Armstrong, Patrick H.  All things Darwin: an encyclopedia of Darwin’s world.  Greenwood, 2007.  2v bibl index afp; ISBN 9780313334924, $149.95. Reviewed in 2008aug CHOICE.
45-6511  QH31  2007-26482 CIP 
 
Academic geographer and ecologist Armstrong has made a special study of all things Darwin for more than 30 years. During this time, he has traveled the world in Darwin’s footsteps, leaving in his wake a swath of publications including Darwin’s Other Islands (CH, Oct’05, 43-1088). Now this new two-volume work provides a perspective as different as it is excellent, striving to reveal Darwin as he was by way of more than 180 entries in an encyclopedic format; entries begin with “Anemones, Sea” and end with “Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle.” References and photographs taken by the author accompany many of these entries. In this way, Armstrong reveals something of Darwin’s relations with others, including other scientists; his travels and discoveries; his research; and his world. A substantial appendix of 57 pages introduces the reader to Darwin’s three best known books, with excerpts from The Voyage of the Beagle, On the Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man. Bibliography and index complete a work whose conception and execution is admirable. An excellent reference work. Summing Up: Essential. All libraries. — G. J. Martin, emeritus, Southern Connecticut State University 

Armstrong, Patrick.  Darwin’s other islands.  Continuum International Publishers Group, 2005 (c2004).  266p bibl index ISBN 0-8264-7531-0, $125.00. Reviewed in 2005oct CHOICE.
43-1088  QH31   MARC 

During the last 20 years, Armstrong (Univ. of Western Australia) has become familiar with Darwin’s correspondence, diaries, publications, and incunabula. He has traced the detail and meaning of Darwin’s 1832-36 circumnavigation of the world aboard the Beagle, a voyage that permitted Darwin’s celebrated landfall on the Galapagos Islands. Darwin’s study of some 40 “other islands” has remained little known. Here is where geographer Armstrong triumphs–celebrating the accomplishments on the “other islands,” traveling to many of the same, explaining Darwinian narrative, and offering his own thoughts in parallel some 170 years later. This is genesis to a Darwinian stream of intellection that revised 19th-century thought and provided science with a new foundation. This work covering new territory will captivate readers, whether novice or specialist, in all branches of the history of science and other learning. Maps, illustrations, sources, chronology, and index are valuable adjuncts to this well-produced book. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. — G. J. Martin, emeritus, Southern Connecticut State University 

Browne, Janet.  Charles Darwin: a biography: v.2: The power of place.  Knopf, 2002.  591p bibl index ISBN 0-679-42932-8, $37.50. Reviewed in 2003apr CHOICE.
40-4581  QH31   MARC 
 
This fascinating account of Darwin’s later years (1858-82) continues where the first volume (Charles Darwin: A Biography. v.1: Voyaging, CH, Oct’95) ended, successfully weaving together details of Darwin’s life so readers are drawn irresistibly into his world. Living the life of a country squire in Downe and happily married to his cousin Emma, Darwin enjoyed a solid reputation as a naturalist. When full explication of his evolutionary theory was published (1859), he received accolades from peers although some did not completely accept his chief mechanism of evolution, natural selection. Browne understands Darwin’s role in presenting a coherent evolutionary theory to a society growing more receptive to such ideas and recognizes that Darwin’s long and productive life bridged the England of Jane Austen and Victorian times, but does not assume that Darwin was shaped exclusively by the later period. There is much in this captivating and well-documented book for general readers and scholars alike–e.g., how Darwin negotiated an advance against royalties so his publisher, John Murray, would not make “an unfair profit out of his hard work”–and it is supported by many fine photographs and illustrations depicting individuals and events in Darwin’s life and career. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals. — J. S. Schwartz, CUNY College of Staten Island 

Browne, Janet.  Darwin’s Origin of species: a biography.  Atlantic Monthly, 2007 (c2006).  174p bibl index ISBN 0-87113-953-7, $20.95; ISBN 9780871139535, $20.95. Reviewed in 2007aug CHOICE.
44-6836  QH31  2006-43623 CIP 
 
