The Origin of Species is the most famous book in science but its stature tends to obscure the genius of Charles Darwin's other works. The Beagle voyage, too, occupied only five of the fifty years of his career. He spent only five weeks on the Galapagos and on his return never left Britain again. Darwin wrote six million words, in nineteen books and innumerable letters, on topics as different as dogs, barnacles, insect-eating plants, orchids, earthworms, apes and human emotion. Together, they laid the foundations of modern biology. In this beautifully written, witty and illuminating book, Steve Jones explores the domestic Darwin, the sage of Kent, and brings his work up to date. Great Britain was Charles Darwin's other island, its countryside as much, or more, a place of discovery than had been the Galapagos. It traces the great naturalist's second journey across its modest landscape: a voyage not of the body but of the mind.
Darwin's Island: The Galapagos in the Garden of England
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** 'Steve Jones who in ALMOST LIKE A WHALE successfully rewrote Darwin in the 21st century, reminds us in DARWIN'S ISLAND that Darwin did actually write 19 other books which are full of insight into the human condition and into the flora and fauna of Britain - hence his title. If you were to read one new book on Darwin this year, this should be it (Christopher Hudson, DAILY MAIL )
** 'Darwin's theory of evolution is often imagined to be the result of his voyage to the Galapagos Islands aboard HMS Beagle. But as Steve Jones points out at the start of his enthralling book, he spent only five weeks in the Galapagos, whereas for 40 yea (John Carey SUNDAY TIMES )
** 'Wow, Goodness me! Fancy that! Well I never! This is what you will be saying at every other page of Steve Jones's brilliant, remarkable, profound and deeply unsettling book. Your reactions otherwise will be shock and awe: shock at how far down the road to hell humankind has pushed its handcart, and awe at the light way Jones wears his formidable learning. If there is one book to be read at this bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his The Origin of Species, then this must be it (Andy Barclay IRISH TIMES )
Darwin's Island fills in the details of four decades that followed his five years on HMS Beagle. A professor of genetics and a gifted writer who has already successfully updated Darwin for the 21st century in an earlier book, Steve Jones is ideally place (Roger Highfield DAILY TELEGRAPH )
** 'Darwin's theory of evolution is often imagined to be the result of his voyage to the Galapagos Islands aboard HMS Beagle. But as Steve Jones points out at the start of his enthralling book, he spent only five weeks in the Galapagos, whereas for 40 yea (John Carey SUNDAY TIMES )
** 'Wow, Goodness me! Fancy that! Well I never! This is what you will be saying at every other page of Steve Jones's brilliant, remarkable, profound and deeply unsettling book. Your reactions otherwise will be shock and awe: shock at how far down the road to hell humankind has pushed its handcart, and awe at the light way Jones wears his formidable learning. If there is one book to be read at this bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his The Origin of Species, then this must be it (Andy Barclay IRISH TIMES )
Darwin's Island fills in the details of four decades that followed his five years on HMS Beagle. A professor of genetics and a gifted writer who has already successfully updated Darwin for the 21st century in an earlier book, Steve Jones is ideally place (Roger Highfield DAILY TELEGRAPH )
Review
'Wow, Goodness me! Fancy that! Well I never! This is what you will be saying at every other page of Steve Jones's brilliant, remarkable, profound and deeply unsettling book. Your reactions otherwise will be shock and awe: shock at how far down the road to hell humankind has pushed its handcart, and awe at the light way Jones wears his formidable learning. If there is one book to be read at this bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of his The Origin of Species, then this must be it'
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28 of 29 people found the following review helpful
By hbw
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
One of the striking things about the The Origin of Species is how much time Darwin spent pottering about in his garden and indeed, as Steve Jones says in his introduction, the great naturalist spent most of his time observing the natural world either at home or on extensive travels throughout Britain. I was delighted, therefore, to find "Darwin's Island".
Moral: never judge a book by its cover. Although there are some references to Darwin's garden and travels, this is not the book's main focus, nor is it, despite its historical background, a work of scientific history.
What we do get, however, is a review of some of the topics that Darwin studied, many of which are suggested by his lesser known works. The result is a fascinating whirlwind tour of carnivorous plants, insects, orchids, hops, barnacles and earthworms; as well as more predictable topics such as sexual selection.
This is a highly readable book aimed firmly at a general readership with no special knowledge of biology. Steve Jones has a neat turn of phrase and a good line in dry humour as well as a gift for drawing together the strands of historical and contemporary scientific thought and placing them into the context of the modern world.
Whilst drawing on the roots of modern biology, "Darwin's Island" is set very much in the present and, despite the title, has a global scope. As for the future, after reading this book, you may be left wondering whether the sustainability of our planet and our species has more to do with the fate of earthworms and barnacles than giant pandas.
