 250 pages, Quammen does a fine job of distilling Darwin's quietly productive life, both personal and scientific. Many things must be hastily skimmed of course. When this occurs, Quammen says it specifically, such as on pp. 228-230 where he gives a 30,000-foot view of developments in evolutionary theory since Darwin, including the "modern synthesis." He pointedly shows you the best places to look for the details by including the important titles by the principals for further reading.

One thing I particulary like about this book is that it brings Darwin the man to life. It highlights his family life, friendships, scientific relationships and how they influence him. It also presents Darwin as the very humane man that he was; and shows his unflinching pursuit of facts, in spite of consequences (while still trying very hard not to offend anyone.)

My only negatives would be where the occasional glib, too-conversational quip gets past the editor. These occasional lapses show something of the author's history of writing for magazines, including many years with Outside. That said, these were rare and only detracted momentarily.

This is an excellent place to start with Darwin. Also highly recommended: Everyman's Library edition of On the Origin of Species and The Voyage of the Beagle:

The Origin of Species and the Voyage of the Beagle

Product Description:
Describes the life and work of the renowned nineteenth-century biologist who transformed conventional Western thought with his theory of natural evolution.



Customer Review: This adventurous and fun book makes the somewhat distant character, Charles Darwin, come alive for the reader!:
There were a lot of interesting things in the house for Charles to
look at. It was not the kind of house where children were told things
like, "children must look, but not touch." Even his mother had
interesting things to look at, for she raised pigeons. One of his
favorite things to do was to collect beetles. He even learned the
names of them. Charles was learning many things, but not in school.
After his mother died, his father became exasperated with him. "You
. . . will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family "

When he was sixteen, he was sent off to college to learn medicine, but
he still didn't get the picture. His grades were lousy and he still
was interested in collecting things as he was a born naturalist, not a
student. Studying to be a doctor was definitely not in the cards so
his father sent him to the University of Cambridge to become a cleric.
And he was still interested in collecting things. Then one day a
letter came from a friend that would change his life forever. In 1831
he boarded the naval ship Beagle and would embark on a trip that would
change his life and would forever alter the way the world thought
about evolution.

This type of simple biography makes it easier for the reluctant
student to learn about a subject as the marvelous visual imagery can
be a great help. The book was adventurous and fun. It makes the
somewhat distant character, Charles Darwin, come alive for the reader.
Obviously this book is not for the creationist, but would make a
lovely addition to the home or classroom.

Customer Review: My son said...:
After reading this to my children before bedtime, my son said after I finished the book, "Why was he so lazy!" Ha! It cracked me up. The message is a lot too contrived for me. The author was trying (stretching) really hard to make him seem more extraordinary than he was. Good entertainment and good discussion.

Customer Review: PICTURE BOOKS FOR OLDER BOYS:
Kathryn Lasky tells the story of Charles Darwin and his quest to learn more about the natural world. We learn of Darwin's childhood and his father's concern over his nonconformity. Charles did not do well in school and preferred to be with the bugs rather than the books. As readers, we follow his life aboard The Beagle, home to England and end with the publication of The Origin of Species. Lasky's tellings of specific anecdotes, along with the humorous pictures by Matthew Trueman that accompany the text, create an interesting story for the reader. A child can easily empathize with only eating raisins or Darwin allowing his own children "the run of the house." This book is perfect for introducing Charles Darwin and his adventures to young readers and beyond.

Customer Review: Enchanting read aloud:
I love this book for read aloud. It is a bit long for one sitting, but I prepared my students and they paid attention the entire time. It is beautifully illustrated. I have a class of fifth graders and I thought the reading level was just right. I like the way it dealt with Darwin's inner conflict regarding evolution and his and Emma's religious beliefs.
I would recommend it as a way of studying Darwin.

Product Description:

Dr. Geoffrey Simmons focuses on the millions of structures and systems on the Earth that came about all at once, entire...with no preceding links, no subsequent links, no “sideways� links.

To illustrate, he surveys examples like...

• the hummingbird and its circulatory system
• insects and insect–eating plants
• the role of the thousands of species of viruses
• chemical signals and the sensory apparatus that detects them
• the self–regulating capacity of the Earth’s ocean/air/soil system

It’s clear: Nature containsonly leaps, not links. Only the intelligence and purpose of an all–powerful Designer can explain the intricate creatures, connections, and “coincidences� everywhere.