Browne (Univ. College London) explains why she believes Darwin’s Origin of Species is the “greatest science book ever published.” Exploring how Darwin’s brief education at Edinburgh Medical School set the stage for his emergence as a naturalist, she emphasizes the role played by Robert Grant, a charismatic lecturer there. However, it would have meant little if Darwin had not gone on his five-year journey on HMS Beagle: others with a similar background did not ask the same kind of difficult questions he did. Darwin tried to avoid old weaknesses in earlier evolutionary theories, looking for sufficient evidence in support of his own evolutionary ideas before he felt comfortable enough to set them before the public. In this slender volume, Browne discusses the major events of the public’s reaction to publication of Origin, Huxley’s eloquent defense, and how Darwinian evolution fell out of favor after Darwin’s death, until the 20th-century emergence of genetics and synthesis of population genetics and evolution. This book will appeal to a wide audience, including those interested in the history of ideas. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates through professionals; general readers.
 — J. S. Schwartz, emeritus, CUNY College of Staten Island 

The Complete Works of Charles Darwin, by John van Wyhe.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2007may CHOICE.
44-5038    
http://darwin-online.org.uk/ 

[Visited Feb’07] Directed by van Wyhe (Cambridge), this site provides access to all of Darwin’s publications, including many handwritten manuscripts and supplementary works. Launched last fall, this project of the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities extends the late Writings of Charles Darwin on the Web (previously at a British Library Web site). The menu includes Publications, Manuscripts, Biography, and Acknowledgements (which provides an impressive list of individual contributors, advisory panel members, and collaborating institutions). The Publications section contains all of Darwin’s published works, including books, contributions to periodicals, and letters published in his lifetime or by his family. Most publications appear in digital text format as an image of the original, and as a side-by-side “text and image view.” Manuscripts unpublished by Darwin are mostly available either as text or as an image. For a few of the manuscripts, such as the Beagle field notebooks, the site provides an introductory text with a history.

Ancillary Works, including secondary sources, obituaries, descriptions of Darwin’s specimens, reviews of Darwin’s work, and other works (e.g., Milton’s Paradise Lost) follows the Manuscripts subsection. The site provides an excellent publications guide for those who take the time to read it. One of the unique features of the site is Audio Darwin, devoted to downloadable audio MP3 files of many of the works, including an audio of the first edition of On the Origin of Species (in 21 files, which are slightly flawed due to the use of text-to-speech software.) The comprehensiveness of this site makes it useful for everyone researching Darwin’s work. Graduate students and professionals will find the extensive bibliography, based on R. B. Freeman’s work, particularly useful. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above. — A. G. Ferguson, Richland College

Darwin, Charles.  Charles Darwin’s zoology notes & specimen lists from H.M.S. Beagle, ed. by Richard Keynes.  Cambridge, 2000.  430p indexes ISBN 0-521-46569-9, $150.00. Reviewed in 2001mar CHOICE.
38-3906  QH365   MARC 
 
This book faithfully reproduces Darwin’s entire set of zoology notes compiled during his voyage on H.M.S. Beagle (1832-36), including his crude but accurate sketches drawn in pencil and ink and his lists of collected specimens. Darwin utilized this data while writing Journal of Researches (1839) but the complete collection had not been published in one volume until now. The editor notes Darwin’s “total professionalism” in gathering information despite his lack of “appropriate” training and finds that although Darwin recalled later on that he collected facts without any preconceived ideas, actually “he was constantly questioning himself about the logical implications of his findings.” It is fascinating to read Darwin’s observations, from his initial entry of January 6, 1832, in Santa Cruz, that “the sea was luminous in specks … full of numerous small … irregular pieces of (a gelatinous?) matter,” to his final note, written in Bahia in early August, 1836, about a species of red algae found in tidal pools (coralline algae), that it was “cream-colored, with a tinge of flesh-red.” There are numerous footnotes, making the work a particularly useful reference for historians of biology and naturalists. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — J. S. Schwartz, CUNY College of Staten Island 

Darwin Correspondence Project.  Internet Resource. Reviewed in 2008sep CHOICE.
46-0256    
http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/ 

