Customer Reviews

The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches (Penguin Classics)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I bought this version when I could not find my old copy. On trying to find a favorite passage (Darwin's revulsion at a parasitic wasp in Brazil and the inconsistency of such cruelty with any providential design of nature by a good God), I noticed that it was not there. I do not know what else is missing. I find it infuriating that this was not adequately noted on the cover of the book. I always prefer books as the author wrote them, especially when the author is Darwin. This is a lively, beautiful and haunting work that I first read when I was thirteen and have read twice since. Readers deserve the whole thing.

We all know Charles Darwin as a scholarly bearded old English gentleman, and like Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin has this image defining him for all future generations. Even though most everyone knows Darwin spent five years traveling the oceans on the HMS Beagle, the image of a young dynamic Darwin never takes over. Reading this book will change this.

Darwin sailed on the Beagle, a small three-mast sailing ship, and circumnavigated the globe. Over five years, he visited numerous islands in the Atlantic and Pacific and extensively surveyed the east and west coasts of South America. He hiked up and down mountains, traveled on horseback across the arid Argentinean plains, crossed the lonely Peruvian desert, and trekked the grandiose Chilean Cordilleras. He thought nothing of packing a train of mules for a two-month overland journey across the Andes going from Chile to Argentina and back again. On all his land expeditions he hired local guides, from Gauchos in Argentina to South Pacific islanders in Tahiti. Darwin's accounts of his expeditions are not only interesting adventures, they are also good portraits of the people he met. These include Latin American governors and generals, Argentinean ranchers, very primitive natives on Tierra del Fuego, and so on.

The journal begins with an account of Cape de Verd islands, then most of the book is spent on Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, and we have to wait until Chapter 17 before we get to what all Darwin fans really want to read, namely the account of his visit to the Galapagos. Though short, the account does not disappoint. We read of Darwin's finches, of two allied species of lizards, and of the giant turtles. Darwin also presents his great insight: that geographical isolation contributes to speciation. He came by this insight when it was pointed out to him that nearly identical species were seldom found on the same island. Another insight was that the fauna and flora an island depends more on that of the nearby mainland than on latitude. For example the plants of the Galapagos Islands were similar to those of the American west coast, while those of Cape de Verd, at the same latitude but in the Atlantic, resembled plants found in Africa. Darwin then continues with accounts of Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, where we read how he thought coral reef islands were formed.

In the last chapter Darwin tells us of his visit to St-Helena and he does in fact mention its most famous resident, Napoleon Bonaparte. Though the French Emperor had already died, his remains had not yet been moved to Les Invalides in Paris. Darwin writes of the grave only in passing and is explicitly careful not too make too much of it. Apparently visitors in those days had a habit of overdoing their descriptions of Napoleon's rather simple headstone.

Travel notes like these and the descriptions of the people he met, were for me the most charming aspect of the book. The portraits Darwin paints are invariably sympathetic to human nature. Certainly Darwin was a man of his times and valued civilization very highly, but he was no racist and believed that all men could find happiness and enlightenment, and that all men had a right to be free. He despised slavery, and wrote eloquent passages attacking the prevalent institution. From this journal, we come to know a dynamic, adventurous young man, and a thoughtful liberal one who would only later shake our view of our place in the world.

The 1 star is for Penguin, because the cover does not warn you that the content has been sharply abridged. Darwin's thinking and writing are wonderful -- but grossly and unfairly cut to ribbons.

This is not a review, but a warning. Browsing for copies of Darwin's journal of his voyage on the Beagle, I read the reviews below. I would point out that McEvilly says that this book is unabridged; Cliffe says it is abridged. The Penguin USA web site doesn't say which it is, but the Penguin UK site says that the text of this edition has been shortened. So if you're looking for the full text, this doesn't appear to be it.

Forget the image of the grim, ancient, grey-bearded savant. By the time those pictures were taken Darwin was long past his energetic prime. BEAGLE catches him literally starting out on his life-long voyage of discovery at a time when he was still extremely physically active and just beginning to come to grips with the seriousness of his interest in Natural History. Later in life he said that the VOYAGE was his personal favorite of all his writings, and one can see why. Darwin set off young, energetic, but frankly naieve & a little foolish (his father ahd written to him at Cambridge saying that he feared that he would never amount to much, and apart from his work with Henslow, much of his college career seems to have been devoted to what we would now call "partying hearty") He returned a seasoned naturalist and explorer, with the germ of his Great Idea firmly implanted. While in many ways VOYAGE is describing a vanished world, Darwin's keen eye for detail renders each landscape with such clarity that one feels that one is really along for the trip -and, thank goodness, some of the places he went to are still there for us to go & wonder at. There is no Big Theory here, just an enormous sense of wonder and excitement, with little of the periodic homesickness that shows up in the letters that he was writing during the voyage. Perhaps most intriguing is the remarkably SHORT section on the Galapagos -I remember thinking the first time that I read the VOYAGE "Wait, but wasn't the Galapagos THE Big Deal?" No, not to read it here in the original. One gets the sense that many of Darwins fundamental beliefs were already in gestation long before he left the coast of South America & by the time he gets to the Galapagos, he is increasingly anxious to be home & working it all out. Make sure that you get a COMPLETE version of the Voyage, there are many editions (including abbridgements) out there.

