Fossils, Finches, and Fuegians: Darwin's Adventures and Discoveries on the Beagle

This book was an incredibly fast and easy read for its 400 pages. For those who have read Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, this may seem a bit redundant at times, but I actually found it to be a great compliment. Richard Darwin Keynes (Charles Darwin's great grand-son) does a beautiful job weaving together a narrative of Darwin's long journey aboard the HMS Beagle between 1832 and 1836. Bits and pieces of Darwin's commonplace journal, his field notes, and letters home are very well incorporated into the overall narrative, adding authenticity to Keynes' interpretation of his great-grandfather's time aboard the Beagle. There are also several very nice watercolor plates and many gorgeous maps and engravings that really add to the reader's experience. The chapters are very short (8-12 pages) and each one deals with a specific region visited along the journey (except maybe the first and last two). This style is very effective, and keeps the reader interested and on track. Keynes' also adds important and relevant historical background that is not present in Voyage of the Beagle and provides the reader with a great deal of insight into Darwin's life and his relationships with other people, such as Captain Robert FitzRoy. I would recommend this book highly to anyone interested in Darwin, evolution, the history of science, or Latin America.

I never gave this book a good chance when I started reading it the first time and so I put it back on my shelf for a few months. I started out reading it very slowly, each word, trying to savor the images of a bygone time and of the words and adventures of an incredible man. After a while I noticed I was trying to skip through as fast as possible just to finish it. Then when I left it on the shelf a few months it dawned on me... this book should be treated respectfully, and read for enjoyment, not just to be finished but to feel and be enveloped by, and so I picked it up a second time and my impression of it is what lead me to give it 5 stars. The incredible abundance of drawings by those very artists that were there with Darwin, seeing what he saw, eating with him, journeying with him, and Darwin himself, his words, what his thoughts were, what he saw and touched... the descriptions coupled with the drawings of the places visited made me want to step back in time and visit each place the way it used to be... sadly those jewels are now replaced with superhighways as Keynes points out... man has a natural inclination and penchant to change usually irreversibly by destroying beauty... and what has been lost is truly sad... What has been left is this wonderful, moving account of Charles Darwin as so wonderfully presented by Keynes. So don't do as I first did, try to plough your way through this book just to finish it, but even worse, don't just put it down to never read it because you will have truly lost out on reading a fascinating journey, an adventure of people, places, names, faces and life you just don't find these days in todays reading... The pictures of the Feugians, unbelievable! These were the actual people that Darwin met along the journey and to see these pictures and see what these people looked like, what they wore, their face painting, everything is truly remarkable. A book like this, with this much value, pictures, detailed descriptions and accounts should be worth much much more than it sells for compared to some of the garbage churned out by lesser authors. And you know what... I plan on reading it all over again, slowly, deliberately, and with wonder and amazement filling my mind and heart.

An enjoyable recount of Darwin's voyage around the world in the early 1830s. Rather than argue for or against any version of Darwins theories, Keynes describes the adventure of 2 English gentlemen setting out to create a better map of the world. Aside from providing an enjoyable and picturesque travel guide, we get to know the way each inspired the other.The reader will be surprised to read about the daring young Darwin's adventures. He ends up dodging warriors prowling the Argentinian praries, trusting his life to murderous Fuegian cowboys, getting drunk with Chilean gold miners, intervening in a Brazilian civil war and tasting potentially halucenogenic South American plants. Keynes seems particularly interested in showing Darwin as Captain FitzRoy's agent and artist. In some ways, Keynes makes a case that Darwin was hired to write the story FitzRoy dictated. Like the artists brought along by Captain FitzRoy, Darwin was invited to embellishFitzRoy's maps. FitzRoy, a flawed character of exceptional energy and intuition, knew well his limitations: depression and a violent temper. To achieve what he knows is possible he drags young English gentlemen off to the ends of the world and sets them on their path to celebrity and fame.Left to itself, this action story and tragedy (FitzRoy commits suicide in the last narrative chapter) could have stood alone. The author feels compelled to trouble us with a search for the exact moment that Darwin's diary records the inspiration for 'evolutionary theory'. It detracts a bit, but only in a minor way. Unexplored is the relationship between map making and evolutionary trees, an obvious paradigm which would have fit the story better.

