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A review by brogan7
Darwin's Rival: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Search for Evolution by Christiane Dorion
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
3.5
I enjoyed this book but my son (aged 12) less so. The illustrations were unfortunately drab and hard to please the eye... Nothing to look at and dense text made for less interest than should have been generated by this topic.
The book explores the "rivalry" between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, but really it describes the discovery of the theory of evolution, from the standpoint of history's forgotten field researcher and theorist, Alfred Russel Wallace. It traces his travels in South America and Indonesia and describes some of the observations that led him to independently come up with the theory of evolution.
The science is fascinating, the journey is challenging, the animals he was discovering are compelling and rare... Sadly the book, in its overall execution, doesn't convey the full impact of these elements, and it ends a little bit... drily, like it's missing an ingredient.
The book explores the "rivalry" between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, but really it describes the discovery of the theory of evolution, from the standpoint of history's forgotten field researcher and theorist, Alfred Russel Wallace. It traces his travels in South America and Indonesia and describes some of the observations that led him to independently come up with the theory of evolution.
The science is fascinating, the journey is challenging, the animals he was discovering are compelling and rare... Sadly the book, in its overall execution, doesn't convey the full impact of these elements, and it ends a little bit... drily, like it's missing an ingredient.