Reading: Charles Darwin: The Story of the Man and his Theories of Evolution

OK, technically I'm not actually reading this book and probably never will read it all the way through. But it's a neat book anyway, I wanted to tell you about it. It's a coffee table book that contains 27 reproductions of Darwin artifacts. Here's the slipcover and book, together with a copy of the B notebook page with Darwin's first tree diagram and facsimile pages from the Sketch of 1842, the first complete outline of his species theory.



This is a reproduction of a famous passage from Darwin's diary, where he explains how he came up with the idea of the evolution of species.



Here's the original at Darwin Online, complete with transcription. Each item also has the manuscript catalogue number, so it's easy to track down information on the original.



This is a great item for any teachers who ever have the opportunity to teach about Darwin or evolution. With these reproduction items, you can show your students firsthand how evolution developed in the mind of Darwin. I've skimmed over the text, and what I did read looked accurate (at least as far as I know).

Only $43.40 at Amazon.com or thirty pounds even in the UK (where I got mine).

Van Wyhe, J. 2008. Darwin: The Story of the Man and His Theories of Evolution. Andre Deutsch, London.