Book Description
A gorgeous gift and a landmark work that is an essential addition to everyone's personal library.
Never before have the four great works of Charles Darwin—Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845), The Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)—been collected under one cover. Undertaking this challenging endeavor 123 years after Darwin's death, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson has written an introductory essay for the occasion, while providing new, insightful introductions to each of the four volumes and an afterword that examines the fate of evolutionary theory in an era of religious resistance. In addition, Wilson has crafted a creative new index to accompany these four texts, which links the nineteenth-century, Darwinian evolutionary concepts to contemporary biological thought. Beautifully slipcased, and including restored versions of the original illustrations, From So Simple a Beginning turns our attention to the astounding power of the natural creative process and the magnificence of its products. Slipcased hardcover; 101 illustrations, map.
Customer Reviews:
Can't Beat It.......2007-04-03
I bought this book knowing very little about Darwin or his theories. From So Simple a Beginning was an easy read about a very interesting man. I would hope that not just supporters of evolution would read this book there is more to the man then just one theory.
Four classics.......2007-01-12
Excellent in every particular. Five stars in delivery time, condition, quality of the experience.
Wonderful writing wrong package.......2007-01-10
There is no gainsaying the writings of Darwin or the thinking of my favorite living scientist, E.O.Wilson. But the package is wrong.
Four books in one. Too heavy, too cumbersome. Discouraging.
Too big.......2007-01-05
This book is way too big to hold to read, so it is not useful. From the picture I thought I was ordering 4 different books in a book holder, not one giant book. I recommend buying them separately unless you have very strong arms and wrists.
From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, T.......2006-07-02
Good
Customer Reviews:
One of the best travel books written by one of the best scientists.......2007-10-04
Forget the image of Darwin as an old white-beard scholar. In The Voyage of The Beagle, written in 1839, we have the discoverer of the theory of evolution as an energetic young man in his early twenties travelling aroung the world in a three-mast ship. After a brief stop in Cape Verde, he travels to then slaveholding Brazil (where he visits for the first time a tropical jungle), to the Plata region (he visits both Buenos Aires and Montevideo and travels on horseback on the surroundings), to the Patagonia (where he meets strongman Juan Manuel de Rosas as he launches a campaign against the pampa Indians), the Falkland Islands, Southern Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego (where they bring back three Fuegians previously kidnapped by an earlier expedition), Chile from south to north, the Galapagos Islands (whose findings would be crucial for the theory of evolution), Polynesia, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa. As he travels, he writes about both the natural history of the places as well as the people he meets. He does a lot of fearless things, travelling on horseback around the Pampas then under the dominion of hostile indians, crossing the Andes from Chile to Argentina through some of the world's highest mountains outside the Himalayas, witnessing the life of the now extinguished Fuegians (considered to be among the most primitive societies in the world), crossing the dense, cold forests of the island of Chiloe, witnessing the aboriginal australians as they cope with the massive arrival of white people to their land, seeing the gravestone of Napoleon Bonaparte in the island of Saint Helena. Darwin was no racist and he forcefully denounces the slavery he witnesses in Brazil (in this respect, he was much more thoughtful and liberal than some of his later disciples). In short, one of the greatest travel/adventure books by one of the greatest scientists of all time.
Must-Read Combo of Science, Adventure, and Literary Flair.......2007-06-07
Darwin's autobiography gives us some idea of his zeal for the study of the natural world (remember the bug-in-mouth incident?) and The Origin of Species provides us with more than enough evidence of Darwin's incredible capacity for logically combining empircal evidence in support of his theory, but is his autobiographical Voyage of the Beagle that gives us the best look at Darwin's habits as a naturalist and that provides us with a deeper understanding of his unmatched skills of observation and analysis.
While the voyage is most famous for being the time when Darwin visited the Galapagos, it is striking that he actually spends very little time discussing this segment of his journey. Much of his time is instead spent on the portion of his trip that was spent in Argentina, and it is his observations of the wildlife, the landscape, and the locals here that make for the most enjoyable reading.
The Voyage works because of its successful combination of science, adventure, and literary flair (he often gets rather poetic) that Darwin was superbly capable of. While certainly long (and possibly even too long for some readers), The Voyage is a must-read for any self-respecting Darwinophile.
Another Handy Penguin Edition of Darwin.......2007-05-17
Much as is the case with the Penguin edition of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species," this relatively inexpensive edition is packed with helpful features that add to the reader's understanding of what Darwin was about on his prolonged scientific voyage. First among these features is an excellent introduction by Janet Browne and Michael Neve, both of that wonderful Wellcome Institute in London. Dr. Browne is the author of what many consider to be the finest biography of Darwin ever written; Dr. Neve also has contributed to the Darwin literature. Although 26 pages in length, a bit shorter than that in the "Origin" edition by J.W. Burrow, this introduction nicely puts the "Journal of Researches" into context, while pointing out several areas that are of special interest to the reader. While the text is abridged about 1/3 in length, a Note carefully explains how and why the deletions were made. For example, nothing relating to the Galapagos has been cut. The editors have added a brief guide to the individuals and books mentioned in the text which is quite helpful. Also added as appendices are the Admiralty Instructions for the Beagle voyage and an essay by Captain Robert FitzRoy on "Remarks with reference to the Deluge," reflecting his reversion to traditional Christian thinking during the voyage. Several very helpful maps and a chronology are also included, which come in quite handy. Obviously, it is of immeasurable value to read the "Journal of Researches" in conjunction wit the "Origin." One comes away truly amazed at the dedication and professionalism of Darwin (who was only 22 when he commenced his five year excursion) as he collects his speciments and charts various geological dimensions. So, this book is to my way of thinking indispensable for getting a grasp on Darwin, and this skillfully edited edition makes the experience a most pleasing one.