Mr. Keynes (great-grandson of Charles Darwin) re-plays the voyage of the Beagle, with some interesting back-up material. We read of Darwin's early life and his family connections, and the Beagle's Capt. FitzRoy's interest in returning to Tierra del Fuego. Included are plenty of extracts from others' letters and logs, plus many original drawings & paintings. And there is a nice touch; at the top of each page is the month and year, so you are continually reminded of just how much time has passed.Having read and enjoyed Darwin's 'Voyage of the Beagle', I was not expecting much in the way of startling new evidence re his discoveries & theories. And there is not; but what IS there, is more focus on his time in Patagonia, which surprisingly covered 2 years - nearly half the 5 year trip ... which is not apparent in the 'Voyage' (in my faulty memory) ... And the Beagle only spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos, but that short stay provided most of the hard evidence which fuelled Darwin's later theorising. Further visits to N.Z., Australia and Tasmania showed the devastation to the indiginous wildlife caused by introduced species, which prompted more thoughts on survival. Had more time been available in Mauritius or Madagascar, his theorising might have been more concentrated and conclusions derived earlier (but of course, 20/20 hindsight always provides the best view!).Mr. Keynes provides a modern perspective on the scientific method of the young (23) Darwin, especially in his noting exactly which strata fossils were found, and his meticulously accurate un-biased descriptions of specimens (not a predominant trait in the scientific community at that time!). Particular focus is placed on his geological and fossil studies - largely glossed over by Darwin himself - revealing some deep background thinking which was formative in constructing his Theory of Evolution. The penultimste chapter reveals how Darwin spent the 20-odd years leading up to the publication of 'Origin'; how his Father and reading Malthus simulated his imagination; how his friendship with Lyell and Wallace proved crucial in the book's publication. It also underlines the idea that luck, having independant means (something denied to Wallace), and being in the right place at the right time (like Capt. Cook) probably had more to do with his success than his brilliance did.In a touching final chapter we feel the love and friendship that grew between FitzRoy and Darwin during those 5 years on board, FitzRoy's subsequent jobs, then his final descent into depression and suicide..Not an easy read; Mr. Keynes' writing style is not as fluid or easy on the eye as some other writers in the popular science arena, and some of the attached letters are hard going. I found myself frequently re-reading passages to ensure that I had the correct gist of the text.However, that apart, this is an illuminating, fresh look at what was probably the most important voyage - ever - for philosophical science.****

Mr. Keynes (great-grandson of Charles Darwin) re-plays the voyage of the Beagle, with some interesting back-up material. We read of Darwin's early life and his family connections, and the Beagle's Capt. FitzRoy's interest in returning to Tierra del Fuego. Included are plenty of extracts from others' letters and logs, plus many original drawings & paintings. And there is a nice touch; at the top of each page is the month and year, so you are continually reminded of just how much time has passed.Having read and enjoyed Darwin's 'Voyage of the Beagle', I was not expecting much in the way of startling new evidence re his discoveries & theories. And there is not; but what IS there, is more focus on his time in Patagonia, which surprisingly covered 2 years - nearly half the 5 year trip ... which is not apparent in the 'Voyage' (in my faulty memory) ... And the Beagle only spent 5 weeks in the Galapagos, but that short stay provided most of the hard evidence which fuelled Darwin's later theorising. Further visits to N.Z., Australia and Tasmania showed the devastation to the indiginous wildlife caused by introduced species, which prompted more thoughts on survival. Had more time been available in Mauritius or Madagascar, his theorising might have been more concentrated and conclusions derived earlier (but of course, 20/20 hindsight always provides the best view!).Mr. Keynes provides a modern perspective on the scientific method of the young (23) Darwin, especially in his noting exactly which strata fossils were found, and his meticulously accurate un-biased descriptions of specimens (not a predominant trait in the scientific community at that time!). Particular focus is placed on his geological and fossil studies - largely glossed over by Darwin himself - revealing some deep background thinking which was formative in constructing his Theory of Evolution. The penultimste chapter reveals how Darwin spent the 20-odd years leading up to the publication of 'Origin'; how his Father and reading Malthus simulated his imagination; how his friendship with Lyell and Wallace proved crucial in the book's publication. It also underlines the idea that luck, having independant means (something denied to Wallace), and being in the right place at the right time (like Capt. Cook) probably had more to do with his success than his brilliance did.In a touching final chapter we feel the love and friendship that grew between FitzRoy and Darwin during those 5 years on board, FitzRoy's subsequent jobs, then his final descent into depression and suicide..Not an easy read; Mr. Keynes' writing style is not as fluid or easy on the eye as some other writers in the popular science arena, and some of the attached letters are hard going. I found myself frequently re-reading passages to ensure that I had the correct gist of the text.However, that apart, this is an illuminating, fresh look at what was probably the most important voyage - ever - for philosophical science.