Darwin for Beginners
Jonathan Miller and Borin Van Loon

Part of the Readers and Writers series, this graphical book takes a look at the life of one of the most controversial people in science: Charles Darwin.

The story paints the life of a man with many facets: a shy person who, in his early life spent much of his time wandering and collecting specimens to the detriment of his studies in medicine and religion. In his later years, when ill health forced him to stay at home much of the time, the book shows him as a man who gives attention to meticulous detail.

His life (and science) was changed when he accepted a post on board HMS Beagle, on which he was to collect a lot of evidence that was to persuade him that evolution was happening and that Natural Selection was the method nature used to drive evolution.

The book makes clear that the idea of evolution was not Darwin's to begin with: Lamark and others also considered evolution. What Darwin did was to present a mechanism with supporting evidence that was logical and could be scientifically tested.

Of course, there were many objections raised against Darwin and the book covers these objections also (especially Paley's 'argument from design').

Nicely written in a easily readable manner, this book serves as a useful introduction to both Charles Darwin the man, Charles Darwin the scientist and Charles Darwin the man who presented an incredible theory on how life developed and evolved on earth and who is still being argued about even now.

The drawings, as in many books in the same series are sometimes funny and sometimes 'off-colour' but they help to put the point across that would have taken many words and many pages to say.

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Darwin for Beginners Jonathan Miller and Borin Van Loon

Darwin for Beginners
Jonathan Miller and Borin Van Loon