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Darwin A Life in Science Michael J White John Gribbin Books

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Darwin A Life in Science Michael J White John Gribbin Books

I don't remember reading it.


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Darwin A Life in Science Michael J White John Gribbin Books Reviews

I bought this book at Bethany Beach, Delaware for a summer read-- and enjoyed it as a biography first-- with historical perspectives of the science. I will leave it around for my daughter as she enters high school-- a perfect introduction to Darwin and the scientific method of observation.
Darwin A Life in Science covers the main details of Darwin's life as well as the background and content of his discoveries, with chapters generally alternating between the personal and the scientific. It avoids the main pitfalls of other Darwin biographies that neglect scientific detail, bog the reader down in historical minutiae, or engage in endless psychologizing in a search for feet of clay.
A good intro to Darwin that covers familiar ground in a breezy, readable style. Lots of personal anecdotes. Doesn't delve too deeply into the science itself - I would have liked to see more of the actual debate between Darwin's supporters and detractors. Not particularly well-organized or well-written as evidenced by the amount of repetition. A discernible British tone. Lots of swipes at various organized Religions. In the end, I felt I got to know more about Darwin's personal life than what he actually said. Nevertheless, the book is a good travel guide for further reading on Darwin and evolution, sort of like an intellectual Michelin guide.
Darwin A Life in Science ....another lovely offspring of the White-Gribbin Series on scientists who changed the way science works... It gives us an as-much-needed account of events in Darwin's life that are necessary to understand the Making of a Scientist...It covers pre-Darwin as well as post-Darwin thinking on Evolution and contradicting thoughts of Darwins's contemporaries and how Darwin used to work unperturbed against all odds...
Having read all these streams of thoughts You are left impressed by the predominant Darwinism.It's interesting to read the account of how Darwin hinted at the error in measuring Earth's Age as carried out by Newton & other stalwarts and how Darwin's theory actually is a preamble to Einstein's theory of Relativity.
This fascinating book doesn't ask of You to be a technocrat as it talks in a lucid , layman's language about great scintific terms. It is a must read for all those who have slightest curiosity about the Origin of mankind or how actually nature works and who won't like to go thru the cryptic original papers on the Theory of Evolution...
After reading this reader is left amazed by thinking of the Herculean task Darwin has carried out although it was recognised posthumosly to Darwin. Very Enjoyable indeed...!!!
The White-Gribbin team gives a superior overview of Charles Darwin's life and work. Their focus on Darwin's scientific achievements avoids slipping into the floundering depths of "cultural artefact" or psychological probings offered by some modern students. The pair's straightforward account makes this book a fine initial starting point for those needing an introduction to Darwin's thinking and accomplishments. As they point out firmly, there's much more to the great naturalist's work than simply "The Origin of Species". They trace the fundamental ideas Darwin conceived in generating his various works, showing how some were related to Origin's thesis while others remained a naturalist's observations. In particular, Darwin's long effort to understand the strange lifestyles of barnacles was the vehicle establishing his validity as a zoologist. That status allowed him to express views on the more general workings of nature. He was thus able to produce Origin from an accredited position.
White and Gribben assert that Darwin was but one of several scientists attempting to explain evolution's mechanism. Albert Russell Wallace is, of course, the best known as the co-discoverer of natural selection. Publisher Robert Chambers floated an anonymous proposal in 1844, to almost universal condemnation. That book has been held as the greatest inhibitor to Darwin's publishing his thesis. Yet, according to White and Gribbin, Darwin did publish his concept, scattered through a larger text and almost completely camouflaged.
After building the framework leading to Origin, the authors go on to present accounts of the debates following its publication. There are good sketches of Darwin's defenders, Huxley and Hooker, as well as his opponents, Owen, Mivart and Sedgewick. Darwin's problem of inheritance, which plagued him throughout the remainder of his life, is given skillfully. That he [nor anyone else] had any inkling of Mendelian genetics didn't deter him from offering a scientific proposal based on then current knowledge. The "great barrier" to universal acceptance of evolution remained, as it does among some today, was its application to humans. Even his "co-founder" of natural selection, Albert Russell Wallace demurred at applying the idea to humans. The issue was the human brain and the means of its expression, language. The authors touch lightly on this subject, as did Darwin. In the concluding chapters, however, White and Gribbin pay tribute to today's science of sociobiology in providing many answers to this seeming conundrum.
While not an "in-depth" study of Darwin, this work stands as a testimony to his originality and persistence. The authors make good use of available sources, both primary and secondary. They examine the opposition to evolution today, strenuously recommending Jonathon Weiner's "The Beak of the Finch" as a fitting explanation of how evolution works. They rightly feel it is an important support of Darwin's idea. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Fascinating story, clearly and simply told. I am now reading the Origin of Species though I never felt a need or desire to study natural selection or the theory of evolution before -- due to all the acrimony and narrowness on both sides. This book is an excellent way to approach this study through the life and times of Darwin.

I cannot recommend it highly enough to all, whatever your prior knowledge, It's not one of those biographies for the sake of biography. Everything in it contributes to a greater understanding of the theory of evolution -- it explains the soil it developed in.

Darwin is both a product of his culture and yet a beautiful fulfillment of a unique self. With his strange sickness he seemed to bear the pain of his epoch-changing idea and so balance within himself all the demands of religion and science. He was a Christ-like figure in his grace toward his wife and their inherited religion, his love of his children, friends and relatives, and generosity toward Alfred Russel Wallace, his commitment to truth, his meticulous servant-like dedication to his work into his 70's. One lesson of his life could be that patience, kindness, and openness toward all forms of life --even humans you disagree with -- may be meaning enough.
I don't remember reading it.