This Thing Of Darkness
and over 900,000 other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Amazon.co.uk Trade-In Store for more details. |
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
David Roche, Product Director, Waterstones
'Adventure, discovery and a heaped spoonful of learning are all here in this highly enjoyable and rewarding read'
Daily Telegraph
'It's an excellent read, in the traditions of Patrick O'Brian, and fully deserves its position on the Booker list'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 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.
20 of 20 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.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