Excellent for students and parents, especially homeschoolers, and for educators who want to present the “full picture.�

Customer Review: 2 stars:
I came to this book with an open mind, hoping to read the "best" the ID crowd have to offer. While there are some interesting facts in the book, nothing comes close to denting the mountains of evidence in favor of Darwinian evolution. The only "missing links" are in the writer's arguments. Anyone with an elementary understanding of biology will find the book riddled with holes and fallacies..so many in fact that I found it difficult to force myself through it. It gets 2 stars for a noble attempt..but loses 3 for being utter rubbish that has been thoroughly debunked by others.

Customer Review: Mindboggling Ignorance:
I heard this guy on a radio show recently. It was laughable in the extreme. But these folk should continue pouring out their deluded drivel as it only makes them look more and more idiotic. At the time this book was written, so much information and facts were available to the author which would have corrected his 'views' yet he either didn't do any research or ignored it completely. Quite incredible really. If you write a book making grand statements about fossils etc you are going to have to expect to be called out on your mistakes. But I assume the author was directing this tome at a certain audience who tend to also ignore facts and evidence.
I suppose I should commend the author for writing a book that is laugh-out-loud funny. It really is in places but I suspect unintentionally. All in all just a very sad and disturbing read. You are better off with a basic high school biology book.
Better still read something by Jerry Coyne or Richard Dawkins but only if you are into facts and evidence!

Customer Review: Exceptional though not flawless:
While not all examples are compelling (some perhaps inaccurate), overall this is an incredibly well written book worth your time and consideration. Very far from a God-of-the-gaps argument, this book takes you on a journey through the natural world and compells an intellectually honest person to ask whether or not natural selection acting on random mutuation can really account for the complexity of life. To put it another way, is there really compelling EVIDENCE for random mutation and natural selection creating the biological machines and co-dependent mechanisms that exist in nature and are described by this book. The variety and abundance of lifeforms and components of lifeforns is enormous. Shouldn't there be an equally enormous body of evidence to demonstrate how mutation resulted in positive, co-dependent functions? Shouldn't there be evidence of abiogenesis, abundant living evidence of speciation, abundant living and fossil evidence of failed mutations, and the ability to demonstrate how co-dependent systems co-evolved, etc. etc. etc.? Whether you believe in God as a Creator or mutation as a creator, you'll enjoy reading this book.






Customer Review: A poetic interpretation of rationality.:
This book is useful for those who choose not to know any better.
You can give this propaganda to most people and they will lap it up.
Leave the book on the donut table at your church for newcomers to pick up.
If you are blind...why not lead the blind?

Customer Review: Typical Example of Creationist Nonsense:
Simmons' book is typical Creationist nonsense. The reviews of others tell us all we need to know. He apparently devotes part of his book to explaining why transitional fossils don't exist. I am an invertebrate paleontologist, and I can tell readers that there are thousands of transitional fossils, many quite amazing, such as all the transitional fossils between dinosaurs and birds, between reptiles and mammals, between land-dwelling, four-legged mammals and whales, and now the wonderful new transitional bat fossil that lacks sonar (published in Nature; I can't use URLs here, but just search using "new bat fossil").

That's just some vertebrate fossil lineages. The same excellent examples exist for invertebrates and microfossils also, and in fact many more than for vertebrates because their fossil record is better and more complete. I did my own research on the evolutionary transitions between species (that's SPECIES, not genera or families) of protists in complete stratigraphic sequences over millions of years. One can easily see how one species changes into another when you actually have complete, continuous, and gap-free sedimentary sequences that hold the fossils. Such sequences are rare, so it is difficult to find transitional fossils between species, but they exist and have been published in the scientific literature. But for genera and families, there are thousands of such transitional fossils.