Not quite as advertised, but nevertheless a welcome addition to that other endangered species, the popular science book.
Moral: never judge a book by its cover. Although there are some references to Darwin's garden and travels, this is not the book's main focus, nor is it, despite its historical background, a work of scientific history.
What we do get, however, is a review of some of the topics that Darwin studied, many of which are suggested by his lesser known works. The result is a fascinating whirlwind tour of carnivorous plants, insects, orchids, hops, barnacles and earthworms; as well as more predictable topics such as sexual selection.
This is a highly readable book aimed firmly at a general readership with no special knowledge of biology. Steve Jones has a neat turn of phrase and a good line in dry humour as well as a gift for drawing together the strands of historical and contemporary scientific thought and placing them into the context of the modern world.
Whilst drawing on the roots of modern biology, "Darwin's Island" is set very much in the present and, despite the title, has a global scope. As for the future, after reading this book, you may be left wondering whether the sustainability of our planet and our species has more to do with the fate of earthworms and barnacles than giant pandas.
Not quite as advertised, but nevertheless a welcome addition to that other endangered species, the popular science book.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
i have really enjoyed the other Steve Jones books that I've read: they are full of amazing facts you immediately want to quote to other people, and his ability to explain an idea from genetics or evolutionary theory in very simple terms is really almost without parallel.
Yet for the first time, reading this book, I felt slightly frustrated that his books are always pitched at such a gentle level. Each chapter is devoted to the subject matter of one of Darwin's post-Origin publications; earthworms, orchids, insectivorous plants, variation in domesticated animals and plants. Take the section on pet dogs: there's lots of good facts about whippets, chihuahuas and pugs... Or the chapter on orchids, which gives a whistlestop guide to the general principles of orchid pollination. You end up with a general picture of orchids being fairly devious plants... but if you wanted to feel that your overall understanding of how evolution and genetics work is being increased, this isn't the book for you.
Darwin's Garden is infinitely readable, but deals with each topic in a chatty, magazine-article way, rarely referring by name to the scientists who actually did the research and never touching on any dissent on a topic. Maybe it's because I have just finished reading Matt Ridley's "Genome", which is pitched at a slightly more informed audience, but I really missed feeling like I was being taken seriously as a reader...
Yet for the first time, reading this book, I felt slightly frustrated that his books are always pitched at such a gentle level. Each chapter is devoted to the subject matter of one of Darwin's post-Origin publications; earthworms, orchids, insectivorous plants, variation in domesticated animals and plants. Take the section on pet dogs: there's lots of good facts about whippets, chihuahuas and pugs... Or the chapter on orchids, which gives a whistlestop guide to the general principles of orchid pollination. You end up with a general picture of orchids being fairly devious plants... but if you wanted to feel that your overall understanding of how evolution and genetics work is being increased, this isn't the book for you.
Darwin's Garden is infinitely readable, but deals with each topic in a chatty, magazine-article way, rarely referring by name to the scientists who actually did the research and never touching on any dissent on a topic. Maybe it's because I have just finished reading Matt Ridley's "Genome", which is pitched at a slightly more informed audience, but I really missed feeling like I was being taken seriously as a reader...
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
By BioDiplomacy
Format:Hardcover
Whatever genes and cultural traditions transmit curiosity, Charles Darwin inherited a uniquely productive sequence. Steve Jones' refreshing contribution to the bicentennial gives the Galapagos finches as little attention as did Darwin himself. Seasickness made Darwin an island-hopper for whom the arrival was everything, the voyage hell. Indeed, after the unpublished 25-year old naturalist got back to dry land at Falmouth on 2 October 1836, he never again left the shores of the British Isles. (He maintained, however, his own worldwide web of correspondents.)
So, the Voyage of the Beagle and the Origin of Species are here set on one side in order to show Darwin's curiosity and experimental ingenuity as he tackles a lifetime of questions inspired by his own family with its domesticated animals and plants; the teeming life in the soil of his home at Down House and the botanical riches of Ashdown Forest. What are the effects of inbreeding? How do plants move (eg to climb up the Kent hop-poles)? Why do worms matter? Professor Jones links these and more of Darwin's major inquiries to today's research and to the practical consequences in a world so suddenly - in an evolutionary timespan - dominated by man. Worms can transform archaeological sites - as shown by the wormstone experiment started in the last decade of Darwin's life (and still running): but, undisturbed, they are at last being recognised as the natural creators of soil fertility.
