The Autobiography of Charles Darwin , 1809-1882, edited and annotated by Nora Barlow, 1958, Norton & Co. ISBN 0-393-00487-2 ($7.95)
Autobiographical essay written by Darwin in 1876 at age 67 and added to during the last six years of his life. Although intended only for private circulation within the family, the autobiography was later published in 1887 in abridged form by his son Francis as part of Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. In 1958, as part of the imminent centennial anniversary of the Origin, Darwin's granddaughter, Nora Barlow, published an annotated, complete version of the essay along with several letters, including especially several dealing with the objections of Darwin's father, Robert, to his undertaking the Beagle voyage and their rebuttal by the latter's brother, Josiah ("Uncle Jos").
Darwin for Beginners ,1982, J. Miller & B. Van Loon, Pantheon ISBN 0-394-74847-6 ($8.80)
Although done in cartoon style, this is a succinct and clear entry-level to Darwin and his theory. Rarely has such an important subject been so well explained in so little space with such little jargon.
On the Origin of Species , C. Darwin, 1859, Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN 0-674-63752-6 ($12.95)
Facsimile of the first edition of the Origin with a thoughtful introductory essay by Prof. Ernst Mayr, Harvard University, who is, himself, one of the leading figures in 20th c. studies of evolution. Darwin never quite finished tinkering with this seminal work for he produced five more editions, the last in the year before he died. As Mayr remarks, "it is difficult to find any drastically new ideas in the added pages," despite the fact that 75% of the 3,878 sentenes in the first edition were rewritten from one to five times!
RETURN TO HOME PAGE