The Reluctant Mr. Darwin

Why did Charles Darwin, hitting upon the idea of natural selection in 1838, wait 21 years to present his startling discovery? Was he shy? Was the idea not ready for public scrutiny? Or was he himself spiritually troubled by it? Quammen, understandably perplexed by this caution, examines the great man's life, following the growth of his ideas to hypothesize why he delayed publication. Grover Gardner's reading pulses with the excitement of Quammen's quest. As the author sifts through Darwin's developing insights and personality quirks, including anxiety and compulsive vomiting, Gardner is perfectly alert to the author's subtle irony and humor, which Quammen could hardly avoid. Portraying Darwin respectfully and fully aware of his stature, Quammen never loses sight of the Victorian roots that troubled Darwin all his life. P.E.F. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Starred review from April 17, 2006
Charles Darwin took 20 years to write his theory of natural selection: he produced On the Origin of Species
only on learning that he was about to be scooped. Was he a chronic procrastinator? Or was he afraid of the reaction of his peers, who had scorned earlier books on the "transmutation" of species? A bit of both came into play, but as acclaimed science journalist Quammen (Song of the Dodo
) shows, during those two decades, Darwin was busy conducting scientific research that would bolster his observations of the finches and mockingbirds of the Galápagos Islands. He raised pigeons and theorized that domestic varieties could be traced back to a species of wild dove. He floated asparagus seeds in saltwater to explain how plants moved from one continent to another. Quammen commences his portrait with Darwin's homecoming from his five-year trip on the Beagle
and then focuses on how he gained enough confidence and evidence to publish a book that would displace humankind from its privileged position as a special creation. This often slyly witty book stands out among the flood of books being published for Darwin's bicentenary.

September 4, 2006
It's easy to hear why PW
named Grover Gardner Narrator of the Year in '05. He uses inflection, stress, rhythm and his rich vocal range to create an easy and often amusing conversational style. This is particularly appropriate for the modern idiom that makes Quammen's book so lively and readable. (He writes, for example, that Darwin did "a vast amount of scholarly nibbling and scribbling.") It took Darwin 21 years (and the threat that someone else might publish first) to publish his theory because almost all his contemporaries held theological views of nature, and his wife feared that she and Charles would not be united in heaven. Quammen explains that the synthesis of Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's genetic discoveries was essential to establish what now underpins all modern science. This short, highly readable book is as valuable as it is timely. Simultaneous release with the Norton hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 17).