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MAURAC. FLANNERY,DEPARTMENT EDITOR 0 0- I 'vejust finished reading CharlesDarwin: The Power these circumstances,it's not surprising that it doesn't Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/68/3/163/53566/4451956.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 of Place, the second volume of 's (2002) have the depth of Browne'swork. 0 biography of Darwin, and what strikes me is how There were seven years between the publication of Browne manages to make his story fresh and gripping the two volumes, and the intense researchBrowne did even though the basic facts are well-known, at least to is evident. For example, she gives a thorough descrip- biologists. I had heard raves about the first volume, tion of the reviews of Originof Species(1859) after its CharlesDarwin: Voyaging(1995), but I put off readingit publication.There were over 300 of them, so this is not for a long time, because like its successor, it is well over an insignificant task. Also, she puts these articles into 500 pages long. Did I really want to devote that much the context of Victorianpublication trends. The reviews Ii time and brain power, even to Darwin?After all, I had were numerous because there was obviously great read Adrian Desmond and 's (1991) interest in the book, but also because there had been a Darwin. Admittedly,it was a one-volumebiography, but proliferationof journals at this time due to improve- it did run to more than 700 pages. I learned a great deal ments in paper production and printing processes, from it, more about Darwin the man and how he fit in making them less costly. Another key element Browne with his times, rather than about his science. explains is that it was common for reviewers to be Could Browneadd that much more?Well, it turns anonymous under the assumption that in this way they out she can, and she writes even better than Desmond could be more outspoken. But people in the know usu- 4 and Moore. When I began her first volume, I was ally were able to identify the reviewersthrough writing amazed at how well it read even though every para- style, viewpoint, or inside information.Reviewers often graph is jammed with information.And the second vol- wrote in response to earlier reviews as well as to the ume is just as alluring.The complete biographyis over book in question, and Thomas Huxley wrote three 1,000 pages long, but Browneconvinces the readerthat reviews of Originof Speciesat differentpoints after its there is no padding, that everything here must be said publication,giving him opportunities to rebut the criti- in order to make sense of Darwin'slife and times. One cisms in earlierreviews. Browne's treatment of the post- reason it is worth reading her books, even after publication response to the book is lengthy but fasci- Desmond and Moore's, is that these biographies were nating. Put in the context of Darwin's entire life, it F- written under different circumstances. The latter two makes sense to give it this attention. Though Darwin authors admit that they wrote againsta deadline and in wrote many books both before and after it, this was part for financial reasons (Moore, 1996). Since they obviously his most importantvolume, and the key rea- both had done a great deal of researchin this area for son why there is so much written about Darwin. other writing projects, they considered it feasible to complete this one in little more than a year.The work is Focus on Darwin well-documented and factuallydependable, but under In the history of the science field, there is often talk of the "Darwinindustry," referring to all the work done on various aspects of Darwin'slife, work, and times. It MAURAC. FLANNERYis Professor of Biologyand Directorof the Centerfor Teachingand Learningat St. John'sUniversity, has a slightly derogatoryconnotation, as if the scale of Jamaica,NY 11439; e-mail:[email protected]. Sheearned the research has gotten out of control with people a B.S. in biologyfrom MarymountManhattan College; an crankingout studies on perhapsless and less important M.S.,also in biology,from Boston College; and a Ph.D.in sci- aspects of Darwin's work, because all the really good enceeducation from New York University. Her major interests ideas have already been explored. But Browne's very arein communicatingscience to thenonscientist and in therela- recent book indicates that there is still much to be tionshipbetween biology and art. learned about Darwin.Yes, the basic facts of his life are

