Product Description

Few lives of great men offer so much interest - and so many mysteries - as the life of Charles Darwin, the greatest figure of nineteenth-century science, whose ideas are still inspiring discoveries and controversies more than 100 years after his death. Only now, with the publication of Voyaging, the first of two volumes that will constitute the definitive biography, do we have a truly vivid and comprehensive picture of Darwin as a man and a scientist.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35846 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Review
Brilliantly penetrating...utterly riveting', Daily Telegraph .'An astonishing fresh picture of the great naturalist...Janet Browne's book is a triumph, the closest we can come to getting inside Darwin's mind', Sunday Telegraph .'Browne knows how to spellbind the reader...The definitive Darwin biography', Ernst Mayr, New York Newsday .'An authoritative and highly readable biography which uncovers the complex process of scientific discovery', Independent .'It is wonderful and marvellous, even magisterial', Stephen Jay Gould, New York Review of Books .'Splendid. Her qualifications as a trained biologist, historian of science and skilled editor of the correspondence out her in an ideal position-A wonderful read.', Nature .'Janet Browne has a minute knowledge of Darwin and his world-She gives the most intimate account so far of the making of the author of Origin of Species.', Evening Standard

From the Publisher
'An astonishingly fresh picture of the great naturalist-Janet Browne's book is a triumph, the closest we can come to getting inside Darwin's mind.' Sunday Telegraph

About the Author
Janet Browne is a zoologist and historian of science. She is at present Professor in the History of Biology at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College, London.

Customer Reviews

The best biography on Darwin
Janet Browne's biography of Charles Darwin is the best I've read thus far. Her style is limpid and concise, and she succeeds wonderfully in taking us back to the intelectual and social atmosphere of 19th century England. Most importantly, she provides a detailed account of the dynamics on both sides of Darwin's family, and at the end we can understand many of the driving forces behind Darwin's success. Browne's book is definitively not hagiographic; rather, it tries to put Darwin in a definite context, making it clear that he benefited from many people around him. I cannot wait for the second part of her biography!

A fascinating book
After reading Origin of Species and then the Voyage of the Beagle I was eager to learn more about the "father" of evolution and I could not have hoped for a more thorough biography.

The author has clearly done a huge amount of research to provide this fascinating portrait Darwin. Providing backgrounds of his immediate ancestors, then his childhood leading through to adulthood and his own family. Allowing you to understand how and why his line of thinking led him to write the Origin of Species.

It's well written and absorbing. I often forgot I was on the tube whilst engrossed.

When I got to the end I immediately went hunting for the second instalment.

Nothing Left Unsaid
'Voyaging' and 'The Power of Place' appear as two separate volumes but constitute parts 1 and 2 of Janet Browne's majestic biography of Darwin.They were recommended to me - in this bicentennial anniversary year - as the best book - in the sense of best researched, argued and expressed - available in the field and I can't disagree with this assessment . However I did find assimilating 1200 pages difficult.

The author handles a huge cast of characters - including Darwin's family and friends together with scientists, intellectuals and people of influence - and explains and elucidates the social conditions and conventions from Darwin's Regency roots to archetypical Victorian maturity. Simultaneously she traces the history of Darwin's scientific thought from his early days as a beetle collector through his time as naturalist on the Beagle to his last years observing earthworms. She follows the genesis of his doubts on the immutability of species through the development of his theory of their source (in variability and selection) and his hesitations to publish his work when its implications became clear.

While I can't for a moment fault this it was hard to digest so much detailed material. I found myself comparing it with Desmond & Moore's 1992 biography which - although it has been challenged on the accuracy of some conclusions - was an easier read. Janet Browne has unquestionably written the definitive Darwin biography but if at any time she saw fit to write a shortened or 'student's' version it could reach a wider audience and have a more popular appeal.