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Life and Letters of Charles Darwin #1
Life and Letters of Charles Darwin — Volume 1 by Charles Darwin (Unabridged Content)
"In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author. Thus it comes about that the chief part of the book falls into chapters whose titles correspond to the names of his books.
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579 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1887
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193 people want to read
About the author
Charles Darwin
2,320 books3,362 followersCharles Robert Darwin of Britain revolutionized the study of biology with his theory, based on natural selection; his most famous works include
On the Origin of Species
(1859) and
The Descent of Man
(1871).
Chiefly Asa Gray of America advocated his theories.
Works of Jacques Martin Barzun include Darwin, Marx, Wagner (1941).
Charles Robert Darwin, an eminent English collector and geologist, proposed and provided scientific evidence of common ancestors for all life over time through the process that he called. The scientific community and the public in his lifetime accepted the facts that occur and then in the 1930s widely came to see the primary explanation of the process that now forms modernity. In modified form, the foundational scientific discovery of Darwin provides a unifying logical explanation for the diversity of life.
Darwin developed his interest in history and medicine at Edinburgh University and then theology at Cambridge. His five-year voyage on the Beagle established him as a geologist, whose observations and supported uniformitarian ideas of Charles Lyell, and publication of his journal made him as a popular author. Darwin collected wildlife and fossils on the voyage, but their geographical distribution puzzled him, who investigated the transmutation and conceived idea in 1838. He discussed his ideas but needed time for extensive research despite priority of geology. He wrote in 1858, when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay, which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication.
His book of 1859 commonly established the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He examined human sexuality in Selection in Relation to Sex , and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals followed. A series of books published his research on plants, and he finally examined effect of earthworms on soil.
A state funeral recognized Darwin in recognition of preeminence and only four other non-royal personages of the United Kingdom of the 19th century; people buried his body in Westminster abbey, close to those of John Herschel and Isaac Newton.
Her fathered Francis Darwin, astronomer George Darwin, and politician, economist and eugenicist Leonard Darwin.
(Arabic: تشارلز داروين)
Chiefly Asa Gray of America advocated his theories.
Works of Jacques Martin Barzun include Darwin, Marx, Wagner (1941).
Charles Robert Darwin, an eminent English collector and geologist, proposed and provided scientific evidence of common ancestors for all life over time through the process that he called. The scientific community and the public in his lifetime accepted the facts that occur and then in the 1930s widely came to see the primary explanation of the process that now forms modernity. In modified form, the foundational scientific discovery of Darwin provides a unifying logical explanation for the diversity of life.
Darwin developed his interest in history and medicine at Edinburgh University and then theology at Cambridge. His five-year voyage on the Beagle established him as a geologist, whose observations and supported uniformitarian ideas of Charles Lyell, and publication of his journal made him as a popular author. Darwin collected wildlife and fossils on the voyage, but their geographical distribution puzzled him, who investigated the transmutation and conceived idea in 1838. He discussed his ideas but needed time for extensive research despite priority of geology. He wrote in 1858, when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay, which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication.
His book of 1859 commonly established the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He examined human sexuality in Selection in Relation to Sex , and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals followed. A series of books published his research on plants, and he finally examined effect of earthworms on soil.
A state funeral recognized Darwin in recognition of preeminence and only four other non-royal personages of the United Kingdom of the 19th century; people buried his body in Westminster abbey, close to those of John Herschel and Isaac Newton.
Her fathered Francis Darwin, astronomer George Darwin, and politician, economist and eugenicist Leonard Darwin.
(Arabic: تشارلز داروين)
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 28, 2017
This was the first published biography of Charles Darwin, as edited by one of his children. It's a little unusual in format, containing as it does, Darwin's (intended to be private) autobiography, a pile of Darwin's letters (up to 1860, the year Origin of Species was published), some memories from the editor and a final chapter by Huxley on the reception of Origin of species, from the perspective given by a 30 years' interval.
Previously I've found letters collections to give a lot of insight into the character of their authors, more so then their biographers do. The letters here make clear Darwin's conflict between his egotistical desire for "credit" and his Christianity-derived value of humility, which wins out in terms of his behaviour regarding Wallace. They also demonstrate Darwin's focus on scientific matters and his method of working as well as his ill-health through much of his adult life. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a starting place for Darwin studies, though. Instead read The Voyage of the Beagle and Bowlby's biography first, (bearing in mind that the latter's Freudian theory of Darwin's character is less convincing than the theory that Darwin was Aspie, though).
Previously I've found letters collections to give a lot of insight into the character of their authors, more so then their biographers do. The letters here make clear Darwin's conflict between his egotistical desire for "credit" and his Christianity-derived value of humility, which wins out in terms of his behaviour regarding Wallace. They also demonstrate Darwin's focus on scientific matters and his method of working as well as his ill-health through much of his adult life. I'm not sure I'd recommend this as a starting place for Darwin studies, though. Instead read The Voyage of the Beagle and Bowlby's biography first, (bearing in mind that the latter's Freudian theory of Darwin's character is less convincing than the theory that Darwin was Aspie, though).
July 27, 2011
(Review of all three volumes:) A must-read for any serious Darwin fan. There's a lot of chaff to wade through, but every once in a while there's a gem that makes it all worthwhile. I was often tempted to copy and paste something to a friend, but if I had I would have driven my friends crazy, because there would have been so many of them. Mainly it was delightful to see how the man thought. Worth reading all 1200 or so pages just for the brief essay by T.H. Huxley; that man had a way with words! The letters are arranged thematically, which means things jump around a bit chronologically. I understand why Francis Darwin did this, but I found it jarring. Gets more boring after the publication The Origin.
July 5, 2013
woooow such a boring book. It is as bad as reading the first parts of bible. I believe unless you are a big fan of Darwin, you will feel the same.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews