Related STNews articles
> <div>

If you type “Darwin” into a book search on Amazon.com, you get 4,196 suggestions for reading material. In that enormous pile of books, you’d find everything from “Darwin for Beginners” to “Darwin for the Advanced.” In fact, it’s downright overwhelming, even for those well-versed in the life and work of Charles Darwin. In honor of Darwin’s 197th birthday on Feb 12, we’ve slightly narrowed that list and provided reading material that will interest evolutionary theorists and nonscientists alike. In order to get a full picture of Darwin — as a man and as a scientist — we have selected some top Darwin books. – Heather J. Ciras        

Darwin: The Indelible Stamp
> <strong>James D. Watson, ed. <br> Philadelphia. Running Press, 2005.
> <em>1260 pages. $29.95 hardcover.<em>

From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin’s Four Great Books
> <strong>Edward O. Wilson, ed. <br> New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.
> <em>1706 pages. $39.95 hardcover.<em>

Although these are dueling books on Darwin, both are worth their weight because of their celebrity editors. Both Darwin: The Indelible Stamp (2005) and From So Simple a Beginning (2005) place four of Darwin’s most influential works — The Voyage of the Beagle, On the Origin of Species, The Descent of Man and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals — into a single volume, and each provides introductory essays by the editors. James D. Watson, the 1962 Nobel Prize winner who discovered the DNA structure with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins — and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and sociobiology pioneer E. O. Wilson discuss Darwin’s works and examine their modern-day receptions and impacts.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F1566631068%2Fqid%3D1138306790%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_1%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution
> <strong>Gertrude Himmelfarb <br> New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 1959.
> <em>510 pages. $11.95 paperback.<em>

Gertrude Himmelfarb’s Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (1959, reprinted 1996) is a biographical, historical and philosophical study of Darwin’s life and the impact he had on the world. Beginning with his childhood and looking at events such as his voyage on the Beagle and the publication of On the Origin of Species, historian Himmelfarb — an emeritus professor at the Graduate School of the City University of New York — examines the foundations and development of Darwin’s theories. She also contrasts his ideas with the general opinions of the time and compares what he intended his theory to mean with how his readers interpreted it.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0691026068%2Fqid%3D1138306807%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Charles Darwin: Voyaging
> <strong>E. Janet Browne <br> Princeton, N.J. Princeton University Press, 1995.
> <em>622 pages. $24.95 paperback.<em>

Charles Darwin: The Power of Place
> <strong>E. Janet Browne <br> New York. Knopf, 2002.
> <em>608 pages. $37.50 hardcover.<em>

Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1995) is the first volume of E. Janet Browne’s biography of Darwin. Voyaging looked at his early life from his youth to the development of his theory of evolution, whereas Charles Darwin:The Power of Place — which won the History of Science Society’s Pfizer Prize in 2004 — begins with the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species and follows him through his years of fame and controversy. Browne, a professor of the history of biology, explores a detailed picture of Darwin’s life, the field of Victorian publishing and the debates that raged between scientists and religious men over the theory of evolution.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0521566681%2Fqid%3D1138306857%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Charles Darwin: The Man and His Influence
> <strong>Peter J. Bowler <br> Cambridge, England. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
> <em>262 pages. $23.99 paperback.<em>

It is undeniable that Darwin was one of the most important contributors to the development of modern science. Peter J. Bowler’s Charles Darwin: The Man and His Influence (1996) further defines Darwin as a man who has become a myth and a symbol for people’s religious, political and philosophical perspectives. Bowler, a professor of history and philosophy of science at Queen’s University of Belfast, suggests that without explicating the cultural history surrounding Darwin’s life and theory, one cannot truly know the man. Bowler — who also authored 2003’s Evolution: The History of an Idea — analyzes the controversy over Darwinism and evolution before walking the reader through the biography of Darwin’s life.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0446515892%2Fqid%3D1138306874%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist
> <strong>Adrian Desmond and James Moore <br> New York. Warner Books Inc., 1992.
> <em>808 pages. $23.95 paperback.<em>

In Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist (1992), Adrian Desmond, an honorary research fellow in the biology department at University College, and James Moore, a reader in history of science and technology at Open University, illuminate Darwin’s life and character through anecdotes and lively narrative. Focusing on Darwin’s years at Cambridge University and his Beagle voyage, Desmond and Moore elucidate the struggle Darwin faced in developing his theory of evolution. An honest and raw depiction of Victorian science, theology and traditions, the text presents the personal costs Darwin paid in order to reveal his theory.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0521285178%2Fqid%3D1138305061%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">The Post-Darwinian Controversies: A Study of the Protestant Struggle to Come to Terms with Darwin in Great Britain and America, 1870-1900
> <strong>James Moore <br> Cambridge. Cambridge University Press, 1981.
> <em>526 pages. <strong>$50 paperback.<strong>

Since Darwin’s dangerous idea found its way into the public arena, debate within the Protestant communities of England and America has created many theological divisions. James Moore’s well-researched The Post-Darwinian Controversies provides a highly informative history of the Trans-Atlantic Protestant reactions to Darwin after 1870. Moore explains how evolution was readily accepted by orthodox Christians, but denied by liberals in a three part section discussing the origins of the debate, the distinction between Darwinism from Darwin himself, and finally by tracing 28 Christian controversialists’ philosophical and theological ideas.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0801063183%2Fqid%3D1138305092%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">The Darwin Legend
> <strong>James Moore <br> Grand Rapids, Michigan. Baker Books, 1994.
> <em>218 pages.<strong> $6 paperback.<strong>

