Synopses & Reviews
Self-taught and ambitious, Charles Darwin is most famous for his groundbreaking-and to some still controversial-theory of evolution and natural selection. In Autobiographies the great scientist weighs his career and his life.
Darwin's memoir concentrates on his public career and towering scientific achievements but is also full of moments from his private life. There are lively anecdotes about his family and contemporaries, as well as haunting memories of a mother he never knew, a hot-tempered father he could never please, and lingering doubts about the fitness of the genes he was passing on to his heirs.
Autobiographies comprises a fragment Darwin wrote at the age of twenty-nine and the longer "Recollections" of 1876, showing a man toward the end of his life who stands isolated, dogged by illness and self-doubt.
Synopsis
A glimpse into the mind of one of the world's intellectual giants
The Autobiographies of Charles Darwin (1809-82) provide a fascinating glimpse into the mind and experiences of one of the world's intellectual giants. They begin with engaging memories of his childhood and youth and of his burgeoning scientific curiosity and love of the natural world, which led to him joining the expedition on the Beagle. Darwin follows this with survey of his career and ends with a reckoning of his life's work. Interspersed with these recollections are fascinating portraits - from his devoted wife Emma and his talented father, both bullying and kind, to the leading figures of the Victorian scientific world he counted among his friends, including Lyell and Huxley. Honest and illuminating, these memoirs reveal a man who was isolated by his controversial beliefs and whose towering achievements were attained by a life-long passion for the discoveries of science.
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About the Author
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an evolutionary scientist whose The Origin of Species (1859) is one of the most important scientific works ever written.
Table of Contents
Autobiographies Acknowledgments Chronology Introduction Further Reading Note on the Texts An autobiographical fragment 1876 May 31 - Recollections of the Development of my Mind and Character Cambridge, 1828-1831 Voyage of the Beagle: from Dec. 27, 1831 to Oct. 2, 1836 From my return to England Oct. 2 1836 to my marriage Jan. 29 1839 Religious Belief From my marriage, Jan. 29 1839, and residence in Upper Gower St. to our leaving London and settling at Down, Sep. 14 1842 Residence at Down from Sep. 14 1842 to the present time 1876 My Several Publications Bibliographical Register |