Book description
The Autobiographies of Charles Darwin (1809-82) provide a fascinating
glimpse into the mind of one of the world's intellectual giants. They
begin with engaging memories of his childhood and youth and of his
burgeoning scientific curiosity and love of the natural world, which led
to him joining the expedition on the Beagle. Darwin follows this with
survey of his career and ends with a reckoning of his life's work.
Interspersed with these recollections are fascinating portraits - from
his devoted wife Emma and his talented father, both bullying and kind,
to the leading figures of the Victorian scientific world he counted
among his friends, including Lyell and Huxley. Honest and illuminating,
these memoirs reveal a man who was isolated by his controversial beliefs
and whose towering achievements were attained by a life-long passion for
the discoveries of science.
Charles Darwin (1809-82) was an evolutionary scientist, best-known
for his controversial and ground-breaking 'Origin of Species' (1859).
Michael Neve is based at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History
of Medicine at University College London. He teaches and researches
the history of psychiatry and the history of the life sciences. With
Janet Browne, he co-edited Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle for Penguin
Classics. Sharon Messenger is a research officer at the Wellcome Trust Centre.
