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Summary
Summary
The story of Charles Darwin and his wondrous, scary idea-the idea of "natural selection" as the main mechanism of evolution-is one of the most exciting in the history of science. Yet twenty-one years passed between Darwin's conception of this idea and his publication of The Origin of Species. In The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, David Quammen draws on Darwin's secret "transmutation" notebooks and private letters to create a meticulous, humane portrait of the man, and a lucid explication of his work, that captures both the personal foibles and the scientific substance. It's an intimate view of a great scientist-taking readers behind the veil of Darwin's greatness and his fame, following him closely through the joys, struggles, and sorrows of his quiet but extraordinarily consequential life. Book jacket.
Author Notes
Writer David Quammen grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and was later educated at both Yale and Oxford Universities.
Quammen began his career by writing for The Christian Science Monitor, the National Center for Appropriate Technology, and Audubon, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Harpers Magazines. He wrote the novels The Soul of Viktor Tronko and The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions, which won the 1997 New York Public Library Helen Bernstein Award for Excellence in Journalism. He also received two National Magazine Awards for his column "Natural Acts" in Outside magazine.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
It's easy to hear why PW named Grover Gardner Narrator of the Year in '05. He uses inflection, stress, rhythm and his rich vocal range to create an easy and often amusing conversational style. This is particularly appropriate for the modern idiom that makes Quammen's book so lively and readable. (He writes, for example, that Darwin did "a vast amount of scholarly nibbling and scribbling.") It took Darwin 21 years (and the threat that someone else might publish first) to publish his theory because almost all his contemporaries held theological views of nature, and his wife feared that she and Charles would not be united in heaven. Quammen explains that the synthesis of Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's genetic discoveries was essential to establish what now underpins all modern science. This short, highly readable book is as valuable as it is timely. Simultaneous release with the Norton hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 17). (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Booklist Review
A life as scrutinized as Darwin's presents a challenge to a writer, requiring a well-conceived plan of approach. Quammen, a popular author on evolution-related topics, devises one that reaches an audience intrigued by Darwin but lacking the stamina for Janet Browne's authoritative two-volume biography. Writing in a flexible style that allows for asides about Darwin's reclusive personality and procrastinating habits, Quammen also assumes that his readers already know something about the voyage of the Beagle0 , and so omits it, choosing to raise the curtain on Darwin after the voyage, when he married and settled near London. Quammen tracks his correspondence, copious because Darwin recoiled from socializing yet sought continual exchange with fellow naturalists, and these letters contain quotations galore that have since become famous. Quammen sets the excerpts in a companionable narrative that collects Darwin's eccentricities, appealing sensitivity, and intellectual journey into formulating the foundations of evolutionary theory. Walking readers through the origin and the content of The Origin of Species,0 Quammen proves an informative, often wry guide to Darwin's life and continuing influence. --Gilbert Taylor Copyright 2006 Booklist
Choice Review
"My purpose has been to create a concise treatment, part narrative and part essay, accurate but pleasantly readable, of this huge and deeply complicated subject." In The Reluctant Mr. Darwin, Quammen (independent scholar) achieves his goal, bringing to light largely unknown aspects of the life of this most important of naturalists. He makes no attempt to treat his subject in a comprehensive manner, wisely referring interested readers to Janet Browne's Charles Darwin (1995-2002) and Adrian Desmond and James Moore's Darwin (1991) for more complete accounts. Quammen focuses on Darwin's years after the famous Beagle voyage, which he spent as a semi-invalid in Britain, developing the ideas that would become the backbone of modern biology. Quammen's style is popular, lively, and journalistic, making this tour through Darwin's life and labors fun to read and very approachable for the novice. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All libraries; all levels. R. Gilmour University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Kirkus Review
A first-rate look at the English naturalist's career after the Beagle; part of the Atlas Books Great Discoveries Series. Quammen (Monster of God, 2003, etc.) focuses on how Darwin arrived at his theory of evolution by natural selection. In 1836, arriving home from his voyage, he essentially had all the key facts of evolution; but it was more than 20 years before he published The Origin of Species. One factor was a mysterious stomach ailment, possibly tropical disease, possibly nerves, that dogged him for most of his remaining life. A second was the business of finding a wife and starting a family, a process that ended with him happily married to cousin Emma Wedgwood. That was a fortuitous match, despite her strong religious beliefs (Darwin was already well down the road to agnosticism); their fathers pitched in enough to support the newlyweds, with enough left over to reinvest. But a fair amount of time went to scientific work, especially Darwin's eight-year project of classifying barnacles, which gave him, in his own mind, a solid credential to back up the theory he knew was bound to be controversial. But even with that work out of the way, he dragged his feet. He was finally roused by the arrival on his doorstep of a manuscript by Alfred Russel Wallace, in which the central elements of his theory were unambiguously spelled out. At that point, it was publish or give up his priority. Quammen gives a broad-brush account of the book's composition and its reception; of the developments in evolutionary theory since Darwin's initial formulation; and of the scientist's final years. While much of this material has been covered in recent full-length biographies, Quammen's portrait of the great man and his magnum opus is affectionate and well-paced. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Everyone knows "Darwin's" Theory of Evolution. Fewer people know that although Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years, Alfred Russel Wallace independently wrote up his own version first, or that Darwin's powerful friends manipulated circumstances so that his name was attached to a "joint publication." Darwin was an explorer who became a recluse, a trained clergyman who became an atheist, and a scientific amateur who trained himself to be a methodical, dedicated researcher. Most important, Darwin was a timid man with a very bold theory. In Reluctant Mr. Darwin, Quammen examines not only the odd life of a great scientist but the 19th-century biological research establishment to which he belonged. Writing for the scientific novice, the author clearly explains difficult concepts, such as natural selection, mutation, and various versions of evolutionary theory. Although at times Quammen writes as though he was actually channeling Darwin's mind, his conclusions are usually plausible. Grover Gardner is a first-rate reader who seems genuinely to enjoy recounting the foibles of Darwin's life. An excellent general audience title; recommended for all public, academic, and secondary school collections.-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Home and Dry: an introduction | p. 11 |
| The Fabric Falls: 1837-1839 | p. 20 |
| The Kiwi's Egg: 1842-1844 | p. 52 |
| Point of Attachment: 1846-1851 | p. 84 |
| A Duck for Mr. Darwin: 1848-1857 | p. 122 |
| His Abominable Volume: 1858-1859 | p. 153 |
| The Fittest Idea: 1860 to the future | p. 205 |
| The Last Beetle: 1876-1882 | p. 235 |
| Source Notes | p. 255 |
| Bibliography | p. 271 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 285 |
| Index | p. 289 |
