Fossils, Finches and Fuegians by Richard Keynes. If you want an account of the context to the voyage, the ship and its crew, events aboard during the voyage, Darwin's shore expeditions and especially the science carried out by Charles Darwin, this is the book to get. Richard Keynes is a former Professor of Physiology at Cambridge University, so no slouch on the science front. He is also Charles Darwin's great grandson, and has waded through Darwin's primary sources on our behalf: the field notebooks and Beagle diaries which were the raw materials for The Voyage of the Beagle. Given the nature of the Beagle Project beast, my shelves bend under the strain of Darwin-related books, but Fossils, Finches and Fuegians is one of the most-reached for because it is authoritative and a good read. Sadly, you can't barrel down to your local bookshop and buy a copy because it's out of print, and it would a crying shame if 2009 were to come and go without a reprint of this excellent book. It would also be a shame if the British government were to let Darwin's bicentenary go by without ensuring that every secondary school had a copy of this book in its biology labs to lend to curious young minds. Fossils, Finches and Fuegians was published by
Harper Collins.
Fossils, Finches and Fuegians by Richard Keynes. If you want an account of the context to the voyage, the ship and its crew, events aboard during the voyage, Darwin's shore expeditions and especially the science carried out by Charles Darwin, this is the book to get. Richard Keynes is a former Professor of Physiology at Cambridge University, so no slouch on the science front. He is also Charles Darwin's great grandson, and has waded through Darwin's primary sources on our behalf: the field notebooks and Beagle diaries which were the raw materials for The Voyage of the Beagle. Given the nature of the Beagle Project beast, my shelves bend under the strain of Darwin-related books, but Fossils, Finches and Fuegians is one of the most-reached for because it is authoritative and a good read. Sadly, you can't barrel down to your local bookshop and buy a copy because it's out of print, and it would a crying shame if 2009 were to come and go without a reprint of this excellent book. It would also be a shame if the British government were to let Darwin's bicentenary go by without ensuring that every secondary school had a copy of this book in its biology labs to lend to curious young minds. Fossils, Finches and Fuegians was published by Harper Collins.
1 Comments:
Another book to add to my ever-growing list. Coolness.
I found used copies for sale on Amazon.ca (from the USA) for rather expensive. *sigh* I'll have to hope to find this book in a used-book store somewhere, for a good price.
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