From 1831 to 1836 Charles Darwin, then a young man in his twenties, was the official naturalist on the Royal Navy ship HMS Beagle. The Beagle spent five years completing a survey of the coasts of South America and making a series of longitude measurements around the world. This proved to be one of the most important scientific voyages of the 19th century, for it was on this voyage that Darwin made the observations that lead, twenty years later, to his formulating the theory of evolution by means of natural selection. This book is Darwin's account of his observations on this voyage. Darwin was a master of detailed observation, and he describes the things he observed -- the plants, animals, geology, and people -- in loving detail. His accounts are always lively and full of interest. Darwin was also a master of inductive reasoning, and there are several superb examples of this in this book. Perhaps the finest is Darwin's induction of the cause of the formation of the coral atolls that dot the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean (his theory was proved correct in the 20th century). Indeed, much of the value of this book for the modern reader lies in the many examples it contains of scientific, inductive thought; a powerful method of reasoning that is as neglected today as it was in Darwin's time.

Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle is an interesting, but often tedious detail of his journey around the world. With this in mind, I would have to recommend this book to the Darwin enthusiast and to those who are just looking for a deeper grasp of Darwin, the man. It's not for anyone looking for a quick, easy, or particularly exciting or sensationalist read. If that's what you're looking for, I recommend Cyril Aydon's biography.

With this disclaimer, the book really does offer insight into Darwin and why this journey would be such a critical point in his life. Darwin is incredibly observant, and details flora and fauna throughout with sometimes discouraging detail. But this fact just gives us a clue as to what made this man different from all the other preeminent scientists of the day. Why did Darwin fully get evolution while the others didn't? Certainly this incredible power to really see things provided him with evidence that others might have missed.

My favorite parts would have to be Darwin's description of his time in the inside of South America and his interactions with the people living there. His reactions were varied. He often voices disgust at the barbarism of the settlers towards the Indians in the wars that occur there, while simultaneously describing the Indians as savages with terrible habits. Overall, however, he seems impressed with South America from the classical liberal point of view, saying "It is impossible to doubt that the extreme liberalism of these countries, must ultimately lead to good results." It would be interesting to see what Darwin would think of South America today. Throughout the book he adamately denounces the slavery sees with a keen insight, saying of an escaped slave woman who killed herself rather than be reenslaved, "In a Roman matron this would have been called the noble love of freedom: in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinancy." Darwin was ahead of his time in this respect.

The part of the book covering his time in the Galapagos is surprisingly short, at least in respect to the emphasis Darwin later put on his time in the islands. It's also interesting to consider Darwin's reaction to them (he thought they were ugly and barren) when considering the impact the diversity of species on the islands played in his evidence for evolution.

All in all, the book has really good, insightful things to pick up, but other parts, such as Darwin's lengthy description of the masses of tiny floating sea creatures, I could have done without. Pick it up if you are really looking to put together a really complete picture of Darwin's life, with tedious details included.

As I said, I had to read this for my Natural history class. My first thought were "Ohh Gawd, I bet this book will be about a page a hour. But it was really good. Not only do you learn about what he did, but how he thinks, and about the people and culture he visited at the time. So if you like natural history, this is a must read!!

This is an under-rated read. It is the story of Charles Darwins 5 year journey on the Royal Navy ship, HMS Beagle. If ever there was a fateful voyage, this is it. But of course in this case, it is a 'fate' of hope, joy and true discovery.

The writer, in case you don't know him, is an enthusiastic and slightly rebellious young British naturalist, Charles Darwin. Here he reveals a style of cool-headed prose, sombre reflection, humour, and scientific enthusiasm. Amongst other things he describes his traverses in the Andes mountains, his jaunting about the Galopagas Islands, and his reflections of the bristling new British colony of Sydney. He collects specimens at places as diverse as the open sea, the remote Australian coast, and various islands of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. One particularly interesting piece describes his experience of a major earthquake on the Chilian coast, with details of totally destroyed coastal townships, and a major tidal wave. Of course he doesn't miss the correlation of the earthquake and a rather significant mountain chain running down the length of the Chilian coastline.

A good insight into the thoughts and style of the man, 19th century scientific prose, as well as the world itself in that interesting period of human history-the early to mid 19th century. This edition incidentally is also the unabridged one, which serves the reader better than some others.

Much as is the case with the Penguin edition of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," this relatively inexpensive edition is packed with helpful features that add to the reader's understanding of what Darwin was about on his prolonged scientific voyage. First among these features is an excellent introduction by Janet Browne and Michael Neve, both of that wonderful Wellcome Institute in London. Dr. Browne is the author of what many consider to be the finest biography of Darwin ever written; Dr. Neve also has contributed to the Darwin literature. Although 26 pages in length, a bit shorter than that in the "Origin" edition by J.W. Burrow, this introduction nicely puts the "Journal of Researches" into context, while pointing out several areas that are of special interest to the reader. While the text is abridged about 1/3 in length, a Note carefully explains how and why the deletions were made. For example, nothing relating to the Galapagos has been cut. The editors have added a brief guide to the individuals and books mentioned in the text which is quite helpful. Also added as appendices are the Admiralty Instructions for the Beagle voyage and an essay by Captain Robert FitzRoy on "Remarks with reference to the Deluge," reflecting his reversion to traditional Christian thinking during the voyage. Several very helpful maps and a chronology are also included, which come in quite handy. Obviously, it is of immeasurable value to read the "Journal of Researches" in conjunction wit the "Origin." One comes away truly amazed at the dedication and professionalism of Darwin (who was only 22 when he commenced his five year excursion) as he collects his speciments and charts various geological dimensions. So, this book is to my way of thinking indispensable for getting a grasp on Darwin, and this skillfully edited edition makes the experience a most pleasing one.