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A review by trish204
The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
5.0
This book is Charles Darwin's journal of his 5-year voyage on the HMS Beagle.
This journey marked the second of Captain Fitzroy and the Beagle but the first for 22-year-old Charles Darwin, who had decided to become a naturalist like Alexander von Humboldt.
Darwin had stopped studying medicine and refused to become a priest so the persuasion of an uncle was necessary for Charles' father to allow (and fund) the journey in the first place. But he did.
They went from England to Tenerife, Cape Verde, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, the Falkland Islands, Valparaiso, Lima, the Galápagos Islands, before leaving South America to sail on to New Zealand, Sidney, Hobart (Tasmania) and King George's Sound in Australia, Cocos Island, Mauritius, Cape Town, then back to Bahia, Cape Verde and the Azores before returning to England.
Thus, they were on quite a tight schedule which explains why Darwin's time on the Galápagos was cut short - an important detail because he made his most profound discoveries there that later resulted in his most famous work and if he had had more time, maybe he would have remembered to label those finches and/or keep at least one tortoise for his studies (but more of that in my review for The Origin of Species).
While the Beagle was a relatively small ship, Darwin nevertheless filled her to the brim with specimen - some sailors getting enthused and helping him, much to the dismay of a few others.
He always kept a meticulous journal that served as a diary as much as a study book where he jutted down all his observations. Thus, we can not only see, while reading this book now, what he discovered but also what his thought process was like. We read of him being severely seasick at first, his fascination with nature, we find out that he was anti-slavery (sadly, not for the same pure reasons Humboldt had), what he thought of certain people he was with or encountered along the way.
We also see the influence of his paternal grandfather Erasmus Darwin, who had laid a few of the foundations of Darwin's theories just like Humboldt had.
A note on Darwin's view of indiginous people. Certainly, some thoughts he wrote down are cringeworthy from today's perspective and were especially disappointing after initially learning that he was anti-slavery. However, for a man of his day and age (not counting the unapologetic anomaly that was Humboldt) he was very progressive.
What I loved above all else was that we get to revel in Darwin's beautiful writing style that brings to life the sea, jungles and various animals and plants. He had a way of transporting the reader to the places he had been to and I felt as if I was making the journey with him while reading this.
This vivid writing style, that made this journal appear almost like a novel, really surprised and delighted me as I had not expected it. In fact, I got so swept up in the narrative that I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat whenever Darwin's musings showed him getting close to the scientific truth but not quite despite me knowing that it would take him a little longer yet.
A fantastic feat and I love that my edition shows sketches by Darwin himself as well as paintings of landscapes he's been to or animals (now extinct) that he encountered. However, for all those wanting the highlights of the journey, I can also recommend the audio version narrated by Dawkins which I listened to simultaneously (I know, ME endorsing an abridged version, the scandal)! ;)
This journey marked the second of Captain Fitzroy and the Beagle but the first for 22-year-old Charles Darwin, who had decided to become a naturalist like Alexander von Humboldt.
Darwin had stopped studying medicine and refused to become a priest so the persuasion of an uncle was necessary for Charles' father to allow (and fund) the journey in the first place. But he did.
They went from England to Tenerife, Cape Verde, Bahia, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, the Falkland Islands, Valparaiso, Lima, the Galápagos Islands, before leaving South America to sail on to New Zealand, Sidney, Hobart (Tasmania) and King George's Sound in Australia, Cocos Island, Mauritius, Cape Town, then back to Bahia, Cape Verde and the Azores before returning to England.
Thus, they were on quite a tight schedule which explains why Darwin's time on the Galápagos was cut short - an important detail because he made his most profound discoveries there that later resulted in his most famous work and if he had had more time, maybe he would have remembered to label those finches and/or keep at least one tortoise for his studies (but more of that in my review for The Origin of Species).
While the Beagle was a relatively small ship, Darwin nevertheless filled her to the brim with specimen - some sailors getting enthused and helping him, much to the dismay of a few others.
He always kept a meticulous journal that served as a diary as much as a study book where he jutted down all his observations. Thus, we can not only see, while reading this book now, what he discovered but also what his thought process was like. We read of him being severely seasick at first, his fascination with nature, we find out that he was anti-slavery (sadly, not for the same pure reasons Humboldt had), what he thought of certain people he was with or encountered along the way.
We also see the influence of his paternal grandfather Erasmus Darwin, who had laid a few of the foundations of Darwin's theories just like Humboldt had.
A note on Darwin's view of indiginous people. Certainly, some thoughts he wrote down are cringeworthy from today's perspective and were especially disappointing after initially learning that he was anti-slavery. However, for a man of his day and age (not counting the unapologetic anomaly that was Humboldt) he was very progressive.
What I loved above all else was that we get to revel in Darwin's beautiful writing style that brings to life the sea, jungles and various animals and plants. He had a way of transporting the reader to the places he had been to and I felt as if I was making the journey with him while reading this.
This vivid writing style, that made this journal appear almost like a novel, really surprised and delighted me as I had not expected it. In fact, I got so swept up in the narrative that I found myself sitting at the edge of my seat whenever Darwin's musings showed him getting close to the scientific truth but not quite despite me knowing that it would take him a little longer yet.
A fantastic feat and I love that my edition shows sketches by Darwin himself as well as paintings of landscapes he's been to or animals (now extinct) that he encountered. However, for all those wanting the highlights of the journey, I can also recommend the audio version narrated by Dawkins which I listened to simultaneously (I know, ME endorsing an abridged version, the scandal)! ;)