I am quite familiar with many other Creationist books such as Billions of Missing Links. Usually the author doesn't understand what he is writing about, and often he misrepresents the facts or true state of knowledge. Only someone with adequate scientific knowledge can detect the omissions and illogical arguments. In either case, the author of such books almost always has a propensity for religious zealotry or an antipathy to science. Creationists take pains these days to hide their religiosity, because the law prevents religious claims from being taught to students in the secular, public school system, but it is always there beneath the surface. Of course, I recognize that there are a very few non-religious individuals who just don't like the concept of evolution or natural selection, and they have their own particular reasons for dismissing evolution. Behe, Wells, Dembski, and others associated with the Discovery Institute are very religious. I don't know what Geoffrey Simmons believes about religion. But I know his book is full of nonsense just from reading the reviews of others.

Product Description:

Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is the most important and yet least read scientific work in the history of science. Now James T. Costa—experienced field biologist, theorist on the evolution of insect sociality, and passionate advocate for teaching Darwin with Darwin in a society where a significant proportion of adults believe that life on earth has been created in its present form within the last 10,000 years—has given a new voice to this epochal work. By leading readers line by line through the Origin, Costa brings evolution’s foundational text to life for a new generation.

The Annotated Origin is the edition of Darwin’s masterwork used in Costa’s course at Western Carolina University and in Harvard’s Darwin Summer Course at Oxford. A facsimile of the first edition of 1859 is accompanied by Costa’s extensive marginal annotations, drawing on his extensive experience with Darwin’s ideas in the field, lab, and classroom. This edition makes available an accessible, useful, and practical resource for anyone reading the Origin for the first time or for those who want to reread it with the insights and perspective that a working biologist can provide.

(20090528)



Customer Review: Reading Darwin carefully:
Reading Darwin is far from painful since he does write clearly and often engagingly. The annotations are quite good although as is always the case they can be distracting as one loses the argument by stopping to read the annotations. That said, for anyone with more than a passing interest in evolution, the annotations provide background information and often help to elucidation his complex arguments. I found them most helpful and interesting. They help the reader to see an interesting and creative mind at work which is really the only reason to read Darwin today given modern additions to evolutionary theory. Layout is also quite good. Readers should know that this is the 1st edition (of 6 as I recall). Later editions had non-trivial additions and subtractions, but unfortunately they also soft-peddled some of the more extreme (and often correct) arguments, presumably because he was responding to real and imagined criticism. The general reader shouldn't be bothered by edition issues. I hadn't read Origin of Species in several years, and have enjoyed the experience again, but it takes some real work. Not airplane reading. Although there are much less expensive editions available this is the one to have.

Customer Review: The "Origin" Made Far More Accesible For Ordinary Readers:
It's both wonderful and too bad that there are now two such excellent versions of "On the Origin of Species" competing for non-specialist readers: this one and the lavishly-illustrated version edited by David Quammen (which see).

Professor Costa is a biologist himself and an insightful student of Darwin. This very useful book makes the "Origin" far easier to understand for the general reader. It presents a facsimile of the first edition of Darwin's classic volume (accepted as the most passionate and unalloyed version of Darwin's original views, compared to the five versions that he oversaw subsequently) in a broad format: on each page, the text is on one hand and lying next to it is commentary and interpretation by Professor Costa. The result is a handsome edition with thought-provoking insights that vastly enhance the reader's interest and understanding. Each comment is keyed to the pertinent place in the text to which it refers by the use of an arrow and the comments provide a gloss, as it were, on those passages. Costa summarizes, explains and points out what is coming up, indicates where the same themes or ideas reappear, offers valuable present-day perspectives on what Darwin is saying, and so forth.

To take just one signal example, Costa explains what may puzzle many readers, namely, why Darwin starts out with a discussion of plants and animals under domestication. His comments reduce the confusion people feel (I know I did, initially) when they start reading, thus making it likelier that general readers will not be confused and put off by the book from the outset. The reader is thus helpfully guided through Darwin's seminal work by a companionable expert.

Costa has prepared a worthwhile introduction in which he discloses his ambition that this edition will help to persuade modern students to read Darwin's original book, thereby enhancing understanding (and preventing misunderstanding) of evolution. He also laments and is perplexed by the fact that Americans seem so inclined to litigate over whether such widely accepted science can be taught in public schools. I gather he hopes by this edition to forestall some of the misunderstanding that can give rise to such litigation.

I hope Costa succeeds.