Moore’s The Darwin Legend sets out to dispel the popular myth about Darwin’s conversion to Christianity upon his deathbed. The text looks at the historical facts of Darwin’s life and beliefs, according to his Autobiography and other writings, confirming that Darwin remained an agnostic to his death. These texts, fully documented in the appendix of the book, include excerpts from angry letters written by Darwin’s family in reaction to the rumor of his conversion. Moore furthermore proves the existence of the mythologized “Lady Hope,” who supposedly converted Darwin before he died, but places her in the context of true history as a visiting friend.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0679642889%2Fqid%3D1138306895%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_1%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory
> <strong>Edward J. Larson <br> New York. The Modern Library, 2004.
> <em>337 pages. $22.95 hardcover.<em>

Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory by Edward J. Larson adds to the greater canon of the history of evolution by focusing on the progression of naturalism and evolutionism from the 18th century French Enlightenment to the existing debate in the modern world. Larson, the Richard B. Russell Russell professor of American history and Herman E. Talmadge professor of law at the University of Georgia School of Law, introduces the history of evolution by expounding on the cultural meanings of this revolutionary idea, and how it has transformed and threatened our modern perspectives of religion, philosophy, and the origins of life itself.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0299115909%2Fqid%3D1138306916%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Darwinism and the Divine in America: Protestant Intellectuals and Organic Evolution, 1859-1900
> <strong>Jon Roberts <br> Madison, Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, 1988.
> <em>339 pages. $27.95 hardcover.<em>

In his book Darwinism and the Divine in America: Protestant Intellectuals and Organic Evolution, 1859-1900, Jon Roberts focuses on how the theory of organic evolution and the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species incited public debate within the American Protestant community. Roberts, professor of history, argues that this dispute originated during the latter half of the 19th century when the scientific community began attack the intellectual foundations of Christianity. Drawing from books and articles published between 1859 and 1900, Roberts displays how evolution created divisions within American Protestant ideology and shaped the theological discourse present today.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F1400041376%2Fqid%3D1138306939%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_1%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">The Darwin Conspiracy
> <strong>John Darnton <br> New York, Knopf, 2005.
> <em>320 pages. $24.95 hardcover.<em>

Using both fact and fiction in this novel, New York Times editor John Darnton explores the mysteries of Darwin’s life and work. The Darwin Conspiracy is told from the point of view of two present-day researchers who come across the letters and diaries of Darwin’s daughter, Lizzie, and a hidden chapter of Darwin’s autobiography. These discoveries reveal secret rivalries, deceptions, murder and the overwhelming feelings of guilt and fear that gripped Darwin at the height of his fame. The two researchers are then plunged into an obsessive quest for answers, and take readers back with them to the Victorian era as seen through the eyes of the Darwins.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0393059669%2Fqid%3D1138306961%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dpd_bbs_1%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846" target="_blank">Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life
> <strong>Niles Eldredge <br> New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.
> <em>288 pages. $35 hardcover.<em>

It took Charles Darwin more than 20 years to publish his theory of evolution after returning from his trip to South America and the Galapagos Islands. In Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life, paleontologist Niles Eldredge, curator in the department of invertebrates at the American Museum of Natural History, delves into Darwin’s notebooks from those years and attempts to pinpoint the defining moment in which Darwin changed from “an inquisitive creationist” to an evolutionist. Exploring how he came up with his theory as well as why he hesitated for so long before unveiling his findings, Eldredge reveals the many facets of Darwin and the “intellectual and intuitive leaps” he took to make known the notion of natural selection. This book accompanies a new Darwin exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect?link_code=ur2&tag=scientheolnew-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&path=tg%2Fdetail%2F-%2F0393310698%2Fqid%3D1138306976%2Fsr%3D8-1%2Fref%3Dsr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14%3Fv%3Dglance%26s%3Dbooks%26n%3D507846">The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882
> <strong>Charles Darwin <br> New York. W.W. Norton & Company, 1969.
> <em>253 pages. $12.95 paperback.<em>

Perhaps the most important reference of Charles Darwin’s life is his own account, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809-1882, edited by his granddaughter Nora Barlow. This definitive version of Darwin’s memoirs, which first became available in 1959, includes sections that his family omitted upon its original publication in fear of their being too controversial or personal. Darwin invites his readers to explore his mind and character as he walks through memories of childhood, student days, his epic voyage on the Beagle and his investigation and development of revolutionary theories.

> <p><strong><a href="http:/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0801443482/qid=1138306998/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0866662-2475104?v=glance&s=books&n=507846" target="_blank">Charles Darwin, Geologist
> <strong>Sandra Herbert <br> New York. Cornell University Press, 2005.
> <em>485 pages. $39.95 hardcover.<em>

Darwin’s ambition as a young scientist was to create a “simple” geology based on the movements of the Earth’s crust. This goal is what prompted him to circumnavigate the world on the Beagle — the voyage on which he made the discoveries that led to his theory of evolution. University of Maryland historian Sandra Herbert — who has won fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Science Foundation — explores this side of Darwin’s scientific work in Charles Darwin, Geologist (2005). She focuses on his geological training and research — how geology influenced Darwin and how he, in turn, influenced the field.

> <p><em>Heather J. Ciras is book editor at<em> Science & Theology News. Bethanie Edwards and Dana Goblaskas are editorial interns at Science & Theology News.