Product Description

Five years after returning from his trip around the world on HMS Beagle, the young Charles Darwin became the owner of Down House in Kent, where he moved his growing family, far away from the turmoil and distractions of London. He would live here for the rest of his life. It would become the place where he began work on his masterpiece On the Origin of Species. For almost twenty years he used the garden around him as his laboratory. In the orchard he conducted experiments on pollination. He built a dovecot where he could breed new strains of pigeons that helped him understand the questions of generation. On his daily walk along the sandbank he observed how plants competed for survival. In his heated greenhouse he conducted experiments on orchids and primulas. In solitude he was also able to struggle with the ideas of evolution that had haunted him since his voyage, and give him the courage to publish his revolutionary new ideas. Bringing DarwinÂ’s garden to the present day, Boulter unfolds a shining portrait of the formation of one of EnglandÂ’s greatest thinkers and his relationship with the place he loved and shows how his experiments that he conducted over 150 years ago are still revealing new proofs and revelations as we continue to search for the origins of life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #188705 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
Fascinating and evocative. --Catholic Herald

About the Author
Previously Professor of Palaeobiology at the University of East London and head of a team analysing Fossil Record 2, the largest database of information on extinct animals and plants, Mike Boulter is a distinguished scientist. He is the author of Extinction and currently works at the Natural History Museum. He has been secretary and editor for the International Organisation of Palaeobotany for the past 20 years.

Customer Reviews

Darwin' s Garden a must read for Darwin fans
I bought this book for my husband as a present as he is a huge Darwin fan and has been to Down House many times. Although he has read many books on Darwin's theories and methods he said it offered new ideas and further perspective on the mans work. The author uses Darwins garden and the experiments he performed there to show how the great man eventually formalised his theory of evolution. He would recommend it to anyone interested in Darwin, the theory of evolution and its history.

Fresh Insights into Charles darwin's experiments at Down House
Charles Darwin served on HMS Beagle for five years but did not gain his great insight into Evolution until after he returned to England
Five Years later Darwin settled in Down House in Kent where he would live for the rest of his life. It was at home that Charles Darwin began work on his masterpiece "On the Origin of Species". Charles Darwin used the garden as his Laboratory and in "Darwin's Garden", Michael Boulter gives an exciting insight into Darwin's experiments and the formation of his great idea.As a great admirer of Charles Darwin I found this a most enjoyable book. Read the book and visit Down House .

Darwin
Good book, easy reading. Having purchased other Darwin books, I feel perhaps
this one was a little overpriced.