A set of biographical notes helps readers understand Darwin's references to other people and indicates where in the text one will find those references. I also inspected the bibliography and found it substantial and helpful as well. It is a bit on the individualistic side, however.

This is an attractive volume, stylishly presented by Harvard University's Belknap Press. There are no illustrations or diagrams apart from those found in the original first edition, however. The price is reasonable. Although I already have several editions of "On the Origin of Species," I was quick to buy this one. As a non-specialist, I have found the annotations extremely helpful, informative, and even entertaining.

Customer Review: Outstanding:
Received an advance copy of this book.

Apart from the odd cover-art, this is a truly beautiful book, cloth bound in bold orange color with gold embossed title on spine, very well bound, well printed on heavy/creamy paper stock.

The preface is an excellent overview of CD's life & work, and the annotations are worth owning.

Product Description:
In "The Darwin Myth", author Benjamin Wiker offers a critical analysis of Darwin's theories as well as the social, scientific, and religious implications of his work, leading us to the inevitable truth about Darwin's powerful - yet ultimately poisonous - legacy. Scientists often challenge conventional wisdom and spark debates that last for generations. But no scientist has fuelled more debate than Charles Darwin. To some he is the revolutionary 'father' of evolution. To others he is the perverse 'originator' of modern eugenics. And in "The Darwin Myth: The Life and Lies of Charles Darwin", author Benjamin Wiker brings these conflicting identities to light. He offers a critical examination of Darwin's theories as well as the scientific, social, and religious implications of his life and work. In "The Darwin Myth", Wiker reveals: How Darwin's theories were originally met by scepticism and criticism - much of which he couldn't refute and are still valid today; why Darwin didn't 'discover' evolution; and how science itself suggests God created the universe. Laying out the evidence and sound scientific arguments, Wiker illuminates the inevitable truth about Darwin's powerful - yet ultimately poisonous - legacy.



Customer Review: Better Than Expected...:
Readable, charitable and cogent. The Darwin Myth is not overblown propoganda but rather sober and grace filled in its treatment of Darwin. It presents him as a benificent affiable man and yet who seemed hamstrung by adopting a materialistic philosophy of life that boxed him in a corner concerning how to explain why a person should "be moral". I almost wish the title was different so that those who hold to Darwinistic philosophy might be more inclined to read it since it truly was a work that could benefit all.

Customer Review: Exciting story, but unfortunately not of the Real Charles Darwin:
Wiker mostly is interested in discrediting evolutionary biology, and in this pursuit this book offers nothing new. Wiker's claim to fame is that he attributes Darwin's discoveries to his rampant atheism.

I have read several biographies of Charles Darwin, but this is the least compelling, written clearly to discredit the man and the evolutionary biology that he initiated. The motive of Darwin, in The Origin of the Species and other works, according to Wiker, was to give support for Darwin's strongly-held atheistic beliefs, and to apply a deadly thrust to theistic beliefs. Of course, only an individual of limited mental capacity could reason that if Darwin had ulterior motives in his research, the results should be rejected. Evolutionary theory has been validated literally thousands of times and never has been contradicted. It is now the basis for all of biological theory. Moreover, Darwinian evolution in no way undermines a belief in God, although it is incompatible with some religious cosmologies, including the fact that the Universe is many billions of years old and humans and chimpanzees have a common ancestor.

The fact is that Darwin was a believer for most of his life, and his faith was shattered only when his beloved daughter Annie was taken from the world a the age of ten. Darwin later likened this event with what appeared to be the egregious horrors in the battle for survival exhibited by many natural species. Certainly Darwin was never hostile to religion. His wife was deeply religious and Darwin himself was involved in religious practices to the end of his days.

Darwin was ill and wracked with pain most of his life, but he was a rather upstanding, highly moral, scientist, father, and husband. Darwin regretted his agnosticism, and always considered himself as a believer in a higher being, his agnosticism being only a scientist's reaction to the lack of proof of the exisence of this higher being. Nor was Darwin himself ever a supporter of what came to be known as "Sccial Darwinism," a highly popular but pernicious political doctrine.

