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Title: The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882 by Charles Darwin, Nora Barlow ISBN: 0-393-31069-8 Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 September, 1993 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A mind becoming a machine to grind out general laws
Comment: Darwin wrote his autobiography between the ages of 67 and 73. In the publisher's introduction it is noted that Charles Darwin tells of the slow maturing of his mind. A family tree is provided. Charles Darwin was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin and the son of Robert and Emma, nee Wedgwood. His mother died when he was eight. In boyhood he had a passion for collecting.
Charles Darwin went to Dr. Butler's school in Shrewsbury until age sixteen. As a young boy he enjoyed solitary walks. Dr. Butler's school was strictly classical. He found the odes of Horace to his liking. He reports his father had excellent powers of observation. The father was a physician who hated the sight of blood but was able to divine the character of others. He possessed an extraordinary memory for dates and other facts. Charles Darwin was taught Euclid by a private tutor. Clear geometric proofs gave him intense satisfaction. As a boy Darwin enjoyed literature, Shakespeare included. Later in life he lost his pleasure in poetry. He was the cousin of Francis Galton. He once wondered why every gentleman did not become an ornithologist. He assisted his brother in chemical experiments.
Charles was sent to Edinburgh University with his brother. In his second year he met several young men fond of natural science. He attended meetings of the Plinian Society. He also went to meetings of the Wernerian Society. At Edinburgh he saw Audubon and Walter Scott. He liked shooting but was half-ashamed of his zeal.
After two years at Edinburgh in medical studies it was decided Charles should be a clergyman. He spent three years at Cambridge. He studied Euclid and Paley's NATURAL THEOLOGY among other things. He should have attended but did not the lectures of Sedgwick on geology. He did attend Henslow's lectures on Botany. He acquired a strong taste for music. He was introduced to entomology by his second cousin, W. Darwin Fox.
At Cambridge Darwin took long walks with Professor Henslow. After 1831 Darwin began to study biology. The existence of a volute shell from the tropics at a site in the English midlands made Darwin realize completely that science is the grouping of facts so that general conclusions or laws can be found. After a short geological tour in Wales he learned tht he could volunteer as a naturalist for the Beagle expedition. It lasted for five years. His participation was permitted by his father when his uncle gave his considered opinion that it was an opportunity in which Charles should be engaged. On the voyage his habit of energetic industry and concentrated attention was crucial to his development as a scientist.
His love of science gradually preponderated over other tastes. He worked on the ORIGIN OF SPECIES for twenty years. He felt enormously indebted to Charles Lyell. He lived with his family in the country and felt compelled to give up dinner parties because they were too exciting. He knew a wide range of people including Thomas Huxley, Charles Babbage, and Herbert Spencer. In October 1838 he read Malthus's POPULATION. The struggle for existence provided a basis for his theory.
In 1857 he received Wallace's essay and spent the following thirteen months preparing the ORIGIN OF SPECIES. Two condensed sketches were written prior to the longer work. THE DESCENT OF MAN took three years to write. Darwin says that his mind became a sort of machine for grinding out general laws.
Rating: 4
Summary: A good personal explanation of Darwin's train of thought.
Comment: A small book which covers a range of issues unknown to those who only got a glimpse of the man Charles Darwin trough his Origin of Species book. The background for the Origin of Species is all there : the influences he got from many people on his frame of mind and on his very particular way of thinking and of experimenting with things, the convivial relationship he had with some of the greatest men of his time, Herbert Spencer included, the love of hunting he later hesitatingly abandoned, the love his sisters devoted to him and the difficult relationship he had with his authoritarian (and rich) father, rich to a point that Charles knew that he never would have to fight for his own survital,etc...
It is interesting to know, for instance, that the first answer he got from his father Robert when Charles asked for his permission to the famous Beagle voyage was a resounding NO. And amazing as it seems, Charles in no way was against his father decision. Were not for the help of his beloved uncle, brother of his father, who was very much in favor of the trip and convinced Charles'father to revert his earlier decision, the world would wait some more time for his revolutionary theory of the evolution of the species trough Natural selection of the fittest.
A very interesting book, which has value added to it by the many letters included as appendices that treat on many interesting issues of Charles' life: the so-called Butler controversy, the letters refering to the first refusal of Charles Darwins father to his Beagle voyage and many others. I am sure you will not be disappointed.
Rating: 4
Summary: A must read for Darwin enthusiasts
Comment: Don't be put off by the rather grim portrait of Darwin that adorns this edition -and be aware that there are SEVERAL editions of the AUTOBIOGRAPHY, including a somewhat "censored" one in which Darwin's wife took out bits that she didn't like -perhaps the most interesting editions are the ones that put these bits back in but italicize or bold them so that you can get a sense of what wasn't "proper" in Emma's mind. This is by no means a definitive Life of Darwin (for that I strongly encourage you to read Janet Brown's excellent 2 part series)but it does give us a gentle portrait of Darwin as he saw himself in late middle age, and it has provided lots of grist for the historians & psychohistorians in their speculations about what Darwin felt about religion, his parents, etc. For my part it only reinforces my impression of a truly wonderful man who was constantly puzzled in a pleasant way with the diversity of life & living, and while he may have had personal demons to grapple with (don't we all?) he was still able to enjoy both his science and his friends and his family. It is primarily this enjoyment that I walk away with after reading this book. Oh yes, the grim portrait on the cover. I doubt that Darwin thought of himself like that, he was FUN, and I think he mostly HAD fun, apart from the periodic bouts with illness. My favorite "portrait" of Darwin is the fantasy picture of young Chas "hanging out" in high top sneakers that adorns Phil Darlington's too-long-out-of-print EVOLUTION FOR NATURALISTS.
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Title: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin, Greg Suriano ISBN: 0517123207 Publisher: Gramercy Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches by Charles Darwin, Janet Browne, Michael Neve ISBN: 014043268X Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1989 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Charles Darwin: Voyaging ISBN: 0691026068 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 April, 1996 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin, H. James Birx ISBN: 1573921769 Publisher: Prometheus Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1997 List Price(USD): $21.00 |
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Title: Charles Darwin: The Power of Place by Janet Browne ISBN: 0691114390 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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