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    Voyage of the Beagle
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    Voyage of the Beagle
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    Voyage of the Beagle
    Ebook890 pages12 hours

    Voyage of the Beagle

    By Charles Darwin and David Quammen

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    About this ebook

    Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection has been debated and disparaged over time, but there is no dispute that he is responsible for some of the most remarkable and groundbreaking scientific findings in history. His five-year trip as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle took him on a journey to such exotic locales as Chile, Argentina, and the Galapagos Islands. Darwin wrote the details of this expedition, including his thoughts about the people on the ship and of course, his observations of the flora and fauna, in his journal, published as Voyage of the Beagle. It is here that his original interpretations of the Galapagos ecosystem and the impact of nature and selection are first revealed.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSimon & Schuster
    Release dateNov 28, 2006
    ISBN9781426201783
    Author

    Charles Darwin

    Charles Darwin (1809–19 April 1882) is considered the most important English naturalist of all time. He established the theories of natural selection and evolution. His theory of evolution was published as On the Origin of Species in 1859, and by the 1870s is was widely accepted as fact.

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    Reviews for Voyage of the Beagle

    4/5

    196 ratings11 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This is Darwin's account of his famous voyage around the world, with particular focus, of course, on South America.He was a very young man when he made the journey, and his youthful enthusiasm, curiosity, and sense of wonder were contageous. His keen powers of observation also were manifest on every page.It is unfortunate that he was somewhat afflicted with the imperialistic, colonial attitudes of his time and culture, although he was perhaps a little more evolved, (pun intended), than most.Still, it was a great book! I loved it!The most memorable passage of the book, for me, is an iconic moment when Darwin describes jumping onto the back of a giant Gallapagos tortoise, giving it a whack on the backside, and going for a ride. It's such a perfect image, and so whimsical, how can you not love it?
    • 3/5
      This biography about Charles Darwin would be a great addition to a collection of biographies in a classroom. It is very detailed so I would not use it in primary grades, but would be great in a unit on biographies in intermediate grades.
    • 5/5
      Very accessible and gripping diary. Darwin's kind and open character and seemingly infinite curiosity come across SO well. Some painful and relevant insights into early c19 attitudes to 'aboriginal' peoples and the destruction of societies and ecosystems.
    • 5/5
      I didn't even know it was an actual book you could read.Quite interesting.Our entire modern history is so recent: Darwin sailed on December 27, 1831 - just 174 years ago. The ship returned to England on October 2, 1836.It's interesting that a lot of people slag Darwin as some theorist, but he actually went more places and had more adventures in this one voyage than most people will in their entire lives.Brazil was still, from his account, basically empty, and slavery persisted in Brazilian plantations. Having travelled several days (from Rio de Janeiro as far as I can tell), he arrives at a fine estate"April 13th, 1832 - This profusion of food showed itself at dinner, where, if the tables did not groan, the guests surely did; for each person is expected to eat of every dish. One day, having, as I thought, nicely calculated so that nothing should go away untasted, to my utter dismay a roast turkey and a pig appeared in all their substantial reality. During the meals, it was the employment of a man to drive out of the room sundry old hounds, and dozens of little black children, which crawled in together, at every opportunity. As long as the idea of slavery could be banished, there was something exceedingly fascinating in this simple and patriarchal style of living; it was such a perfect retirement and independence from the rest of the world."Darwin has an insight into the future the next day"April 14th, 1832 - Considering the enormous area of Brazil, the proportion of cultivated ground can scarcely be considered as anything, compared to that which is left in the state of nature: at some future age, how vast a population it will support!"In 1830, the world population was approximately 1 billion (audubon.org).It is also in this period that John James Audubon is doing his great work The Birds of America. In 1833 The Audubon family returns to New York while Audubon and his son John travel to Labrador. (from John James Audubon Chronology)
    • 5/5
      To me, Darwin's most interesting book for its vivid personal narration of first-hand experience. Note that it does not emphasize his visit to the Galapagos Islands as much as later accounts might lead one to expect.
    • 4/5
      If you enjoy natural history, you'll find Darwin's account of his five-year journey around the globe in "The Voyage of the Beagle" both accessible and interesting. His trip is recounted in exhaustive detail -- which I found really enjoyable when he was writing about a subject I was interested in and somewhat tedious when he was talking about geology, which I don't much care for reading about. The most enjoyable part of the book was the account of Jemmy Button, York Minster and Fuegia Basket, natives of Tierra del Fuego who were brought to live in England and then brought back home, followed by accounts of South American animals and plants. (Having read "Uttermost Part of the Earth" previously, it was fun to see another account of their trip.) Overall, the book is a fascinating look at the early exploration that helped shape Darwin's theory of evolution.
    • 5/5
