Darwin ( exquisite leather binding)

Published by Penguin, 1992, hardcover, illustrated, index, 808 pages, 14 cms x 20 cms x 4 cms, condition: as new.

"Darwin" attempts to capture the private unknown life of the real man - the gambling and gluttony at Cambridge, his gruelling trip round the globe, his intimate family life, worries about persecution and thoughts about God. Central to all of this, his pioneering efforts on the theory of evolution now that recent studies have overturned the commonplace views of Darwin that have held for more than a century.

Stephen Jay Gould was right when he described this book as "the" biography to read about Charles Darwin. For a huge book  it's a pretty easy read; The authors have a nice flowing style. The book concentrates on Darwin's life and also the politics and social life of his day. It's not so much a scientific biography as it is a social one, which was a little disappointing for me since I wanted more about Darwin's science. There of course is plenty of science in this great book, but it's not the main focus of the authors. Darwin becomes a full human in this book, you see his strengths and his faults and above all you see this wonderful humanizing and gentle figure emerge also as one of the greatest scientists of all time.

THE SPECIAL CUSTOM BINDING IS IN FULL LEATHER (VERY SMOOTH) WITH RIBBED SPINE AND GILT LETTERING. MARBLE ENDPAPERS. A LOVELY BOOK.