[Visited Jun’08] In 1974, American scholar Frederick Burkhardt, with the assistance of zoologist Sydney Smith from the University of Cambridge, began locating and publishing letters to or from Charles Darwin from 1821 to 1882. The Darwin Correspondence Project Web site is an electronic archive that includes letters from more than 2,000 people with whom Darwin corresponded, including naturalists, thinkers, public figures, and some relatively unknown individuals. The online database includes 14,500 letters with, at minimum, a summary of their contents, and complete electronic transcriptions for more than 5,000 of the letters (obtained from the published volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1985- ). The site provides brief biographical information for approximately 2,000 correspondents and more than 1,000 people mentioned in the letters, with links to a listing of letters Darwin exchanged with these individuals.

The site is very easy to search using the simple search box; results provide links to other relevant letters and information throughout the database, making navigation simple and intuitive. An advanced search option allows users to restrict searches to names, letters, physical descriptions, repository definitions, or the bibliography. Two sections, Darwin and religion and Darwin and science, are currently under development, with additional categories planned for the future. There were a few dead links. For instance, there is a “quote of the day” that directs users to the full text of the letter that includes the quote, and on each of the five days that this reviewer visited the site, there was a dead link to the full text. Overall, this site is an excellent resource for anyone studying Charles Darwin and his life and studies. Summing Up: Recommended. All users. — E. J. Barton, Michigan State University

Eldredge, Niles.  Darwin: discovering the tree of life.  W.W. Norton, 2005.  256p bibl index ISBN 0-393-05966-9, $35.00. Reviewed in 2006sep CHOICE.
44-0295  QH31  2005-18636 CIP 
 
People in Western societies continue to argue and debate Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Eldredge (American Museum of Natural History) gives readers new biographical details of the scientist’s life and critically focuses on the historical period when Darwin stopped being a skeptical creationist and became an evolutionist. He explores the intellectual and intuitive leaps that Darwin took in developing the theory of natural selection. By closely analyzing Darwin’s numerous notebooks, letters, and edited manuscripts, Eldredge draws a multidimensional portrait of the man as a humanist, naturalist, and reluctant evolutionist. He explains how Darwin came up with his theory of natural selection. What did he make of the massive amount of notes on natural history that he took during the voyage of the Beagle? Why did he wait 20 years to publish his theory? This is a companion book to the American Museum of Natural History’s touring exhibition, intended to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday in 2009. Eldredge, a prolific author, is a well-known evolutionary biologist (punctuated equilibrium theory). In the final chapter, he vigorously takes aim at intelligent design, rejecting it as “conveniently untestable.” This very attractive and beautifully produced book is richly illustrated. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty/researchers; general readers. — S. M. Paracer, Worcester State College 

Herbert, Sandra.  Charles Darwin, geologist.  Cornell, 2005.  485p bibl index afp ISBN 0-8014-4348-2, $39.95. Reviewed in 2006jan CHOICE.
43-2771  QE22  2005-2690 CIP 
 
Few are more eminently qualified to write this work than historian Herbert (Univ. of Maryland Baltimore County). Her well-written book examines the primacy of Darwin’s geologic training and research in the formulation of both the “species question” and the concept of organic evolution by natural selection. For his significant contributions to geology, including the uplift of the Andes, the formation of volcanic chains, the distribution of glacial erratics in Britain, and the morphologic evolution of coral reefs, Darwin was awarded the Geological Society of London’s Wollaston Medal in February 1859, eight months prior to the publication of On the Origin of Species. The latter, of course, obligated Darwin to an international reputation as an evolutionary biologist, which eclipsed forever his earlier geologic accomplishments. Herbert’s thorough treatment of Darwin’s legacy as a geologist is spread out across almost 500 pages, arranged in ten chapters, of which the final two are titled “Geology and Species” and “Geology and the Origin of Species.” Illustrations include 62 figures and 12 plates, many of them maps and geologic sketches that animate Darwin’s diaries. The work is well documented by a 30-page bibliography. This fresh broadens prior understanding of how Darwin’s geologic ruminations informed his thinking about the transmutation of species. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals. — P. R. Pinet, Colgate University 

