James T. Costa

Really enjoyed this book. Wallace is a fascinating and sometimes frustrating character. It is hard to believe the same person who was so observant in the jungle could be incapable of spotting the table knockers for what they were.
His eternal optimism in the face of setbacks, his intellectual curiosity , his modesty and graciousness, particularly in dealing with his co-discovery of natural selection and all the surrounding drama that entailed are admirable and his socialism and feminism even give him a bit of shine in an era that would be all too quick to dismiss him as a "typical colonial."
I was so glad to emerge from a biography with my admiration not only intact, but actually increased.… (altro)

This is a scientific biography of Darwin that emphasizes his multitude of experiments mostly conducted in his home and on his property. There are 10 chapters, each one discussing a particular interest of Darwin’s and using excerpts of his journals and correspondence. Areas discussed include Darwin’s work with barnacles, the nature of competition and diversity, how bees construct perfectly hexagonal cells, how island are populated, mechanisms that flowers have evolved to ensure pollination, the behavior and physiology of carnivorous plants, and examining whether earthworms are responsible for the production of topsoil. Each chapter ends with experiments like Darwin’s that you can perform, since Darwin was not using the Large Hadron Collider, but mostly just household items.
I especially enjoyed mention of all of Darwin’s family and friends and how they assisted his work, and how each investigated topic bore on both Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and the counter proposals of theists. One can also learn a lot of natural history here, for example, all the varieties of climbing plants and the variety of behaviors that earthworms exhibit.… (altro)