Darwin's notebooks provide an invaluable record of his scientific thinking and most importantly, the development of his theory of natural selection. This edition of the notebooks, prepared to the highest standard of textual editing, thus affords a unified view of Darwin's professional interests. The Red Notebook, used on the voyage of H. M. S. Beagle and afterwards in England, contains Darwin's first evolutionary statements. In July of 1837, Darwin began his 'Transmutation Notebooks' (B - E) devoted to the solution of the species problem and in the third notebook of this series he first formulated the theory of natural selection. This volume also contains Notebook A and the glen Roy Notebook on geology, Notebooks M and N on man and behaviour and a notebook labelled Questions and Experiments. Fresh transcriptions have been done for all previously published manuscripts, with readings made directly from Notebooks B, C, D and E, presenting them with previously excised pages and restored to their original sequence.
"Pleasure of imagination.... I a geologist have illdefined notion of land covered with ocean, former animals, slow force cracking surface &c truly poetical."--from Charles Darwin's Notebook M, 1838 The early nineteenth century was a golden age for the study of geology. New discoveries in the field were greeted with the same enthusiasm reserved today for advances in the biomedical sciences. In her long-awaited account of Charles Darwin's intellectual development, Sandra Herbert focuses on his geological training, research, and thought, asking both how geology influenced Darwin and how Darwin influenced the science. Elegantly written, extensively illustrated, and informed by the author's prodigious research in Darwin's papers and in the nineteenth-century history of earth sciences, Charles Darwin, Geologist provides a fresh perspective on the life and accomplishments of this exemplary thinker. As Herbert reveals, Darwin's great ambition as a young scientist--one he only partially realized--was to create a "simple" geology based on movements of the earth's crust. (Only one part of his scheme has survived in close to the form in which he imagined it: a theory explaining the structure and distribution of coral reefs.) Darwin collected geological specimens and took extensive notes on geology during all of his travels. His grand adventure as a geologist took place during the circumnavigation of the earth by H.M.S. Beagle (1831-1836)--the same voyage that informed his magnum opus, On the Origin of Species. Upon his return to England it was his geological findings that first excited scientific and public opinion. Geologists, including Darwin's former teachers, proved a receptive audience, the British government sponsored publication of his research, and the general public welcomed his discoveries about the earth's crust. Because of ill health, Darwin's years as a geological traveler ended much too soon: his last major geological fieldwork took place in Wales when he was only thirty-three. However, the experience had been transformative: the methods and hypotheses of Victorian-era geology, Herbert suggests, profoundly shaped Darwin's mind and his scientific methods as he worked toward a full-blown understanding of evolution and natural selection.
Darwin's Notebook is a biography of the great man, but a biography with a difference. As you would expect, it provides a full and detailed account of Darwin's life and discoveries, but it is written, designed and illustrated to look like - as the title suggests - a personal notebook or journal.By mining the rich sources of his own journals and incorporating a wide range of quotations and primary sources, Darwin's Notebook brings its subject to life more vividly than any ordinary history book or biography, revealing the man behind the theory of evolution. Additional chapters examine Darwin's early life and education, his family life, his later writings, the reactions to his work and his long-term legacy.
The publication of Charles Darwins On the Origin of Species in 1859 is widely regarded as a turning point in knowledge of the natural world. But Darwins theory of natural selection was not developed in a vacuum; rather, it represents the culmination of an enormous shift in scientific and popular opinion on the subject of species mutability from the late eighteenth century onward. Through her insightful introduction and engaging collection of documents, Sandra Herbert examines this era of scientific thought and the startling discoveries that led Darwin and others to the conclusion that life has evolved. A wide range of documents from over a dozen authors -- including letters, illustrations, scientific tracts, and excerpts from Darwins own notebooks and On the Origin of Species -- offer a fascinating glimpse into this crucial era of scientific thought. Thoughtful document headnotes, questions for consideration, a chronology, and a selected bibliography provide students with additional context and pedagogical support.
Everybody knows—or thinks they know—Charles Darwin, the father of evolution and the man who altered the way we view our place in the world. But what most people do not know is that Darwin was on board the HMS Beagle as a geologist—on a mission to examine the land, not flora and fauna.Tracing Darwin’s footsteps in South America and beyond, geologist Rob Wesson sets out on a trek across the Andes, repeating the nautical surveys made by the Beagle’s crew, hunting for fossils in Uruguay and Argentina, and explores traces of long vanished glaciers in Scotland and Wales. By following Darwin’s path literally and intellectually, Rob experiences the landscape that absorbed Darwin, followed his reasoning about what he saw, and immerses himself in the same questions about the earth. Upon Darwin’s return from the five-year journey, he conceived his theory of tectonics—his first theory. These concepts and attitudes—the vastness of time; the enormous cumulative impact of almost imperceptibly slow change; change as a constant feature of the environment—underlie his subsequent discoveries in evolution. And this peculiar way of thinking remains vitally important today as we enter the Anthropocene.
In this highly acclaimed book, Ospovat shows that Darwin's views changed radically from his first formulation of evolution to the publication of the full theory in 1859.
This edition of Evolution: The History of an Idea is augmented by the most recent contributions to the history and study of evolutionary theory. It includes an updated bibliography that offers an unparalleled guide to further reading. As in the original edition, Bowler's evenhanded approach not only clarifies the history of his controversial subject but also adds significantly to our understanding of contemporary debates over it. The idea of evolution continued to evolve. - Back cover.
