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Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z

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Darwin's Universe is that rare creature, both entertaining and sound, not unlike the author himself. Books like this go a long way in exposing the irrelevance of creationism and the centrality of evolution in the biological sciences. The biographical sketches bring the scientists to life with all their contradictions, triumphs, and tragedies intact. If you read only one book this year on science, make it this one.

We keep "Darwin's Universe" sitting on our cocktail table so my wife and I can pick it up periodically and savor a few entries. Last night I read a number of the mini-essays out loud to her while she was knitting. I started with the introduction--a wonderful musing on evolution and the treasures in the book. Then I began reading through the A's and B's : ADAM AND EVE; AGASSIZ, LOUIS; AGNOSTICISM; ALEX (the parrot); ANNING, MARY; ARCHAEOPTERYX; BANKS, SIR JOSEPH; BARLOW, LADY NORA; BARNUM , PHINEAS T.; (HMS) BEAGLE; and BEECHER, HENRY WARD. Each was a little gem brimming with delectable morsels, to mix some metaphors. "Darwin's Universe" is great for reading-aloud, something I wouldn't dream of doing with any other "reference book." For both edification and entertainment it beats PBS and NPR.

Darin's Universe is a masterpiece! Milner brings his vast erudtion and charm to every aspect of evolutionary science, even where it overlaps with pop culture. The book makes every subject come to life, even subjects I thought I had no interest in and makes them shine. Replete with rare and unseen images from all over the world, Darwin's Universe literally leaves no stone unturned. A must-have!

ENTER MILNER'S DELIGHTFUL "UNIVERSE"

Richard Milner is a maestro in "Darwin's Universe," conducting the greatest symphony of evolutionary ideas, fascinating natural history, and bizarre and brilliant characters that has ever been gathered in one beautiful volume. He is the PT Barnum of the evolutionary circus, offering the fruits of his unparalleled research into the theories and people who created evolutionary biology and the history of humanity's quest for its origins. Even the expert will find here previously unknown stories about Charles Darwin, Thomas Henry Huxley, Alfred Russel Wallace, and many others.

"Darwin's Universe" may at first appear to be a coffee table book, with its large format and hundreds of varied, rare, and unusual illustrations, but it is so much more. It is an entertaining masterpiece mixing arcane and elementary knowledge, the profound and the hilarious. I find myself dipping into it every day and being delighted with the bite-size essays that hook the reader for a quickie, and then draw you in for hours of fun reading.

You can ponder the existence of Group Selection, find surprising essays on Science itself and Peer Review, learn about the most recent discoveries of fossil man (Flores, Dmanisi, Atapuerca, Toumai), or explore some of the ways that evolutionary theory has influenced pop culture (Disney's epic of battling dinosaurs; Gertie the brontosaur, the first animal cartoon star; King Kong,; and Jurassic Park--with the backstories of how they were created).

You'll meet Flint Jack, the nineteenth century's greatest faker of prehistoric tools, attend a dinner of famous scientists inside a giant iguanodon, and reflect on a thoughtful introductory essay by the late Stephan Jay Gould, the author's classmate and childhood friend.

Just open the book. You will be immediately transported to a fabulous wonderland of evolutionary adventure. All my friends who have seen it want copies.

In this year of the Darwin bicentennial, I can't think of a better introduction to what it all means - and why his deceptively simple theory of evolution by natural selection is so central to modern biology and why it still triggers such great emotion. Crammed with a wealth of information about evolution's key players and central ideas, Richard Milner's "Darwin's Universe" is the work of a master of science popularization, without even a trace of jargon, and illustrated with rare photographs and engravings on almost every page. Though encyclopedic in scope, it is also a rattling good read, a feast to savor over many days. It includes essays on every conceivable topic touching on the evolutionary story - from the introduction of dinosaurs into Hollywood cartoons and the making of the 1933 movie "King Kong" to an extended profile of the great evolutionist himself (Did you know, for example, that Charles Darwin served as a part-time justice of the peace? He was usually soft-hearted but tough on poachers and those cruel to animals.) Like the works of Milner's childhood buddy Stephen Jay Gould, "Darwin's Universe" is an essential addition to the bookshelves of anyone with even a passing interest in contemporary science. Dip into it, and you'll evolve too.

