- Hardcover: 640 pages
- Publisher: Headline Review (6 Jun 2005)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 075530280X
- ISBN-13: 978-0755302802
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.4 x 5.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (94 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 131,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
This Thing Of Darkness
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More About the Author
Product Description
Observer
'A bestseller is born...an easy and picturesque yarn made muscular by historical fact and philisophical ideas'
Mail On Sunday
'A brilliant historical novel. An impressive book; something big that deserves attension'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riveting read,
By A Customer
This review is from: This Thing of Darkness (Paperback)
This Thing of Darkness is an engrossing account of two protagonists, Robert Fitzroy and Charles Darwin from their early days together on The Beagle, spanning over thirty years. Harry Thompson has created a fascinating book that evokes the spirit of their adventures, their regular debates and philosophy that led them to develop their scientific thinking further in their careers and the history of the people they encountered. Based on historical fact, the conversation and description is effectively blended in to make an enthralling read. I was amused to note the authors postcript on how he used words from Tony Blair in a monologue by an Argentinian dictator.It's not a dry, boring biography but completely fascinating. I was enthralled from start to finish.
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Read,
By Ivan P. Shaw (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
This review is from: This Thing of Darkness (Hardcover)
This is a wondeful book tracing the intertwining lives of Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy. It has everything. FitzRoy was the brilliant captain of the Beagle, who shared a cabin with Darwin for 5 years whilst his ship was charting out new maps of the South Atlantic for the Admiralty. Darwin's "discoveries" and heretical views challenged everything that Fitzroy believed in. The book covers religious arguments and bigotry. It tells of racial experiments when natives were brought to England to be "civilised" and then sent back. It also describes the effects of depression. At the end of his career Fitzroy studied weather patterns and was the father of modern metereology. His storm forecasts saved thousands of lives. A taste of things to come - Britain conceived the idea but the Americans actually took it up and developed it. Altogether a great read. I could not put the book down on holiday. Friends who have also bought the book have been similarly enthused.
54 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Triumph,
By
This review is from: This Thing of Darkness (Hardcover)
This is one of the few books that I would read again. At first glance, Harry Thompson may not seem the obvious choice to write a novel about Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy - his c.v. reads more like a Who's Who of British television comedy of the 1990's (he produced 'Have I Got News For You' Harry Enfield etc...). However this meticulously researched novel is both entertaining and intellectually satisfying. Thompson not only gives a faithful and utterly compelling account of the lives of FitzRoy and Darwin, but also tackles the biggest issue of all. This is not just a novel of ideas, but also one of action in which the narrative is driven forward by the extraordinary events experienced by the crew of the HMS Beagle. My favourite aspect of this novel is the wonderful sense of place. Apparently Harry Thompson travelled to all of the places described in this novel and it shows. His descriptions of the desolate landscape of Tierra del Fuego are incredibly evocative. This is a wonderful novel, but don't just take my word for it. I've met several people who have read this book and they all loved it.
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