I have not read Darwin's autobiography, but the Rev. Paul Fayter reports on his web site the following facts, which confirm my analysis:

Near the end of his life, Darwin thought it impossible to conceive that "this immense and wonderful universe" was "the result of blind chance or necessity." No, it still seemed that the world had been willed into being. "I feel compelled to look to a First Cause having an intelligent mind in some degree analogous to that of man," he wrote in his autobiography, "and I deserve to be called a Theist." At the same time, Darwin believed that "the mystery of the beginning of all things" was simply unsolvable; and so he also declared, "I for one must be content to remain an agnostic."

I do not believe in ad hominem argument, and I am willing to believe that those who detract from Darwin's image as a decent person are motivated purely by their love of God, and do not suffer from the bigotry and limited intelligence that they appear to reveal. However, this does not absolve them from responsibility for their errors. The love of God is not an excuse for egregious and blatant error.




Customer Review: A Balanced VIew of One of the Nineteeth Century's Most Influential Thinkers:
Coming from Regnery I thought this book would be a one-sided slam at someone they don't like. This relatively short book is very fair to Charles Darwin. His personal life was a model of a decent individual. Compare his family life with that of Karl Marx. He also gives credit for the enormous amount of work that Charles Darwin did throughout his life. His criticism is that Darwin had an agenda: a godless, secular version of evolution. He does point out that Darwin didn't invent evolution, he merely popularized it. In so doing, with the aid of his apologists, he turned a fairly common idea among the intelligentsia into a weapon against religion. Wiker says that Darwin was intensely conflicted about his theory: he abhorred slavery but he admitted that nature did produce slavery. Darwin would have been shocked but shouldn't have been surprised at the multiple bad outcomes that came from his theory. I also appreciated that the people of his day who opposed his theory weren't the typical, young-earth fundamentalists that Darwin apologist always characterize them as. Wiker says that the choice between Darwinist evolution and a literal interpretation of the Bible is a false choice. Wiker, a professing Christian, doesn't advocate the literalist view but says quite frankly that evolution as opposed to Darwinist evolution is a fact. I'm surprised this hasn't been criticized. This is a good read with interesting and surprising insights.

Customer Review: miracle-free natural selection:
The book's underlying argument: because science prescribes to methodological naturalism, Darwin, by following this methodology, proposed the theory of natural selection thereby leaving God out. "That evolution must be godless to be scientific is the Darwin Myth, so profoundly misleading that it must be called a great lie,..." (pxi) According to the author then, this myth has supposedly distorted our understanding of the scientific evidence and the debates surrounding evolution (but not any scientific debates). So the author's core complaint here is with methodological naturalism generally, and Darwin's adherence to it in formulating the theory of natural selection.

Simply stated, methodological naturalism mandates that hypotheses or the causes behind phenomena are to be explained using only natural processes. Supernatural or theistic explanations are not admitted at the outset. It's not that scientists don't believe there is a God; it's just that introducing 'Him' into the explanatory process is irrelevant. The reason for this is that methodological naturalism has been enormously successful in providing explanations, in furthering research and in providing practical engineering applications for example. Science, per definitionem *is* methodological naturalism.

Even though science arose out of disciplines more mystical in nature (as in alchemy becoming chemistry for instance), the superstitious side sent countless individuals down nonproductive alleys and dead ends. Supernatural explanations (if there is such a thing) are unproductive. They really don't explain anything. In spite of there always being some things currently deemed supernatural or inexplicable, they may or may not be explained in the future as some unusual natural phenomena. But it doesn't follow that because science doesn't currently have an answer, that the explanation *must* resort to a supernatural one.

Additionally, the idea that a supreme being created everything or intervened is not the only supernatural hypothesis one could propose. The list could be endless: from lesser gods to evil spirits, demons, Satan, goblins, mind control, psychic energy, aliens? etc. How would one eliminate the panoply of possibilities? How would one, by empirical means determine whether a particular event is the work of God or Satan for example?

The author complains about the Origin's 4th edition containing a reference to the creator as being merely a sop--a concession to appease the religious--but it actually shows that it makes no difference to Darwin's basic argument whether a creator is added in or not. Darwin is just saying that once life got started, it diversified via the process of natural selection without *any* interference from God. He doesn't really discuss the origin of life from non-life (abiogenesis). This point is continually lost on creationists discussing origins or Darwin or evolution.

