Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life (Hardcover)

As a publication associated with a new touring exhibit from the American Natural History Museum in New York, Eldredge deftly keeps his text associated with the artefacts on view. As the curator of the exhibit, he's in a prime position to give the material a good portrayal. A dedicated Darwinist, Eldredge is intimately involved in what the naturalist thought, why he thought it and, so far as possible when he came up with his ideas. Eldredge has thoroughly investigated Darwin's notebooks in preparing this book. It was clearly a labour of love. Besides his research skills, Eldredge is an expressive and convincing writer. He has a point to make, and presents it with skill and verve. Even the unitiated is unlikely to feel bogged down by arcane information. The author's fluent language is a joy to read.

Darwin's career is essentially outlined here. The element of chance is strangely muted. It was almost a fluke that led Darwin to walk up the gangplank to board the Beagle. It was a chance occurence that he was in Chile during an earthquake that raised sealife above the ocean. A chance remark about tortoises slipped by him almost unnoticed. What would have happened if Albert Russel Wallace had sent his own groundbreaking paper to somebody else, such as Henslow? All those near-misses were overcome, as Eldredge forcefully notes, by Darwin's dedicated pursuit of what he did learn. It's easy to dismiss Darwin as a plodder, but this account shows that every step was carefully sighted and reviewed for what it might contribute. In no small measure, Darwin provided a significant leap forward, not only for our understanding of life, but in the pursuit of scientific excellence. He may not have had all the answers, but those he put forward were firmly buttressed. Given that Darwin was an observer and not a laboratory researcher, his accomplishments become yet more noteworthy.

This being a "modern" author, and a scientist who has striven for a generation to overturn a fundamental aspect of Darwin's original concept, this book necessarily preaches the notion of abrupt speciation. Darwin's use of geologist Charles Lyell's "uniformitarian" means of change has been challenged by Eldredge [and his mate Stephen Gould] with "punk eek", the idea that evolution works in a jerky fashion. Not unexpectedly, Eldredge gives this idea a good deal of ink. He attempts to ameliorate this heresy with a muted discussion of scale - the measurement of rate of change - but it's skimpy and inconclusive. The author might have done better to skim the topic and presented more on Darwin's other work. Eldredge's pushing the date of Darwin's becoming convinced of the idea of evolution in the first place is accomplishment enough for both. The final chapter throws down the gauntlet to the hordes of Christians obstructing the dissemination of Darwin's concept in education and society.

As an accompaniment to a museum exhibit, this book is richly illustrated. A multitude of contemporary illustrations, sketches, cartoons and photographs all provide visually pleasing enhancements to the text. There are even photographs of undecipherable pages from the Notebooks. In all, Eldredge has provided an fine introductory survey of who Darwin was and what he accomplished. It's to be hoped that the combination of the exhibit and this volume will retain the status Darwin deserves. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]