BIOLOGYTODAY 163 well known. Darwin was famous enough during his life that of means would have been like and how societal influences his correspondencewas preservedand his comments record- affectedhis ideas and his work. ed. However this, in a sense, makes him more difficult to In an earlier column, I described my visit to Down know because there is so much documentation to be exam- House a couple of years ago (Flannery,2004). 1 was remind- ined. Just locating and reading the 300 reviews of Originof ed of it often while reading Browne'sbook. It is much easier Species,for example, is not a trivial task, and in addition, to visualize Darwin's life after seeing where he spent so Darwin created a huge mass of correspondence during his much of it. While the Down House path he called the life. Darwin might have been something of a recluse, sticking Sandwalk is famous as the place where Darwin often close to his home in Down in part because of ill health that strolled to think through ideas and observe nature, Browne plagued him through most of his life, but Browne makes it notes that he and Emma frequentlywalked there together to clear that staying out of the limelight also allowed Darwin to talk out family affairs. This makes the Sandwalk seem a avoid direct contact with the controversyhis book generated. much less solitary place. Browne also mentions another fea- At the same time, Darwin wanted very much not only to ture of Down House that I found impressive: the billiard know what was going on, but also to control the situation. room, right next to Darwin's study. He purchased a billiard He did this through letters and personal contact with more table in 1857. Browne writes: "Itsnew owner threw himself public scientists such as ,Thomas Huxley, and enthusiastically into the construction process. ... One dia-

Joseph Hooker in England, and Asa Gray in the United gram that Darwin sent to his son George at school was so Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/68/3/163/53566/4451956.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 States. Browne describes how Darwin encouraged them to detailed he must have spent the best part of the morning on each defend a different part of the argument for , his hands and knees inspecting the work underneath as it depending on their own areas of expertise. Lyellas the lead- proceeded"(p. 65). This definitely classifies as useless infor- ing geologist of the day dealt with the fossil and geological mation, but it makes Darwin seem much more human: He record, Hooker as a researcherat the RoyalBotanic Gardens did other things besides biology, and he cared enough about at Kew dealt with plants, and Huxley-the preeminentcham- his son to want to include him in the fun. This short quota- pion of Darwin's theory-focused on the evolution of apes tion also suggests Browne'swonderful writing style, she gets and humans, a subject Darwin didn't even dare to discuss in the information across in a lively way, as if she were telling Originof Species.These three visited Down House from time the reader a story. to time and saw Darwin on his infrequent trips to London. I could go on, but it is impossible in this short article to Asa Gray's contact was mainly through letters, but Darwin give a true sense of the scholarshipand writing skill that has sent many, soliciting information on how his work was gone into this work, and more than both of these, a judg- received in the United States and making suggestions on ment of what is important enough to dwell on. Browne's how Graymight furtherthe cause. work is a biographyin the classic sense of the term. She does not try to get inside Darwin's head and psychoanalyze him. Darwin also kept in contact with individualsall over the Instead she has used the information she has gleaned from world who could provide him with information and speci- his published and unpublished writings and those of his mens. He was not shy about asking for either and expecting contemporaries,and deals with them in the context of the people to go to some lengths to provide what he needed. largerworld in which he lived. She obviously also discusses These correspondents were not only biologists, but farmers, his science, but this is not a scientificbiography in which sci- horticulturalists,hunters, fishermen, and others with spe- entific questions take center stage. This is not a deficiency cialized knowledge or access to interesting plants and ani- both because her work creates such a rich picture of the mals. This network is somewhat apparent from Darwin's whole man, as a good biography should, but also because, writings where he discusses insights he has garnered from thanks to the "Darwin industry," there are many other others and specimens he has examined. But Browne's places to look for thorough discussions of Darwin's theory. research has revealedjust how massive this effort was and how much he relied on the work of others, in other words, Other Books how much Darwin was a synthesizer not only of his own I am particularlyaware of this at the moment because I observations but those of others. recently went through a rather strenuous renovationproject It is this kind of insight I find interesting. I've read a including having the entire interior of my house painted, number of descriptions of