Books for International Darwin Day

Acclaimed historian and biographer Paul Johnson turns his keen eye on Charles Darwin, the towering figure whose work continues to spur scientific debate.

The world is more astonishing, more miraculous, and more wonderful than our wildest imaginings. In this brilliant and passionately persuasive book, Katherine Rundell takes us on a globe-spanning tour of the world’s most awe-inspiring animals currently facing extinction.

Evolutionary biologist David Haig explains how a physical world of matter in motion gave rise to a living world of purpose and meaning.

Taking us through the upheavals in biological thought which made The Origins of Species possible, Jonathan Miller introduces us to that odd revolutionary, Charles Darwin—a remarkably timid man who spent most of his life in seclusion; a semi-invalid riddled with doubts, fearing the controversy his theories might unleash; yet also the man who finally undermined belief in God’s creation.

Includes five chapters from The Origin of Species, complete and unabridged; significant extracts from The Voyage of the Beagle, The Descent of Man, and The Variations of Animals and Plants; scientific papers, travel writings, letters, and a family memorial; plus a chronology and biography.

Charles Darwin’s account of the momentous voyage which set in motion the current of intellectual events leading to The Origin of Species.

A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed “the taste for the beautiful”—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world.

Applying his controversial theory of evolution to the origins of the human species, Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man was the culmination of his life’s work.