Darwin: A Life in Science [Paperback]

Michael J. White (Author), John Gribbin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 1997 | Series: Life in Science

Continuing their successful series of biographies of famous scientists, the authors present a lucid and accessible account of Darwin's life and work. This work is an enlightening synthesis of biography and science that reveals the personality and scientific contributions of a great and controversial modern figure.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this collaborative biography, White and Gribbin (Stephen Hawking; Einstein) aim for a composite overview of Darwin's life and science suitable to the general reader. Darwin was a complex 19th-century English gentleman, handicapped by chronic illness and family trauma. He was also an insightful investigator attuned to the fundamental and still controversial implications of his work. In alternating chapters, journalist White chronicles Darwin's personal life and scientist Gribbin covers his scientific career. The sections tracing development of concepts concerning evolution and related religious ideas are well done. Meshing of the personal and scientific plots is ragged, however, and the picture of the man is not fully satisfying. The broad strokes of personal history and cultural background are enlightening, but much detail is of uncertain interest or relevance, and the characterization is marred by overly assertive interpretations of Darwin's inner sentiments.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The prolific and seasoned duo of White and Gribbin position their solid product a notch below the "definitive" level in hopes of snaring readers ordinarily put off by massive, footnoted compendiums of famous people's lives. In their formula (previously displayed in biographies of Hawking and Einstein), brisk, to-the-point narrative is king, supported by chapters dedicated to explaining the scientist's theories a-gestating. In Darwin's case, his revolutionary theory of evolution perked along in his mind for two decades following his immortal odyssey on the Beagle. Because of inherited wealth, he could afford to sit, think, and observe, but life was no picnic. Illnesses plagued him, the nature of which was speculatively diagnosed in a recent "definitive" biog (Charles Darwin by John Bowlby, 1991). Ailments, however, didn't rein in his scientific activity; even before Origin of Species upended the world, Darwin was one of England's better, and better known, writers of natural history (on geology, initially). Touching on all essentials, the authors here take customary command of the life and the science, making this an excellent first-stop biog for readers new to Darwin. Gilbert Taylor --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Plume (March 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452275520
• ISBN-13: 978-0452275522
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,002,782 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and accessible biography., March 10, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Darwin: A Life in Science (Paperback)

I bought a copy of this book at the Natural History Museum in London last week, and did indeed read it on the plane back to Seattle. While I did notice some discussions repeated in more than one chapter, I actually found these brief repetitions helpful, as they saved me from leafing back to review material that hadn't sunk in the first time.

I had been looking for a light, quick introduction to Darwin's obstacle-laden pursuit of verifiable truth to give my son as he tackles "On the Origin of Species" in college this year, and I found it in this book. It's not a substitute for reading Darwin's own best works (which are the 1845 edition of "The Voyage of the Beagle" and the first edition [1859] of "Origin"), of course, but that's okay, because that's not its purpose.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darwin's Life AND his science, September 3, 2005

By 

TIADaily.com - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darwin: 9A Life in Science (Hardcover)

Darwin: A Life in Science covers the main details of Darwin's life as well as the background and content of his discoveries, with chapters generally alternating between the personal and the scientific. It avoids the main pitfalls of other Darwin biographies that neglect scientific detail, bog the reader down in historical minutiae, or engage in endless psychologizing in a search for feet of clay.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine introduction to Darwin's idea, July 19, 2003

By 

Stephen A. Haines (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darwin: A Life in Science (Paperback)

The White-Gribbin team gives a superior overview of Charles Darwin's life and work. Their focus on Darwin's scientific achievements avoids slipping into the floundering depths of "cultural artefact" or psychological probings offered by some modern students. The pair's straightforward account makes this book a fine initial starting point for those needing an introduction to Darwin's thinking and accomplishments. As they point out firmly, there's much more to the great naturalist's work than simply "The Origin of Species". They trace the fundamental ideas Darwin conceived in generating his various works, showing how some were related to Origin's thesis while others remained a naturalist's observations. In particular, Darwin's long effort to understand the strange lifestyles of barnacles was the vehicle establishing his validity as a zoologist. That status allowed him to express views on the more general workings of nature. He was thus able to produce Origin from an accredited position.

White and Gribben assert that Darwin was but one of several scientists attempting to explain evolution's mechanism. Albert Russell Wallace is, of course, the best known as the co-discoverer of natural selection. Publisher Robert Chambers floated an anonymous proposal in 1844, to almost universal condemnation. That book has been held as the greatest inhibitor to Darwin's publishing his thesis. Yet, according to White and Gribbin, Darwin did publish his concept, scattered through a larger text and almost completely camouflaged.

After building the framework leading to Origin, the authors go on to present accounts of the debates following its publication. There are good sketches of Darwin's defenders, Huxley and Hooker, as well as his opponents, Owen, Mivart and Sedgewick. Darwin's problem of inheritance, which plagued him throughout the remainder of his life, is given skillfully. That he [nor anyone else] had any inkling of Mendelian genetics didn't deter him from offering a scientific proposal based on then current knowledge. The "great barrier" to universal acceptance of evolution remained, as it does among some today, was its application to humans. Even his "co-founder" of natural selection, Albert Russell Wallace demurred at applying the idea to humans. The issue was the human brain and the means of its expression, language. The authors touch lightly on this subject, as did Darwin. In the concluding chapters, however, White and Gribbin pay tribute to today's science of sociobiology in providing many answers to this seeming conundrum.

While not an "in-depth" study of Darwin, this work stands as a testimony to his originality and persistence. The authors make good use of available sources, both primary and secondary. They examine the opposition to evolution today, strenuously recommending Jonathon Weiner's "The Beak of the Finch" as a fitting explanation of how evolution works. They rightly feel it is an important support of Darwin's idea. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]