the Thomas Huxley-Bishop including the bookcases. This meant moving six walls' Wilberforce exchange at the 1860 annual meeting of the worth of books and then replacing them. The only good BritishAssociation for the Advancementof Science.Through thing about this enterprise,besides the exercise I got, is that the Desmond/Moore book and others I know that Darwin's I reorganizedat least some of my books so that, for example, wife, Emma, was a Wedgwood and that they had 10 chil- all my books on evolution are in one place. Now I am hard- dren. And I know something of how AlfredRussel Wallace's ly an expert on this subject and don't have an extensive col- independent development of the idea of natural selection lection, but I have more than I realized. Of course I have became the spark that finally got Darwin to publish his the- most of the books written by Stephen Jay Gould, definitely ory some 20 years afterit first came to him. But not being an one of the moguls of the Darwin industry. And to mention historian, I was less aware of the social milieu in which another past giant of the field, I have severalbooks by Ernst Darwin functioned, what the life of a mid-centuryVictorian Mayr including two I refer to often. One is his massive The

164 THEAMERICANBIOLOGYTEACHER,VOLUME 68,NO.3,MARCH 2006 Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and does the finding that they were very similarwithin a species, Inheritance(1982), a history of the three ideas given in the but varied between species, indicating that changes in gene subtitle. Evolution seems to breed large books, this one run- regulationis important to speciation. ning to almost a 1,000 pages. But it is a great resource when there's a question about the great chain of being, or what This accumulatingevidence means that no matter how Aristotlewrote on the idea of species. Almost 20 years later, many books you read on evolution, you still have to keep up when Mayr was in his late 90s, he wrote a much smaller with the latest research as well. But there are many books book called simply What EvolutionIs (2001). 1 go to this that have worn well and continue to be valuable, beginning book when I want a succinct encapsulationof the basic ideas with all the writings of Darwin himself that are available of evolution. While I know that evolutionary biologists, online (http://darwin-online.org.uk/). For more recent including Gould, had their arguments with Mayrover some work, a good place to start is with a Pulitzer Prize winning of the fine points of evolutionary theory, nonetheless, Mayr book that is becoming a classic, Jonathan Weiner's (1994) is great for the basics; also, there is something very satisfying The Beak of the Finch. It focuses on Peter and Rosemary in reading about these fundamental ideas in the words of Grant'sresearch on present-dayevolutionary change in the one who did so much to shape them in the 20th century. finches of the GalapagosIslands, but Weiner uses this story as a springboard for lessons on the basics of evolution. There are of course many good books on the basics of Another good general book on evolution is Steve Jones's evolutionary theory, but one that I particularlylike, in part Darwin'sGhost (2000). He had the clever idea of presenting Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/68/3/163/53566/4451956.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 because my students like it, is Carl Zimmer'sEvolution: The the latest on evolution in the context of Originof Species.The Triumphof an Idea (2001). Similarto Mayr,Zimmer explains titles and the list of subheadings for each chapter are the ideas well but he is more likely to discuss examples to illus- same as those in Darwin'sbook. This is an interestingway to tratehis points: Stories from the history of evolutionarythe- present evolution and it makes sense. After all, it was good ory or descriptions of present-dayresearch. The book also enough for Darwin. ObviouslyJones stretches points to fit in has great color illustrations. An additional plus with this all the topics of today's evolutionarybiology, but this format book is that it was written in conjunction with the PBSseries does emphasize just how broad Darwin's work was, and on evolution, and there is a rich Web site that complements how many issues he covered that are still of interest and both (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/). But the prob- importance today. lem with Zimmer'sbook, and really with all books on evo- lution, is that they quickly become dated. Things are moving Sometimes it's nice to focus, as Darwin did, on one area very quickly in the field, especially in relation to molecular of the natural world and examine evolutionary questions genetics. As more and more genes, and even genomes, are from that perspective. Darwin, for example, wrote four sequenced, there is coming to be a mass of data to use in books on barnacles, and