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    Evolution's Captain: NF abt Capt. FitzRoy & Chas Darwin
    Unavailable
    Evolution's Captain: NF abt Capt. FitzRoy & Chas Darwin
    Unavailable
    Evolution's Captain: NF abt Capt. FitzRoy & Chas Darwin
    Ebook411 pages8 hours

    Evolution's Captain: NF abt Capt. FitzRoy & Chas Darwin

    By Peter Nichols

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    This is the story of the man without whom the name Charles Darwin might be unknown to us today. That man was Captain Robert FitzRoy, who invited the 22-year-old Darwin to be his companion on board the Beagle .

    This is the remarkable story of how a misguided decision by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle , precipitated his employment of a young naturalist named Charles Darwin, and how the clash between FitzRoy’s fundamentalist views and Darwin’s discoveries led to FitzRoy’s descent into the abyss.

    One of the great ironies of history is that the famous journey—wherein Charles Darwin consolidated the earth-rattling ‘origin of the species’ discoveries—was conceived by another man: Robert FitzRoy. It was FitzRoy who chose Darwin for the journey—not because of Darwin’s scientific expertise, but because he seemed a suitable companion to help FitzRoy fight back the mental illness that had plagued his family for generations. Darwin did not give FitzRoy solace; indeed, the clash between the two men’s opposing views, together with the ramifications of Darwin’s revelations, provided FitzRoy with the final unendurable torment that forced him to end his own life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 13, 2009
    ISBN9780061849893
    Unavailable
    Evolution's Captain: NF abt Capt. FitzRoy & Chas Darwin
    Author

    Peter Nichols

    Peter Nichols is the author of the national bestseller A Voyage for Madmen and two other books, Sea Change: Alone Across the Atlantic in a Wooden Boat, a memoir, and the novel Voyage to the North Star. He has taught creative writing at NYU in Paris and Georgetown University, and presently teaches at Bowdoin College. He is lives in Maine with his wife and son.

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    Reviews for Evolution's Captain

    3.5/5

    42 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      So glad that I finally pulled this book off of my shelf to read. It has given me valuable insight into the character, as well as the trials and tribulations, of Captain Robert FitzRoy who was responsible for taking Charles Darwin around the world on the H.M.S. Beagle. It's wonderful when a story helps to provide a better understanding and picture of a voyage of such historical significance.
    • 4/5
      The author finds a new way to explore the Charles Darwin story that hasn't been done before: through an autobiography of Captain Fitzroy. This is a very good treatment of the troubled captain, removing the stereotypes that have surrounded him for so long, and fleshing out the man, who was a contributor in his own right to modern science.
    • 4/5
      A good history behind Darwin's expeditions and a look at the mental illness and it's treatments (or lack thereof) in the past.
    • 4/5
      The author finds a new way to explore the Charles Darwin story that hasn't been done before: through an autobiography of Captain Fitzroy. This is a very good treatment of the troubled captain, removing the stereotypes that have surrounded him for so long, and fleshing out the man, who was a contributor in his own right to modern science.
    • 2/5
      I originally bought this book because the subject matter seemed very interesting. The story of the captain behind Darwin is rarely told, however the author ruins the story by poor writing. Paragraphs about separate ideas are put together with little to no transition giving the book a jumpy, incomplete feeling. It made the book too difficult to read for me which was highly disappointing since the story seemed to have so much promise.