This book is fine as far as it goes...but the nutshell quality makes it unsatisfying. It treads what is to me familiar ground very lightly.

The first really interesting thing that I remember is the misinformation: Alfred Russel Wallace was not really a naturalist in the same sense as Darwin, he collected specimens for money because he was an adventurous and exceptionally intelligent man with no money or family to speak of.

The second is Samuel Butler's remark about natural selection...which I can not find anywhere online. Perhaps it was in a published article or a letter to a friend. ( )