Customer Reviews

Bright Paradise

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I've always had a weak spot for the history of science and exploration, so when I discovered this book, I went weak in the knees. We all know Darwin and Cook, but what about Russell and Spruce? Here are the true heroes of science from the days when gaps in your knowledge weren't just unfortunate, they could get you killed! Excellently written, with a mountain of information for the scholar, historian and casual reader. Get it now!

"Bright Paradise: Victorian Scientific Travellers" gives a refreshing glimpse into the scientific travellers and explorers of The Victorian Age. It covers the well-known (Darwin, Wallace, and Hooker) to those overlooked and nearly forgotten travellers like the botanical painter Marianne North. It is written without any academic pretentiousness and is ideal for introductory courses in cultural anthropology and European History of the 1800s. The only fault with this book is that it is too short.

Subtitled "Victorian Scientific Travelers," this book tells the story of a handful of 19th Century British scientists, all naturalists, who, through their researches in the field in many different places around the world, helped Darwin advance his theories of evolution. The accounts are interesting: we get Darwin, of course, but also Sir Joseph Hooker in the Himalayas, Alfred Wallace in the Amazon and on the Malayan Archipelago, Henry Bates also in the Amazon, Richard Spruce in the Amazon and the Andes, Richard Lander and Heinrich Barth in Africa, Mary Kingsley in Africa, and Marianne North in Borneo. All were fearless, resourceful, and dedicated scientists/collectors of plant and animal species from the areas they explored. Thousands of new species of flora and fauna were first identified by these intrepid people. Raby covers a lot of ground by telling about each of these scientists (and others as well) succinctly and directly. He also attempts to explain the times in which these scientists worked as people tried to come to grips with Darwin's implications. A fascinating and important book.