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Book ReviewsCharles Darwin : The Power of Place |
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Book: Charles Darwin : The Power of Place
Written by: JANET BROWNE |
Publisher: Knopf
Average Customer Rating: 5 / 5
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The Best Biography of Darwin, part 2.
Rating:
5 / 5
As several reviewers (including at least one critic of Darwin) have said, this volume is part of the best biography of Darwin yet published. It is hard to criticize this work as Janet Browne has included more detail and hit the nail on the head more times than in any other treatment of Darwin and his ideas. I have read five biographies, several specialized biographies and Darwin's autobiography and can easily say that this by far the best! Browne is simply superb in capturing the spirit of Victorian England and weaving it into a cogent story of the background and inspiration for "The Origin of Species," as well as Darwin's latter work. This volume covers the period from the receipt of Wallace's manuscript on natural selection through Darwin's death. It finally puts paid to the popular notion that Darwin stole his ideas from Wallace, without slighting the originality of the younger man. Darwin was a great thinker, not because he was unusually brilliant, but because he concentrated his thinking on a problem until he came up with a plausible explanation backed up by numerous bits of circumstantial evidence. While many changes have occurred in evolutionary thought because of the genetic and molecular revolutions, Darwin produced the most complete arguments for the common descent of organisms available to science at the time. He thus laid the foundation of our understanding of modern biology. This is true despite opinions to the contrary and, indeed, without evolutionary theory we would have to say goodbye to rigor in not only biology, but geology and astronomy as well!It is my hope that anybody interested in the historical background of evolutionary theory will read both of Browne's books. They are well worth it!
The Origins of 'My' Theory
Rating:
5 / 5
As a Darwin critic, I had passed this book by nose in the air, a full scale boycott, but a new biography of Darwin proved too hard to resist and I broke down and read the book, fortunately, since it turned out to be hard to put down, in a time-out on the Darwin debate. This is the second volume, but is fine taken alone, and opens with the arrival of the famous Ternate letter of Wallace. I was eagle-eyed at once, since this is the 'gulch' of Darwin biographica where the mystery of the origin of 'Origin' is beset with myth, coverup and suspicion. This treatment finesses the question slightly, but is a good depiction of how Darwinians actually see this strange moment of the priority dispute. From there it is plain sailing in a history best told by a Darwin fan, no doubt, and I found the accumulation of tidbits excellent, and a compelling read. One also has the Moore & Desmond account, with its clearer focus on the ideological dimension, but, in fact, this account cogently shows the world of nineteenth century cultural establishments in action at close hand, and the place of Darwin in that context--there is no mystery to the successful promotion of his views, given this picture. This is just about the 'baseline' Darwin biography and superb on its own turf.
Back to the Darwin debate.
THE BEST BY FAR
Rating:
5 / 5
Of the dozens of books I have read of the life and works Of Charles Darwin, this, by far, is the best and most comprehensive.
The book covers the later portion of Darwins life, the time of his fame. I particularly enjoyed and was enlighted by the author's coverage of Victorian life and how it affected Darwin, his contemporaries, and influenced their thoughts and beliefs. I appreciated the way the author not only covered Darwin, the scientist, but Darwin the person and how the author examined the role of Darwin's wife and their relationship. This is a very detailed book, not one that can be read in a couple of settings. It gives us much to ponder. The style is excellent, much better than most English academics produce, i.e. it is readable. I highly recommend it as a read and an addition to your library.
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