The final chapter draws lessons. Since Darwin visited St Helena (still a UK overseas territory), unique habitats that delighted him have gone and many endemics, like the giant earwig, have disappeared or are under threat.... Read more ›
So, the Voyage of the Beagle and the Origin of Species are here set on one side in order to show Darwin's curiosity and experimental ingenuity as he tackles a lifetime of questions inspired by his own family with its domesticated animals and plants; the teeming life in the soil of his home at Down House and the botanical riches of Ashdown Forest. What are the effects of inbreeding? How do plants move (eg to climb up the Kent hop-poles)? Why do worms matter? Professor Jones links these and more of Darwin's major inquiries to today's research and to the practical consequences in a world so suddenly - in an evolutionary timespan - dominated by man. Worms can transform archaeological sites - as shown by the wormstone experiment started in the last decade of Darwin's life (and still running): but, undisturbed, they are at last being recognised as the natural creators of soil fertility.
The final chapter draws lessons. Since Darwin visited St Helena (still a UK overseas territory), unique habitats that delighted him have gone and many endemics, like the giant earwig, have disappeared or are under threat.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By Dennis Littrell
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Steve Jones, who is a professor of genetics at University College London and a most engaging writer on evolutionary biology, wrote this book to coincide with the bicentennial of Darwin's birth and the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of "The Origin of Species." He calls his book "Darwin's Island" to emphasize the fact that the vast majority of Darwin's work was on the biota of the island of England following his return from the voyage of the Beagle and not on what he learned during the scant five weeks he spent in the Galapagos Islands as a young man.
Darwin wrote a four-volume work on barnacles (over a thousand pages); he wrote on "Orchids and Insects," on the "Expressions of Emotions," on the "Formation of Vegetable Mould by Earthworms," and of course on "The Descent of Man" and other works, comprising in total more than six million words. Jones' intent is to introduce the reader to the wider range of Darwin's work and by doing so demonstrate why Darwin is widely considered the greatest biologist who ever lived.
Jones' technique is to devote chapters to Darwin's many interests while bringing us up to date on the current understanding. Thus we read about what Darwin learned about worms, barnacles, insects, insectivore plants, sexual selection, our facial expressions, etc., and how that agrees with or differs from what modern science has discovered. What we find out is that Darwin was amazingly prescient in many areas mainly because he worked so diligently for so many years with the kind of enthusiasm few of us can muster. And it didn't hurt that he was a brilliant man.
Darwin could have been a man of leisure because of inherited wealth, but he was driven to discover as much as he could about the natural world.... Read more ›
Darwin wrote a four-volume work on barnacles (over a thousand pages); he wrote on "Orchids and Insects," on the "Expressions of Emotions," on the "Formation of Vegetable Mould by Earthworms," and of course on "The Descent of Man" and other works, comprising in total more than six million words. Jones' intent is to introduce the reader to the wider range of Darwin's work and by doing so demonstrate why Darwin is widely considered the greatest biologist who ever lived.
Jones' technique is to devote chapters to Darwin's many interests while bringing us up to date on the current understanding. Thus we read about what Darwin learned about worms, barnacles, insects, insectivore plants, sexual selection, our facial expressions, etc., and how that agrees with or differs from what modern science has discovered. What we find out is that Darwin was amazingly prescient in many areas mainly because he worked so diligently for so many years with the kind of enthusiasm few of us can muster. And it didn't hurt that he was a brilliant man.
Darwin could have been a man of leisure because of inherited wealth, but he was driven to discover as much as he could about the natural world.... Read more ›
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evolution for the general reader
This is an enjoyable enough book about evolution for the general reader. Based on Charles Darwin's researches at his home in Kent the book covers plants,barnacles, earthworms,... Read more
Published 3 days ago by markr
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic
Really good popular science book. Well written thoughtful and informative. A good starting point for a generally interested reader and a nice summary for those of us who are... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Katiepops
5.0 out of 5 stars
Darwin's Island - Steve Jones
Well, I like evolution as a subject immensely, but can only be led into associated topics such as geology and botany with guides who can get some interest into the area for me - in... Read more
Published on 9 Dec 2010 by David E. Perkins
4.0 out of 5 stars
Where Beagles Dare
If one of your books is the most famous scientific work of all time, and a social phenomenen the shock waves of which reverberated round the world; If, furthermore, this book is... Read more
Published on 9 Jun 2010 by Rotgut
5.0 out of 5 stars
Darwin's Island
This book is up to the usual high standard expected from Steve Jones. As usual it is an extremely good read.
Published on 2 Jun 2010 by Mr. Kevin Read
1.0 out of 5 stars
Avoid
Every major anniversary brings the hacks out from under their stones, to the greater or lesser glory of their subjects. Read more
Published on 12 April 2009 by Anthony Long
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