Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography

To book has changed our conception of ourselves more than Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species. It caused a sensation on its publication in 1859, selling out its entire print run in one day, and went on to become an international best seller. The idea that living things, including humans, gradually evolve through natural selection profoundly shocked its Victorian readers, calling into question what had been for many the unshakeable belief that there was a Creator. In this book, Janet Browne, Charles Darwin's foremost biographer, shows why The Origin of Species can fairly claim to be the greatest science book ever published. Browne describes the long genesis of Darwin's theories, from his early readings as a university student and his five-year voyage on the Beagle, to his debates with contemporaries and experiments in his garden. She explores the shock to Darwin when he read of a competing scientist's similar discoveries and the wide and immediate impact of Darwin's theories on the world. Darwin's seminal work is nearly as controversial today as it was upon publication over a century ago, and it remains at the heart of an intense debate between scientists and creationists. Browne's illuminating history of The Origin of Species couldn't come at a more appropriate time.