Richard Milner masterfully takes what could be a very dry subject and brings it to life in a most exciting manner. As I read various entries, the people became real - alive - I felt that they were sitting in my living room. I love the way he intertwines the people and the politics and the history and the discoveries - a complicated web that becomes so clear and easy to understand because of Milner's genius. This book is for scholars, but it is most definitely for the everyday guy, like me. The book should be on the shelf of every home, every library, and should be required reading at every college and university. - Judy J., Albuquerque, New Mexico

I've done little more than leaf through "Darwin's Universe," but already I can say it looks wonderful! It's at once illuminating and entertaining--a veritable cornucopia of good things. It will make for hours and hours of delightful browsing. In its pages you'll find entries on serious topics like Allopatric Speciation, the Biogenetic Law, and Catastrophism, but you'll also crack a smile when you read about the Iguanodon Dinner, Hans the "Talking" Horse of Berlin, and the Coprolite Industry. This is, in fact, an incredible compilation, assembled and composed with an unrivaled panoramic knowledge not only of Charles Darwin himself, but of all things evolutionary. And at the very end of the book, a delicious desert awaits you: the devilishly clever lyrics from the author's now-famous Darwin monologues.

Richard Milner's entry in the flood of books written for the Darwin bicentennial - Darwin's Universe: Evolution from A to Z - is an uncommonly entertaining and literate introduction to the myriad aspects of the evolutionary paradigm that at once lays bare its history and, in its choice of content, makes manifest what few (I would imagine) have previously thought about, viz. the remarkable extent to which that paradigm has at once infiltrated, and informed, our literature and our popular culture, and in the process has both shaped them and been shaped by them. Indeed, what Milner has chosen to include is at first glance somewhat surprising: Huxley, Darwin, Russell, and Chambers are here (as expected) but so are Arthur Conan Doyle in his persona of Dr. Challenger, a curious mixture of ape-man and thorough going rationalist; Kropotkin's "Law of Mutual Aid" and social Darwinism; teleology and orthogenesis. Any book so capacious and cosmopolitan that it can with equal ease embrace cladistics and Disney's "Fantasia" clearly means to serve as a bridge between the commonplaces of our cultural experience and the specialized knowledge of the working biologist.
But its broadness of content is only part of the story. The quality of the exposition is uniformly high, the unfolding story an engaging one. Furthermore, all of the entries in this book are very short, easily read in at most a few minutes. I have picked up this book after completing it on several occasions (this evening included) to revisit the universe of ideas contained between its covers. It is truly a feast for the mind, whether eaten as one large and sumptuous banquet or nibbled at over a period of weeks; in either case, it is a repast easily digested, one that stays with the reader, sustaining, entertaining, and illuminating... all of the things that good books are meant to do. Bravo!

Darwin's Universe is the perfect coffee table encyclopedia for anthropologists, biologists, and historians of science. From Abang the tool-making orangutan to Zoopharmacognesy, it is filled with hundreds of fascinating historical tidbits, biographies, famous animals, photos, and British cartoons. Along with a rich topical bibliography, Milner's lyrics on Darwin's Nightmare and Huxley's Lament are a hidden bonuses at the end of the book.
a.k.a Sue T. Parker

Recently I won the New York Times Science Songwriting Contest for my song "Mister Darwin," (see
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which has become very popular among school children here in'England. My prize arrived today: Richard Milner's "Darwin's Universe," which I have found completely engrossing. What a great book! I love it! I had not expected it to be packed with so many meaty, entertaining, and fascinating details about all aspects of natural history, as well as hundreds of rare and wonderful pictures. It's great dipping in at random then following a thread. Belatedly, I realized that I had long been an admirer of the book's predecessor, "The Encyclopedia of Evolution." What a delight to discover I've been a fan of Milner's work for so much longer than I realised - just hadn't taken the name on board!