Rebecca Stott (2003) has focused doing what biologists do best: make comparisons. on just this work in Darwinand the Barnacle.This is an inter- esting choice of topics because his barnacle research was In TheGrowth of BiologicalThought and some of his other done after Darwin had devised his theory of natural selec- writings, Mayr discusses the philosophy of science and tion, but before he published it. So Stott is dealing with years argues that for many years this field, because it was dominat- that are usually considered rather fallow, though this was ed by physicists, did not provide a good analysisof biological when Darwinwas amassing the huge amount of evidence for inquiry. In particular,he contends that comparison is at the his theory that he finally presented in The Originof Species. heart of much biological researchin a way that is foreign to The barnacle work is part of that evidence. This researchis physics. This is one of those very obvious points that I, at also interesting in that it's a reminder that while Darwin least, had never considered. When I read Mayr, this really could obviously think big, he was also very good at focusing struck me, and I continue to see more and more evidence of on the particularsof the living world as well. In fact, a great the truth of his observation.Lately, there have been frequent part of his genius was that he studied so many details in articles on the importance of comparisons among different order to find evidence for his big ideas. genomes, with researchersarguing that the value of human I genomic information increases tremendously as other Another book on evolutionary details that just love is A genomes, such as those of the mouse and the chimpanzeeare Richard Fortey's Trilobite(2000). leading expert on this sequenced (Gunter & Dhand, 2002; Li & Saunders,2005). long-extinctgroup of invertebrates,Fortey uses a chronolog- ical approach, giving the history of what has been learned The amount of genetic information is growing so fast, about these creatures to present the full spectrum of evi- that any number of evolutionaryquestions are being looked dence that has been unearthed about them. We have all at at in a new light. Recently,Science magazine named evolution least seen pictures of trilobite fossils, but what is amazing is its "Breakthroughof the Year."Among the research cited in how much these specimens-all at least 240 million years the accompanying report was a comparison of coding and old-can tell us about trilobiteanatomy and behavior.Fortey noncoding DNA sequences in two species of fruit flies (1998) has also written another good book called Life:A (Culotta & Pennisi, 2005). The noncoding DNA evolves NaturalHistory of the FirstFour Billion Years of Lifeon Earth, more slowly than the DNA that codes for proteins, indicat- but it doesn't have quite the spark of the trilobite book. ing that the formeris maintained by positive selection. This Fortey really shines when he is discussing his own field of supports the view that these sequences are regulatory,as research,his passion.

BIOLOGYTODAY 165 Other Favorites which deals with his other passion besides literature.This book is a joy because he is so enthusiastic and observant, I also want to mention a few more of my favorites.Most and manages to convey this so well to the reader. of them are fairly well-known but are so memorable that I Finally there is a not quite "Darwin and ..." but a want to share the opportunity to enjoy them with everyone. "Darwinin ..."book. It is Lynn Carporale's(2003) Darwinin All these books deal with evolution but that is about all they the Genome.It deals with what the latest genetic researchhas have in common. Two were written by AdrianDesmond, the to add to evidence for evolutionary change and how it co-author of the Darwin biography I discussed earlier. occurs. I can't say much more about this book because I Archetypesand Ancestors(1982) is about Britishpaleontology haven't read it yet, though I plan to get to it soon. I find that in the third quarterof the 19th century.The majorcharacter if I am going to continue teaching about evolution, I have to here is not Darwin, but RichardOwens, and Desmond pro- keep reading about it. Yes, I do try to read some of the latest vides a great picture of what Owens and others were doing journal articles,but to me, there is no substitute for a book, as Darwin was working on his barnacles and books. Some where the author has delved deeply into a topic and can put years later, Desmond also wrote a biography of Thomas its nuances into perspective. This is obviously what Janet Huxley (1994). I enjoyed it because, while I knew something Browne did on a large scale, and I am hoping that Lynn about Darwin's life story, I knew little about Huxley's and Caporale'scontribution to the Darwin industry provides me this is another one of those weighty biographies that gives a