A reasonable job is done in providing a biographical portrait of Darwin and the genesis of his theory. We are told that we're going to get a more honest rendering; one that is without the usual heroic Whig history that usually issues from other Darwin biographers (who are Darwinists no doubt). He gives us the 'straight goods' on some items in Darwin's autobiography. One has to wonder how these biographers get it so wrong whereas this Discovery Institute senior is giving us a truer, nonpartisan? account. But Whig science history is appropriate here as Steven Weinberg comments; "What Herbert Butterfield called the Whig interpretation of history is legitimate in the history of science in a way that it is not in the history of politics or culture, because science is cumulative, and permits definite judgments of success or failure." ([...])
So one really can say whether a scientist in the past got it right or wrong. Darwin got it right.

The author examples Mivart's (a contemporary of Darwin) problems he had with Darwin's theory using the flounder's eyes example where, after being born, one eye migrates to the other side of this fish. Mivart can't see how this could possibly happen by natural selection. There's a great answer now and the author is just pointing out the old God-of-the-gaps argument here: we can't explain it so God must of done it. But note that this hasn't explained it either. Why wouldn't God just 'make' a flounder with eyes already on one side so it doesn't have to migrate to one side after it was born? Anyway, Google: Odd Fish Find Contradicts Intelligent-Design Argument.

Trying to say that others previously came up with the idea of evolution and Darwin contributed nothing significant seems disparaging to his contribution and his theory. Lucretius (99-55 BC) didn't believe in new species arising from older ones. He denied that land animals evolved from aquatic ones. Species were born from the earth period. Darwin's grandfather Erasmus (who wrote Zoonomia), had no self-governing systems of how species change such as reproduction, selection, variation and inheritance. Lamarck was wrong. With Vestiges of Creation by Robert Chambers, life spontaneously generated and it was progressive in nature with (Caucasian) Man at the top. Chambers had no transitions; species just suddenly appeared in leaps. There was no discussion of adaptation and variation. If Darwin's theory was like previous ones, why did it hit like such a bombshell then? It's not simply about sales-pitching your idea or having influential friends.

Near the book's end, the tired rhetorical Hitler card is played and 'Darwinism' is indicted for the Nazi atrocities; but this is entirely irrelevant to the veracity of Darwin's theory, his place in science history and the theory's importance within evolutionary biology today. The author's implicit religious undertow here is that we need an absolute moral compass (based on the Bible and Christianity I would guess) to guide our lives. Darwinism--that godless form of natural selection--not only fails to provide one, it supposedly has undermined previous (religious) ones. It also can't explain the origin of our exalted traits such as reasoning, aesthetics or morality. So we supposedly need a more-inclusive theory that does include these: supernatural selection?

Darwin, and all of science for that matter, didn't take God out; just the miracle part was removed. It's not godless natural selection; it's miracle-free natural selection.

Customer Review: A break-even read, more or less:
This book was approximately worth the time it took to read it, basically break-even on the time and effort involved. I didn't really learn much. Darwin commandeered pre-existing theories of evolution to his own credit. You can get the idea by imagining someone appropriating a lot of software to his own credit and becoming an industry giant from the pilfering. In his own personal life, Darwin was a swell guy. That's about all I learned from the book. As brief as this book is, I did find it rather repetitious. A certain amount of circling back helps to reinforce a point, no doubt. But I think the basic points that this book tried to get across could have been condensed into a longish essay and published in a journal. I found the last chapter very disappointing in several respects, not the least of which is that it regards as stunted or irrational those who disagree. This is simply the Al Gore trick: If you don't agree with me, you are being irrational. I have yet to see anybody who's willing to take the view that we don't really know as much as we thought we knew. 2.5 stars.

Product Description:
As a young boy, Charles Darwin hated school and was often scolded for conducting "useless" experiments. Yet his passion for the natural world was so strong that he suffered through terrible seasickness during his five-year voyage aboard The Beagle. Darwin collected new creatures from the coasts of Africa, South America, and the Galapagos Islands, and expanded his groundbreaking ideas that would change people’s understanding of the natural world. About 100 illustrations and a clear, exciting text will make Darwin and his theory of evolution an exciting discovery for every young reader.



