Charles Darwin: A Biography, Vol. 1 - Voyaging Reprint Edition

Charles Darwin must have lived one of the more interesting lives of the mind in modern history. This book focuses on his intellectual journey as it follows his physical voyages. I've read several books about or by Darwin, and found myself saying, "huh, interesting," repeatedly in this one. The personal details about his life are fascinating, and integral to an understanding of his reasoning and exploration. Janet Browne is a fantastic researcher and excellent writer.

This is the first volume (covering roughly 1809-1856) of Janet Browne's amazing biography of Charles Darwin (1809-1882). I earlier reviewed the second volume, "Charles Darwin: Power of Place," on Amazon several years ago and found it superlative--in fact, it was one of the books that sparked my interest in Darwin and Victorian science. I have found that reading Browne is just an immeasurably enjoyable experience. Currently Aramont Professor of the History of Science at Harvard, after a stint at London's impressive Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine while she worked on Darwin's correspondence, the reader immediately senses that Browne is one of the most knowledgeable scholars of Darwin and his development that one is likely to encounter. Both volumes are unhurried, thorough, and crammed with insights. You are in the best of hands when reading this biography.

There are a number of strong points demonstrated in this volume. Browne is very good at blending both personal and family background with Darwin's scientific endeavors--i.e., this is a truly complete biography. She is particularly effective in demonstrating Darwin's scientific methods, how he went about doing his research, keeping his notes, and developing his ideas. So this is also a prime work of intellectual history as well. For example, she helps us understand one of the big mysteries surrounding Darwin: why did he not publish his "Origin" until 1859, more than 20 years after returning from his famous voyage on the Beagle? Browne is also masterful in placing Darwin within the context of Victorian science, so that we know what is going on around him as well as with him. One of the most interesting aspects to this volume is that Browne devotes but 130 of her 543 pages to the Beagle voyage, the critical event in Darwin's development of evolutionary theory. But Browne's ability to relate discoveries made during the Beagle trip to some of Darwin's later ideas as he develops from a rather listless student into a true naturalist, allows us to understand exactly what transpired during this five year sojourn. The initial section of the book consists of some quite interesting chapters on his youth, family background, and education. The reader really begins to develop a grasp of Darwin's character, flaws and strengths after covering these two initial sections.

In my opinion, the real payoff of the book is the final section focusing upon Darwin as a "naturalist" during the period between his return from the Beagle voyage (1836) and just prior to unleashing the "Origin" in 1859. A trained biologist as well as scientific historian, Browne affords the reader invaluable insights into how Darwin's crucial ideas germinated and how he undertook to exploit the fruits of his Beagle voyage and supplement that information with additional types of research. She also covers Darwin's papers and books during this period and his interaction with other scientists (such as Lyell, Huxley, Joseph Hooker, and Richard Owen) and the Victorian scientific establishment. Her prose is clear and quite understandable to general readers without much scientific background such as myself. Her discussion of Darwin's family background during this period, and especially the strains that developed between Darwin and his highly religious wife, also helps to place his scientific development within context.

As usual, Browne's research is impeccable and exhaustive. Her extensive notes and bibliography (circa 1995), a number of illustrations, and a thorough index add substantial strength to the text. On almost every page her incomparable familiarity with Darwin's correspondence in particular and his journals and writings in geneal proves invaluable. This paperback edition from Pinceton is nicely produced, with fine paper, oversized pages and clear typography--a fine job by Quebecor Printing in Martinsburg, WVA. Any serious student of Darwin and Victorian science needs to begin with both volumes of this incredibly rich biography.

This is the first volume of two covering the life and works of Charles Darwin. I have read quite a number of books, both about and by Darwin, and this, without a doubt is the best of the biograhies as yet written to date. If covers Darwin from the beginning, up through the voyage of the Beagle, and a bit beyond. Extremely detailed and very well researched, the books reads as smoothly as any novel, yet it is truely a scholarly work. It is one of the most detailed works of this sort I have read. I read a review recently in a trade publication that stated you will go into absolute information overload with this one. That is not far from the truth. As to detailed research, the closest I can think of, off the top of my head, is Dallek's work on LBJ...even that does not come all that close. Ms. Brown's style is wonderful, her thoughts well laid out. The belief in evolution is neither here nor there when reading this work. While it does indeed deal with his life work, i.e. "The Orgin of Species," it gives us more insight to the man, rather than the theory. Whether or not you are an evolutionist or creationist is moot. Darwin's impact on our society and the way we view the world was changed with this man and we should know him and the society that created him. To understand our current history, an understanding of this man and his times is absolutely necessary. I collect books about Charles Darwin, and this one now sets at the head of my "Darwin Shelf." I highly recommend it and highly recommend you add it to your collection.

Janet Browne has done something that is very hard to do. She has written the best biography so far produced of a man who's life has been examined numerous times- Charles Darwin. I have read at least four or five biographies of Darwin, plus his own autobiography, and can say that for engrossing detail, without loosing the main thread, Browne has topped them all! This is the first volume in a two-volume series and I can't wait to dig into the second part, which deals with the Origin of Species and after.
The main strength of Browne's book, Charles Darwin: Voyaging, (and I expect the main strength of her second volume) is that she has a fantastic ability to weave details into the story without getting bogged down. This is a well-written and very well researched book and I found myself amazed at some of the material she had found on Darwin's earlier life, especially as a medical student in Edinburgh. The book is almost a social and scientific history of England starting with the late Georgian period. However, Browne makes the historic references very pertinent to her story. Anybody reading this book and (I'm sure) the second volume, will come away with a much deeper understanding of and appreciation for the struggle that has gone into the development of our modern worldview. Darwin certainly had his flaws, as do we all, but he was also certainly one of the most admirable of men, despite all his human failings. Browne makes us understand why this man was great and how he reached this greatness by following his curiosity beyond the superficial. She also gives us a more detailed understanding as to why Darwin found solace in natural history, instead of following his father, Robert, into the medical profession.
This is certainly just the best book to read to understand Darwin's early life before the publication of the Origin of Species. I recommend it without any reservation.