      This is the original version of The Voyage of the Beagle, the delightful story of Darwin's five-year journey. His descriptions of places, people, and events are lively and engaging, and at times there is a certain ruefulness to his narrative that is quite endearing. Certainly fun reading.
    • 4/5
      This record from the 1830s describes the second HMS Beagle survey expedition. Captain Robert Fitzroy thought that a follow-up survey would benefit from having a naturalist onboard, and the recently graduated Darwin's keen enthusiam won him the role. While this voyage is perhaps best known for its stopover in the Galapagos, that was merely one location visited on a round-the-world-trip. Nearly half of Darwin's journal is devoted to Argentina where the captain's primary map-making mission was served. Much of the rest is spent on Chile, one chapter in the Galapagos, and the remainder of the voyage is summarized in four final chapters.In my younger days I sailed the Great Lakes with my father, lodging fond memories of island stopovers and casual exploration. I took up this journal expecting something of a similar degree but Darwin's interest in flora and fauna far, far exeeds mine. It's very slow-paced through dwelling on the details, and an interest in biology would have helped me since the vast majority of his attention is on the life he encounters both large and small. He also has a lot to say about geological formations and the peoples encountered, which I found more engaging. Very quickly there were too many details for me to follow or remember, but several things stood out and the cumulative effect is impressive. Darwin's attentiveness and observational skills are beyond the pale, and were frankly almost beyond my toleration, but for another reader I can believe this is a gold mine of science and its history that is not to be missed.
    • 4/5
      Summary: When people mention Charles Darwin and the HMS Beagle, the only place most people think of (if they think of anything at all) is the Galápagos Islands. However, the Beagle circumnavigated the world in its five year voyage, and the young Charles Darwin saw it all. The Voyage of the Beagle is his account of the journey, edited together from his journal entries at the time. He describes the geology, the animals, the vegetation, and the people of the lands he visits, and speculates about the nature of some of his observations.Review: I read this book in a very, very piecemeal fashion (over five years it took!) but I really enjoyed it. Darwin is so often depicted as a grumpy old man with the giant beard that I think people tend to forget that his trip on the Beagle was actually when he was quite young, basically a twenty-something who didn't want to go to med school and didn't really know what he wanted to do with his life (I try to emphasize this point to my students as often as I can, since many of them are probably twenty-somethings not sure what they want to do with their lives). So his journals are full of careful observation and beautifully rendered descriptions and thoughtful conclusions, but there's also a fair bit of hitting birds with his rock hammer and jumping on the back giant tortoises and hitting them with sticks until they move and knocking birds off of their perches with the muzzle of his gun. (And also occasionally bemoaning his seasickness.) It was also totally fascinating reading this book in the light of knowing about Darwin's future work. It's hard not to spot the germs of his future ideas on evolution by natural selection in some of the passages. This book is just peppered with little bits about the length of time that physical features must have taken, and how similar but different animals in different locations are, and the relationship between changing geology and changing vegetation, and island biogeography. For example: "Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends." There's half of an introductory lecture on the history of evolutionary thought right there. And who doesn't hear echoes (or future echoes, I guess. Pre-echoes?) of the last line of On the Origin of Species in the line "Where on the face of the earth can we find a spot on which close investigation will not discover signs of that endless cycle of change, to which this earth has been, is, and will be subjected?" This book obviously tickled me as a biologist, but it was also easy to read, and well-written, if full of the Victorian standard run-on sentences, but also some wonderfully evocative passages. Some parts are a little dry - he expounds at great length on some seemingly small and obscure topics, like the formation of coral atolls - but as a whole, it's a really interesting blend of science and adventuring and nature writing, and really a just plain fascinating book to read. 4 out of 5 stars.Recommendation: Biologists and those interested in the history of science are the main audience, obviously, but I think anyone who likes travel books, naval adventures, or the age of exploration should find some bits here to interest them as well. If you can find an illustrated edition, I think that would be extremely helpful; if not, keep Wikipedia and a map of the Beagle's journey handy.
    • 4/5
      The travelogue aspect of this book is what gains it the high rating. Otherwise the error that Darwin made that his observations about nature disproved the existence of a higher power, would have led me to slam the book! Evolution is just a part of the mysterious mechanism by which the universe (if you will), makes such magnificent and precious things possible (a small peak at the work of God in progress). I can view Darwin's error with equanimity; atheisim is not an uncommon misconception. (There have been and are quite a few brilliant minds who embraced Jesus Christ, such as Albert Einstein.)
    • 4/5
      Probably a bit dry for many readers, but I enjoyed the journal and it is much more readable than the 'Origin of Species'. Darwin corrected his first edition and merged some chapters in this, the second edition. This narrative was easiest to assimilate in small doses whilst skimming through some of the long treatises. In the second edition, the subtitle was transposed (originally, 'the Geology and Natural History...'), perhaps by John Murray (publisher). The steel engraved illustrations are gorgeous. I've never chanced across the first edition.