Keynes, Richard.  Fossils, finches and Fuegians: Darwin’s adventures and discoveries on the Beagle.  Oxford, 2003.  428p index afp ISBN 0-19-516649-3, $35.00. Reviewed in 2004feb CHOICE.
41-3408  QH11  2002-15417 CIP 
 
This work–by a former professor of physiology at Cambridge and great-grandson of Charles Darwin–skillfully recounts Darwin’s voyage on HMS Beagle by using excerpts from Darwin’s diaries, journals, and correspondence with family members and colleagues, i.e., people who were instrumental in shaping Darwin’s life. Keynes incorporates a biographical account of Darwin’s formative years into this rich store of Darwiniana not only to illuminate the key events of Darwin’s adventure and highlight his scientific work, but because he was interested in revisiting some of the lands his illustrious great-grandfather had explored, owing to his own lifelong interest in South America. His retirement from Cambridge allowed him the time and energy to visit the places described in Darwin’s diaries and complete his book. He recommends that readers also may wish to pursue the chance to “become better acquainted with one of their forebears,” if afforded such an opportunity. The book is a delight, containing many beautiful illustrations, particularly those by the artists from the Beagle’s voyage, Conrad Martens and Augustus Earle, and will interest scholars, naturalists, and those interested in the discoveries made during the age of exploration. Summing Up: Highly recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals. — J. S. Schwartz, CUNY College of Staten Island 

Quammen, David.  The reluctant Mr. Darwin: an intimate portrait of Charles Darwin and the making of his theory of evolution.  Atlas Books/W.W. Norton, 2006.  304p bibl index ISBN 0-393-05981-2, $22.95; ISBN 9780393059816, $22.95. Reviewed in 2007jun CHOICE.
44-5638  QH31  2006-9864 CIP 
 
“My purpose has been to create a concise treatment, part narrative and part essay, accurate but pleasantly readable, of this huge and deeply complicated subject.” In The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, Quammen (independent scholar) achieves his goal, bringing to light largely unknown aspects of the life of this most important of naturalists. He makes no attempt to treat his subject in a comprehensive manner, wisely referring interested readers to Janet Browne’s Charles Darwin (1995-2002) and Adrian Desmond and James Moore’s Darwin (1991) for more complete accounts. Quammen focuses on Darwin’s years after the famous Beagle voyage, which he spent as a semi-invalid in Britain, developing the ideas that would become the backbone of modern biology. Quammen’s style is popular, lively, and journalistic, making this tour through Darwin’s life and labors fun to read and very approachable for the novice. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries; all levels. — R. Gilmour, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 

Ruse, Michael.  Charles Darwin.  Blackwell Publishing, 2008.  337p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781405149129, $74.95; ISBN 9781405149136  pbk, $24.95. Reviewed in 2008oct CHOICE.
46-0815  B818  2007-14520 CIP 
 
Ruse (Florida State) is an outstanding authority on Darwinism, a founder of modern evolutionary biology, and an important player in the evolution-creationism controversy. Rather than a biography of Darwin, Ruse’s new book is an authoritative, readable history of the philosophy of the theory of evolution as proposed by Darwin. The first three chapters discuss the effect of the publication of On the Origin of Species on the social and scientific climate of its time. The next three discuss the new concepts in natural selection for which this work paved the way–ideas that led to the modern concept of Darwinism. Ruse then discusses, in light of his conviction that Darwinism and Christianity are mutually reinforcing, how one should interpret the existence of human beings, knowledge, morality, religious belief, and the origins of religions. He ends by addressing whether or not a “Darwinian revolution” has really occurred (see Ruse’s The Darwinian Revolution, 2nd ed., CH, Feb’00, 37-3342; 1st ed., CH, Feb’80). Ruse confirms his reevaluation by restating that Species is one of the most important books in human history, and that the theory of evolution through natural selection, as proposed by Darwin, now pervades almost every aspect of human thought and philosophy. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above; general readers. — R. J. Havlik, emeritus, University of Notre Dame 

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