The Darwin Archipelago
The Naturalist's Career Beyond Origin of Species
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
Charles Darwin is of course best known for The Voyage of the Beagle and The Origin of Species. But he produced many other books over his long career, exploring specific aspects of the theory of evolution by natural selection in greater depth. The eminent evolutionary biologist Steve Jones uses these lesser-known works as springboards to examine how their essential ideas have generated whole fields of modern biology.
Earthworms helped found modern soil science, Expression of the Emotions helped found comparative psychology, and Self-Fertilization and Forms of Flowers were important early works on the origin of sex. Through this delightful introduction to Darwin's oeuvre, one begins to see Darwin's role in biology as resembling Einstein's in physics: he didn't have one brilliant idea but many and in fact made some seminal contribution to practically every field of evolutionary study. Though these lesser-known works may seem disconnected, Jones points out that they all share a common theme: the power of small means over time to produce gigantic ends. Called a "world of wonders" by the Times of London, The Darwin Archipelago will expand any reader's view of Darwin's genius and will demonstrate how all of biology, like life itself, descends from a common ancestor.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his fascinating and accessible new book, Jones (Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated) sets out to dispel a "parody of the truth" that Darwin "retired into obscurity" after the 1859 publication of Origin of Species as an "almost forgotten savant who...had done his most important work as a young man." Jones deftly illustrates how Darwin's scientific investigations after Origin of Species actually laid the foundation for experimental biology, and are supported and developed by modern work on genetics and DNA. Jones, who has written widely on the famous naturalist, examines the eight years (one sixth of his entire career) that Darwin devoted to a study of the barnacle, providing the basis for later investigations into the workings of the human middle ear. With amazing clarity Jones explains how genes, embryos, the fossils of fish, and other evolutionary elements illuminate shared components between the ear and the sense organs of barnacles. This is one example of many (earthworms, insect-eating plants, the expression of joy or despair in dogs) that the author provides in order to show how "the power of small means, given time, to produce gigantic ends." Jones's ability to dissect complex ideas with verve and wit creates an absorbing and unusually entertaining look at the sweep of Darwin's vision.
