The Evolution of Charles Darwin: The Epic Voyage of the Beagle That Forever Changed Our View of Life on Earth

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To add to FitzRoy’s worries, one of the young men died of smallpox despite, like the others, having been vaccinated against the disease in Montevideo and again upon arriving in England. ³ I … could not but feel how much I was implicated in shortening his existence, FitzRoy lamented. The death reinforced his determination to honor his commitment to take his surviving three guests home. In the end he saw no option but to pay to charter a small merchant ship, John of London, to carry him and his party to South America. From the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winning historian, the colorful, dramatic story of Charles Darwin’s journey on HMS Beagle that inspired the evolutionary theories in his path-breaking books On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man

In Patagonia he witnessed the war of extermination waged by the authorities against the indigenous peoples of the pampas. In Brazil, the widespread ownership and ill-treatment of slaves appalled him as a committed abolitionist. Henslow held weekly Friday evening soirees at his modest house for undergraduates and academics interested in science, to which Fox secured his cousin an invitation. Darwin relished these gatherings, becoming a regular attendee and, before long, Henslow’s friend. Nearly every day he accompanied the professor on long rambles so that, as Darwin recalled in the autobiography he wrote for his family late in his life, he became known as the man who walks with Henslow. What impressed him was Henslow’s excellent judgment and intellectual breadth—his knowledge of botany, entomology, mineralogy, and geology was extensive—and the way he based his conclusions upon long-continued minute observations, a practice Darwin himself would adopt. Exactly 163 years later, and in the very same venue, historian Diana Preston will discuss the dramatic debate and the key events leading up to it; part of the subject of her new book, The Evolution of Charles Darwin: The Epic Voyage of the 'Beagle'. As majestic as its subject . . . Extraordinarily readable.”— Chicago Sun-Times, on Lusitania: An Epic TragedyA colorful chronicle of high-stakes negotiations and a study in human frailties, missteps, and ideological blunders."-- Washington Post From the Los Angeles Times Book Prize-winning historian, the colorful, dramatic story of Charles Darwin's journey on HMS Beagle that inspired the evolutionary theories in his path-breaking books On the Origin of Species and The Descent of Man When 22-year-old aspiring geologist Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle in 1831 with his microscopes and specimen bottles — invited by ship’s captain Robert FitzRoy, who wanted a travel companion at least as much as a ship’s naturalist — he hardly thought he was embarking on what would become perhaps the most important and epoch-changing voyage in scientific history. In this well-written and absorbing book, Diana Preston provides a chronological narrative of these crucial eight days."-- Airmail How a young man, fussed over by adoring sisters in a wealthy middle-class Shrewsbury home, coped during the voyage intrigued me. In his diary Darwin admits frankly that before the Beagle sailed he fretted over whether he could live in the ship’s cramped crowded conditions – the Beagle was a mere ninety feet long. Yet the diary also reveals how curiosity and excitement overcame his misgivings.

During the voyage Darwin embraced new experiences, sampling his first banana in the Cape Verde islands and drinking tortoise urine in the Galapagos. Traveling rough, he sometimes became ill. Whether the poor health that harassed and hampered him in later years stemmed from this period, perhaps from bites from the notorious bugs of the South American pampas, has been much debated. As the voyage went on and as he collected ever more data, Darwin’s curiosity about the natural world grew more focused and analytical. He developed from a diffident young man, conscious of his inexperience, into an assured, ambitious natural scientist, prepared to question the ideas of his mentors. He came ashore in Falmouth in October 1836 no longer planning life in a quiet country parsonage, but determined to establish himself in academic circles. When twenty-two-year-old aspiring geologist Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle in 1831 with his microscopes and specimen bottles ― invited by ship’s captain Robert FitzRoy who wanted a travel companion at least as much as a ship’s naturalist ― he hardly thought he was embarking on what would become perhaps the most important and epoch-changing voyage in scientific history. Nonetheless, over the course of the five-year journey around the globe in often hard and hazardous conditions, Darwin would make observations and gather samples that would form the basis of his revolutionary theories about the origin of species and natural selection.

When twenty-two-year-old aspiring geologist Charles Darwin boarded HMS Beagle in 1831 with his microscopes and specimen bottles—invited by ship’s captain Robert FitzRoy who wanted a travel companion at least as much as a ship’s naturalist — he hardly thought he was embarking on what would become the most important and epoch-changing voyage in scientific history. Nonetheless, over the course of the five-year journey around the globe in often hard and hazardous conditions, Darwin would make observations and gather samples that would form the basis of his revolutionary, evolutionary theories about the origin of species and natural selection. Preston deftly and graphically weaves the complex stories—hitherto kept distinct—of these land, sea, and air innovations into a connected narrative. For the first time, readers can grasp the mounting cognitive assault on civilians, soldiers, and politicians of the curious clustering of events that spring.” — New York Times Book Review, on A Higher Form of Killing A] meticulously researched compelling narrative . . . Diana Preston's vibrant reconstruction of Darwin's extraordinary journey, world-changing work and the consequences he experienced makes it all accessible and new in her telling."-- Janet Somerville, Toronto Star