Customer Reviews

Darwin's Secret Notebooks

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As a preface, I will mention that before we saw "Darwin's Secret Notebooks", we already knew "Darwin's Dangerous Idea", a documentary/reenactment that is an excellent balance between introducing Darwin within the context of his tremendous scientific significance, and the twists his life story takes by way of the reenactment. That dvd is a well-rounded presentation for both as an introduction for the initiate who knew little of the details of his work and an entertaining summary for someone who is already familiar with the topics involved (social darwinism, natural selection, etc.)

"Darwin's Secret Notebooks" delivers just what the title promises, and more. When I saw the title I assumed it would focus on one portion of his life's work, i.e. the period and thought process before he fully formulated his theory of evolution. It fills that particular niche but also gives an excellent account of Darwin's overall travels. I do not think that by not calling things by a given name (social darwinism, God, what have you) means the documentary is not thorough. At many points in the dvd God is not named in the narration but is referred to as "the almighty", "the being who created everything", etc. but one cannot accuse it of not having contemplated the impact that the theory of evolution was about to have on religion, just because it did not say "God" at every turn. I do not believe that every movie or book on him necessarily has to list all the details of his private life, so long as the work is not advertising that it is attempting to do so. Being a trained biologist--and my mother-in-law as well, a well-published marine biologist--I find this dvd beautifully made. It is gripping enough to keep our attention for repeated viewings, with more to come, while presented in a context general enough that our budding biologist (my son) can appreciate. We are riveted by the dvd. I'm giving it four stars because I wish it were longer.

I struggle with two trends while watching this. When I was in high school, photosynthesis, the flow of androgens, etc., were far more difficult to understand than evolution. It was hard to watch a documentary that spent 50 minutes on something I could explain in one. However, I remember a history professor saying, "Many people tell historians, 'Why can't you just write Person X wrote Y!?" and the historians' response is 'I'm trying to create the conditions under which Person X could write Y!" This work illustrates how Darwin came up with evolution.
By discussing facts, this work may interest those who like history but don't care for science. There were two Darwin impersonators here, but they are used sparsely and tastefully. The work never mentions that Darwin married his cousin.
In fairness, the work does give useful details. The work says Darwin did not just look at finches. He compared aquatic life to the land-based kind. He compared fossils to living animals. He did not publish at the drop of a dime; he took his time knowing that his ideas would upset many. He points out how the biblical idea that Earth is just a few thousand years old is incorrect. In college, many students will learn that Michel Foucault did not write one revolutionary idea, but many. Here too, Darwin's ideas have many facets and he's not a one-hit wonder.
The work never mentions the term "social Darwinism." However, his work did not stick to non-humans; he did pull ideas from his contemporary Britain. This work would be an excellent item to show in high school or junior high science courses. Still, the sharp students may bore easily.