Charles Darwin: The Naturalist Who Started a Scientific Revolution
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
While there are weighty biographies of Charles Darwin for the specialist and brief introductions for beginners, Cyril Aydon's work presents Darwin for the general reader, in a winning combination of historical accuracy and exemplary, lucid science. Aydon begins with one of the overlooked factors in the great man's success-he was rich. Thanks to his family's wealth and position, Darwin could turn down careers in medicine and the clergy to devote his life to science, an undoubted factor in his becoming one of the undisputed giants of the field. Pursuing his studies on his own terms, he made major contributions to geology and virtually invented ecology. And he wrote two books, The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man, that changed forever our view of life on earth and man's place in the natural order. Charles Darwin places Darwin the devoted father and husband in the context of his scientific career, as well as elucidating his intellectual principles. It not only explains what The Origin of Species was about, but also portrays how the epochal controversy of its publication affected him and his family personally. And it immerses the reader in both the physical and the intellectual excitement of the Beagle voyage. To round out this captivating biography, Aydon supplies an extended postscript analyzing the secret of Darwin's success, following the changing fortunes of his theories according to fashions in intellectual thought, and explaining his significance to two centuries of evolutionary speculation and discovery. 16 pages of full-color and black-and-white photographs are included in this portrait of the father of evolutionary theory.
Charles Darwin: The Naturalist Who Started a Scientific Revolution,Cyril Aydon,Carroll & Graf Publishers,0786710470,1809-1882,Biography,Biography & Autobiography,Biography / Autobiography,Biography/Autobiography,Darwin, Charles,,England,Life Sciences - Evolution,Naturalists,Organic Evolution,Scientists - General
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