Charles Darwin grew up considered, by his own account, "a very ordinary boy, rather below the common standard
of intellect." A quirk of fate kept him from the career his father had deemed appropriate--that of a country
parson--when a botanist recommended Darwin for an appointment as a naturalist aboard H.M.S. Beagle from 1831 to
1836. Darwin is also the author of the five-volume work Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle (1839) and The Descent
of Man (1871).
Summary
Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific imagination, The Origin of Species
sold out on the day it was published in 1859. Theologians quickly labeled Charles Darwin the most dangerous man
in England, and, as the Saturday Review noted, the uproar over the book quickly "passed beyond the bounds
of the study and lecture-room into the drawing-room and the public street." Yet, after reading it, Darwin's
friend and colleague T. H. Huxley had a different reaction: "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that."
Based largely on Darwin's experience as a naturalist while on a five-year voyage aboard H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin
of Species set forth a theory of evolution and natural selection that challenged contemporary beliefs about divine
providence and the immutability of species. A landmark contribution to philosophical and scientific thought, this
edition also includes an introductory historical sketch and a glossary Darwin later added to the original text.