with new insights into Darwin's grand idea. Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/68/3/163/53566/4451956.pdf by guest on 24 September 2021 full account of a life. I can't leave a discussion of evolution-and Darwin- References without mentioning Howard Gruber's (1974) Darwin on Man:A PsychologicalStudy of ScientificCreativity. When I first Ellegard,A. (1958). Darwin and the GeneralReader. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. read it, I was stunned because this was a very differentview Browne,J. (1995). CharlesDarwin: Voyaging.New York:Knopf. of Darwin. As the name of his book implies, Gruber deals Browne,J. (2002). CharlesDarwin: The Power Place. New York:Knopf. not so much with Darwin's science, but with how his ideas of Caporale, L.H. (2003). Darwin in the Genome: Molecular Strategiesin developed. Grubermade a thorough study of Darwin'snote- BiologicalEvolution. New York:McGraw-Hill. books and his discussion of the tree sketches found there is Culotta, E. & Pennisi, E. (2005). Evolution in action. Science,310, 1878- particularlyfascinating. With Darwin on Man, Darwin came 1879. alive for me in a new way as a man with an exciting mind Darwin, C. (1859). On the Originof Speciesby Meansof NaturalSelection or who is excited about the ideas he is exploring. the Preservationof FavoredRaces in the Strugglefor Life. London: I would like to end with a couple of "Darwinand Murray. books. He is such an important figure not in the histo- Desmond, A. (1982). Archetypesand Ancestors:Paleontology in Victorian only London1850-1875. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ry of biology but in the history of Western culture that he is Desmond, A. (1994). Huxley:From Devil Discipleto Evolution'sHigh Priest. written about in a host of differentcontexts. There is an old Reading, MA:Addison-Wesley. book, AlvarEllegard's Darwin and the GeneralReader (1958), Desmond, A. & Moore, J. (1991). Darwin: The Life of a Tormented that is still fascinating.Ellegard discusses how Darwin's the- Evolutionist.New York:Warner. ory was received in the British popular press from 1859 to Flannery, M. (2004). People, gardens & medicine. The AmericanBiology 1872. He takes us into the minutiae of reactions and inter- Teacher,66, 645-649. plays among different viewpoints and how they changed Fortey,R. (1998). Life:A NaturalHistory of the FirstFour Billion Years of Life over the years following the publication of Originof Species. on Earth.New York:Knopf. His book is a classic and deserves to be read if for no other Fortey, R. (2000). Trilobite:Eyewitness to Evolution.New York:Knopf. reason than as a case study of how ideas, and the perception Gruber, H.E. (1974). Darwin on Man: A PsychologicalStudy of Scientific of ideas, change over time. Creativity.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Gunter, C. & Dhand, R. (2002). Human biology by proxy. Nature, 420, Also in the "Darwin and ..." category is George Levine's 509. Darwin and the Novelists:Patterns of Science in Victorian Jones, S. (2000). Darwin'sGhost: The Originof SpeciesUpdated. New York: Fiction(1988). This book is not just about the influence of Random House. Darwinianideas on Victorianfiction. Levine begins with ear- Levine, G. (1988). Darwin and the Novelists:Patterns of Sciencein Victorian lier novelists like Jane Austen, to illustrate the shape of the Fiction.Chicago: University of Chicago Press. world which shaped Darwin's thinking and to discuss what Levine, G. (1995). Lifebirds.New Brunswick, NJ:Rutgers University Press. fiction can tell us about the culture of an historical period. Li, W. & Saunders, M. (2005). The chimpanzee and us. Nature,435, 50- This beginning indicates that Levine is interested in more 51. than just the direct influence of evolutionary thought on Mayr,E. (1982). The Growthof BiologicalThought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance.Cambridge, MA: Press. 19th-centurynovelists. I found some of his ideas a stretch as Mayr,E. (2001). What EvolutionIs. New York:Basic. he searched for traces of influence in novels that seemed to Moore, J. (1996). Metabiographicalreflections on . In M. have little to do with evolutionaryideas beyond dealing with Shortland & R. Yeo (Eds.), Telling Lives in Science, pp. 267-282. the concept of progress generally.But not being a very per- Cambridge,UK: Cambridge University Press. ceptive readerof fiction, I am the last person who should be Stott, R. (2003). Darwin and the Barnacle.New York:Norton. adding my two cents about such a book. On the other side, Weiner,J. (1994). The Beak of the Finch.New York:Random House. I am prejudiced in favor of Levine because he is the author Zimmer, C. (2001). Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea. New York: of one of my favorite books on birding, Lifebirds(1995), HarperCollins.

166 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGYTEACHER,VOLUME 68,NO.3, MARCH 2006