My Life [Hardcover]

Alfred Russel Wallace (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1972 | ISBN-10: 0404081843 | ISBN-13: 978-0404081843

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1905. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XX IN LONDON, AND VOYAGE TO SINGAPORE AMONG the letters preserved and kindly returned to me by Dr. Spruce is one partly written on board ship on my way home, giving an account of my somewhat adventurous voyage while it was fresh in my memory, and containing some details not given in the narrative in my "Travels on the Amazon." I will therefore print it here, as no part of it has yet been made public. "Brig Jordeson, N. Lat. 49° 30', W. Long. 20°. "Sunday, September 19, 1852. "my Dear Friend, "Having now some prospect of being home in a week or ten days, I will commence giving you an account of the peculiar circumstances which have already kept me at sea seventy days on a voyage which took us only twenty-nine days on our passage out. I hope you have received the letter sent you from Para, dated July 9 or 10, in which I informed you that I had taken my passage in a vessel bound for London, which was to sail in a few days. On Monday, July 12,1 went on board with all my cargo, and some articles purchased or collected on my way down, with the remnant (about twenty) of my live stock.1 After being at sea about a week I had a slight attack of fever, and at first thought I had got the yellow fever after all. However, a little calomel 1 These consisted of numerous parrots and parrakeets, and several uncommon monkeys, a forest wild-dog, etc. set me right in a few days, but I remained rather weak, and spent most of my time reading in the cabin, which was very comfortable. On Friday, August 6, we were in N. Lat. 30° 30', W. Long. 52°, when, about nine in the morning, just after breakfast, Captain Turner, who was half-owner of the vessel, came into the cabin, and said, ' I'm afraid the ship's on fire. Come and see what you think of it.' Going on deck I found a thick sm...

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Ams Pr Inc (June 1972)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0404081843
• ISBN-13: 978-0404081843
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,996,613 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than fiction, January 17, 2004

By 

dtae "dtae" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: My Life (Hardcover)

A very readable autobiography of the co-founder of evolution which is better than a lot of fiction I have read. Of particular interest are Wallace's friendships with many promenent men such as Lyell, Darwin and Huxley. The accounts of his naturalist expeditions to Asia, Australia and South America have some adventure. His dedication to happily studying nature in all aspects is inspiration.
With all the positive in Wallce's character it is sobering to see his racisim and backwards ideas, which should serve as a guide to humility to all of us.

Worth picking up.