The Young Charles Darwin
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Keith Thomson
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Format: PaperPrice: $34.00
On the 150th anniversary of On the Origin of Species, a new investigation of Darwin’s early years and how he arrived at his revolutionary ideas
What sort of person was the young naturalist who developed an evolutionary idea so logical, so dangerous, that it has dominated biological science for a century and a half? How did the quiet and shy Charles Darwin produce his theory of natural selection when many before him had started down the same path but failed? This book is the first to inquire into the range of influences and ideas, the mentors and rivals, and the formal and informal education that shaped Charles Darwin and prepared him for his remarkable career of scientific achievement.
Keith Thomson concentrates on Darwin’s early life as a schoolboy, a medical student at Edinburgh, a theology student at Cambridge, and a naturalist aboard the Beagle on its famous five-year voyage. Closely analyzing Darwin’s Autobiography and scientific notebooks, the author draws a fully human portrait of Darwin for the first time: a vastly erudite and powerfully ambitious individual, self-absorbed but lacking self-confidence, hampered as much as helped by family, and sustained by a passion for philosophy and logic. Thomson’s account of the birth and maturing of Darwin’s brilliant theory is fascinating for the way it reveals both his genius as a scientist and the human foibles and weaknesses with which he mightily struggled.
Keith Thomson is professor emeritus of natural history, University of Oxford, and senior research fellow, the American Philosophical Society. He is also the author of more than 200 scientific papers and twelve books. Thomson lives in Philadelphia.
“Keith Thomson's fresh and lively account will surely bring Darwin back into focus as an exceptional scholar, traveler, family man, and author. Highly recommended.”—Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place
"I don't think that there is a book of this kind anywhere in Darwiniana, and that gap is surprising given how critical Keith’s insights are into the development of Darwin’s thought. . . . I sincerely hope that it won't get lost in the flood of Darwiniana scheduled for publication next year, because it will certainly be one of the most authoritative efforts. It should be very heavily publicized and marketed, in my view."—Kevin Padian, University of California, Berkeley
“The image of Darwin as the doddering old sage of Down, taking his daily constitutional walks about the backyard sand path thinking deep thoughts about the philosophical implications of evolution, has become so iconic that we forget what he was like in his youth and prime. Keith Thomson has brilliantly resurrected the young Charles Darwin, revealing the inchoate mind of a genius in the early stages of countless starts and stops, hunches and hypotheses. This compelling narrative reminds us of how creativity and insight really begin.”—Michael Shermer, Publisher Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist Scientific American, author of Why Darwin Matters
"… a readable and very detailed account of Darwin’s early years and the influences that shaped him." - Jim Endersby, Sunday Telegraph ‘Seven’, 8th February 2009
“It has always irked me that Darwin is known by the iconic image of him as a bearded ancient being, when his world-changing ideas came to him as a virile young man. Happily, this book redresses the balance.” - Rowan Hooper, New Scientist
Publication Date: October 19, 2010
5 b/w illus.