Customer Review: Great for elementary school and adults!:
I LOVE this book! Last year when everyone was having Lincoln's 200th birthday celebrations, I decided to go into my 2nd graders classroom to let them know that another great man - Charles Darwin - was born on the exact same day! It was his 200th birthday too and I thought he deserved some credit. This was a great quick read on Darwin's life with some pictures in it too. I of course brought in "Species" and some other Darwin books, but I bought two extra copies of this book to donate to the classroom and the library. It's a perfect chapter book biography for the elementary kids, but like I said, it was a nice short read for me too! I look forward to reading and sharing with my kids the other "Who Was" books in the series.

Customer Review: Great Book!!:
My 8-year-old son Ben wrote this review:

I love this book!
I learned who Charles Darwin was. He created the theory of evolution with his discoveries. He was a very seasick passenger who sailed around the world. He loved animals. Read this great book about this great man to learn more about him. This is the best "Who Was" book ever. He is the best scientist of his time. Please buy this book. It is one of the best. You will never stop reading till the end of this book then you read it again. It also has great pictures too! I loved it. You will love it too! Now I love science and I learned about the changing of animals and humans. I learned a lot! He found a lot of stuff. He was friends with Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker, Thomas Henry Huxley, and Sir Charles Lyell. I also love other "Who Was" books. It makes me feel like I'm there. Darwin wrote two books.

Customer Review: Great introductory book:
My 9 year old daughter read this book to me in about 4 days, at her own pace and enjoyed it much. It contains a consice but very informative review about Charles Darwin as a person while considering the influence of his time and environment on how he got to develop his theory. It contains just enough information about his theory of evolution to be meaningful and engaging for a 9 to 13 year old child without becoming boring or too complex. I highly recommend it.

Customer Review: fynn pinn:
My son enjoys the whole serie, he says: "It describes things really well , it makes me think I were really there."

Product Description:
Few lives of great men offer so much interest--and so many mysteries--as the life of Charles Darwin, the greatest figure of nineteenth-century science, whose ideas are still inspiring discoveries and controversies more than a hundred years after his death. Yet only now, with the publication of Voyaging, the first of two volumes that will constitute the definitive biography, do we have a truly vivid and comprehensive picture of Darwin as man and as scientist. Drawing upon much new material, supported by an unmatched acquaintance with both the intellectual setting and the voluminous sources, Janet Browne has at last been able to unravel the central enigma of Darwin's career: how did this amiable young gentleman, born into a prosperous provincial English family, grow into a thinker capable of challenging the most basic principles of religion and science? The dramatic story of Voyaging takes us from agonizing personal challenges to the exhilaration of discovery; we see a young, inquisitive Darwin gradually mature, shaping, refining, and finally setting forth the ideas that would at last fall upon the world like a thunderclap in The Origin of Species.



Customer Review: Darwin:
interesting biography of the life of Charles Darwin...great insights on his childhood and early experiences.

Customer Review: Comprehensive and Easy to Read Darwin Bio.:
I actually first checked this book out from my university's library and liked it so much that I went ahead and bought it for my personal library. Browne explores Darwin's life in the text in an extremely compelling and easily comprehendable manner. While I don't believe Charles Darwin: Voyaging is explicit and detailed enough to negate the need for true Darwin enthusiasts to discover Darwin for themselves through reading his autobiography, collected correspondence, and great scientific works (The Origins of Species, Descent of Man etc...) I do think the text accomplishes what it was meant to do--give those curious about Darwin's life and works the basic overview they need before pursuing the topic in more depth.

Customer Review: Biogeography:
Exceptional book, if in doubt, buy it. I knew it would be great after reading so many positive reviews, for some years, and was not disappointed. Unlike some overly detailed biographies, every word seems worthwhile here, from that first glorious sentence to the last. Here is the great adventure story of all time, biology-wise. All I can do is add my two cents worth to what is said elsewhere, don't miss this one.

Customer Review: You must have it:
Un libro estupendo. Erudito ,informado , ameno y riguroso.¿Que mas podemos pedirle a Janet Browne?

Customer Review: Darwin Voyaging by Janet Browne:
This is one of the best biography books that I have ever read. It is factual and beautifully written