Charles Darwin (Giants of Science)

As a working evolutionary ecologist, I picked up this book with great interest, and found I couldn't put it down until finishing it. Krull has done it again. Using her extensive research to pick out details of Darwin's life that her young readers will love, she entices them into the extraordinary tale of how a young naturalist ended up crafting the theory that is the cornerstone of modern biology. What junior high student wouldn't squeal at her description of Darwin's hated boarding school, whose dormitory reeked of rows of chamber pots under the beds, or the elder Darwin's embarrassment caused by stomach gas? This little book inspired me to finally read Janet Browne's authoritative and absorbing 2-volume biography of Darwin, along with several books of Darwin's letters; doing so only reinforced my appreciation for Krull's skill at honing such a wealth of available information into a delightful gem for younger readers.My only quibble with Krull's interpretation of the science was a lack of emphasis on the non-randomness of Darwin's process for evolutionary change, namely natural selection. Although her wording is always technically correct, the emphasis placed on random chance (in the form of mutations) overshadows the very important point that the individuals who manage to survive to reproduce the next generation are a non-random subset of the total population. Thus, natural selection is an inherently unguided, but non-random process with respect to the genes that are perpetuated in a given environment. Hence, the fantastic adaptations that filled Darwin's notebooks and continue to awe modern scientists, are not the products of random chance, a point that continues to be misunderstood by the public at large, and is all too often misrepresented by the press.I was gratified that Krull ends her book by addressing the current social controversy that Darwin's theory continues to raise in the US (which, I suspect, reflects our failure in science education). With this highly original and delightful book, Krull has done her part to rectify that situation. Her book helps young students appreciate this modest man whose life's work, more than that of any other scientist, led to the current exponential advancement of biology and medicine from which we all benefit. This is a book that should be in every junior high and high school library in the country.

Charles Darwin was a fascinating man. Born rich, he had time to follow his interests and spent years studying nature. After abandoning a potential career in medicine (because he couldn't stand the sight of blood), Darwin was offered the position of gentleman naturalist on the Beagle and spent almost five years traveling around the world and collecting specimens of plants and animals. Despite a ferocious seasickness that never went away, Darwin took thousands of pages of notes about his observations.When he returned to England, he spent years going through and studying his specimens and coming up with proof of the theory of evolution. The theory was not new; his grandfather had proposed a variation on it. What Darwin did was provide all sorts of evidence to support his theory.Being a non-confrontational sort of person and plagued with a variety of illnesses, Darwin sat on his research and continually improved it for years before publishing his masterwork On the Origin of Species. It sold well in part because it was written in a way that the average educated reader could understand it and in part because the time was right in Victorian England for that kind of work.After publication, he took sort of a backseat and let his "cheerleaders" - other prominent scientists who agreed with his theory - to do the publicizing. Darwin turned his attention to other scientific studies - barnacles, orchids, and worms, among them - where he could put his keen sense of observation to work.This was an engaging story about an intriguing man and a theory that has changed science and is still changing it today.

Once again biographer Kathleen Krull has illuminated the fascinating and very human side of her subject, and this time it's Charles Darwin. Superbly researched and engagingly told, her new book is extremely accessible and appropriate for readers ten and up. Imagine, for example, the dilemma of a young Darwin passionate about the collecting of beetles, when, with two interesting specimens already in hand he spotted a third oddity. The solution? He popped the last find in his mouth for safe keeping -- with rather undesirable consequences, I might add. Through the course of the book, we learn of a boy with motivational difficulties at school who reveled in the natural world, and relished experimenting in a laboratory where he and his brother enjoyed setting off explosions, as well as replicating complex experiments. We learn of a young man who found it impossible to become a doctor as his father had dreamed, due to the fact that the sight of blood made him woozy. We learn that Darwin was plagued throughout his life by serious stomach issues, and we observe his obsession for meticulous documentation. We even gain insight into why it might have taken him so many years to actually publish his work - a delay that lends considerable suspense to his life story.By reading this book students will gain a truer understanding of Darwin's scientific contribution. As always Krull points to the fact that great discoveries are made by "standing on the shoulders of others." During Darwin's lifetime ideas of evolution were certainly in the air, but it was he who determined the mechanism by which the process proceeds. Through incredibly meticulous collection and study, he determined that organisms changed over time not as a result of some random or strictly predetermined process, but due to a natural selection, i.e., the survival of animals best suited to their given environment. In my opinion, Charles Darwin is not only an excellent book for independent reading, it would be a great read-aloud with plenty of fodder for discussion as well.

The story of Darwin's lie was interesting. I knew something about his theory, but not the long time that he spend before publishing it.

Even I learned something and I TEACH evolution! I had never read a biography about his personal life so that was interesting.