For the Serious Darwin Fan Only.......2007-05-14
Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle is an interesting, but often tedious detail of his journey around the world. With this in mind, I would have to recommend this book to the Darwin enthusiast and to those who are just looking for a deeper grasp of Darwin, the man. It's not for anyone looking for a quick, easy, or particularly exciting or sensationalist read. If that's what you're looking for, I recommend Cyril Aydon's biography.
With this disclaimer, the book really does offer insight into Darwin and why this journey would be such a critical point in his life. Darwin is incredibly observant, and details flora and fauna throughout with sometimes discouraging detail. But this fact just gives us a clue as to what made this man different from all the other preeminent scientists of the day. Why did Darwin fully get evolution while the others didn't? Certainly this incredible power to really see things provided him with evidence that others might have missed.
My favorite parts would have to be Darwin's description of his time in the inside of South America and his interactions with the people living there. His reactions were varied. He often voices disgust at the barbarism of the settlers towards the Indians in the wars that occur there, while simultaneously describing the Indians as savages with terrible habits. Overall, however, he seems impressed with South America from the classical liberal point of view, saying "It is impossible to doubt that the extreme liberalism of these countries, must ultimately lead to good results." It would be interesting to see what Darwin would think of South America today. Throughout the book he adamately denounces the slavery sees with a keen insight, saying of an escaped slave woman who killed herself rather than be reenslaved, "In a Roman matron this would have been called the noble love of freedom: in a poor negress it is mere brutal obstinancy." Darwin was ahead of his time in this respect.
The part of the book covering his time in the Galapagos is surprisingly short, at least in respect to the emphasis Darwin later put on his time in the islands. It's also interesting to consider Darwin's reaction to them (he thought they were ugly and barren) when considering the impact the diversity of species on the islands played in his evidence for evolution.
All in all, the book has really good, insightful things to pick up, but other parts, such as Darwin's lengthy description of the masses of tiny floating sea creatures, I could have done without. Pick it up if you are really looking to put together a really complete picture of Darwin's life, with tedious details included.
Did I Just Return from South America? No Wait, I Read Darwin.......2007-05-10
The striking characteristic of Darwin's "Voyage of the Beagle" is its completeness. Not only is Darwin infinitely observant and insightful in all of his descriptions, he takes interest in everything! He continues for pages about worms (Planaria) and fireflies (Lampyris occidentalis) in Rio de Janeiro, gauchos and the pampas in Argentina, and of course the famous giant tortoises (Testudo Indicus) in the Galapagos-- just for a few examples. The scope of his observations is stunning; he is equally comfortable discussing algae or societal conventions, such as slavery. However, the depth is equally impressive; the amount of information provided on, for instance, ostrich breeding patterns, makes one wonder how Darwin possibly absorbed so much information on such a relatively short trip-- five years is not so long when you're trying to catalog every single animal, plant, and person around you! The extraordinary detail combined with the range of subject matter creates such a vivid image that the journal reads more like an travel book than anything else; I definitely recommend it for an engaging and both naturally and historically informative read.
Book Description
In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on an expedition that, in his own words, determined my whole career.
The Voyage of the Beagle chronicles his five-year journey around the world and especially the coastal waters of South America as a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle. While traveling through these unexplored countries collecting specimens, Darwin began to formulate the theories of evolution and natural selection realized in his master work, The Origin of Species. Travel memoir and scientific primer alike, The Voyage of the Beagle is a lively and accessible introduction to the mind of one of history's most influential thinkers.
Customer Reviews:
A sentimental scientists.......2007-05-09
The Voyage of the Beagle is filled with exquisite detail about the plants, insects, animals, and people that Darwin encountered during his journey. I was amazed at how much he had observed and compared/contrasted. My favorite parts, however, were for the most part not these descriptions. I most enjoyed the comments Darwin made that showed how he felt and what personal obstacles he encountered. Despite having the purpose of sharing his observations (which it most successful accomplishes), The Voyage showed a more personal side of Darwin. The personal comments that Darwin included and the poetic imagery he so often used gave the impression that Darwin had a sentimental side beyond the pure scientist. Even the depth of the many observations demonstrated his child-like curiosity and excitement about science, nature, and seeing the world.
If you were looking for a fast-paced plot, this is not your book. If you were looking for wonderful descriptions made by a keen observer and to gain a better understanding of the scientist, this book is definitely for you.
Insight into the mind of Darwin.......2007-05-06
This book is an excellent source of knowledge on Darwin's thought process. He describes everything in very exact detail, and in some cases the reader can see the beginnings of his ideas on evolution, such as when he compares the bird species of Argentina and Chile, or the variety of finches on the Galapagos. However, he did not pay as much attention to the importance of the finches as he did in later years. Some of his observations point to problems that only became apparent later- he describes in his visit to St. Helena how much of the flora and fauna was introduced from England, and the native plants only existed on high ridges. He also spends quite a bit of time describing the formation of coral reefs and a number of other things that after a page no longer seem interesting to most of us. However, these descriptions and his lists of species clearly show how much he valued precision and accuracy, and how deeply he became involved in his endeavors.
Another aspect that I liked about this book was his descriptions of various people and how they differed. He clearly thought very highly of the gauchos of Argentina, but found their Chilean counterparts to be decidedly less friendly. He admired the Tahitian men (not the women) and thought that the people of Tierra del Fuego, who were hardly any less "civilized" than many of the Tahitians, were quite inferior. His references to slavery are also interesting; he recounts stories of abuse of slaves, including that of a strong man who thought that Darwin was about to strike him and was too scared to do anything but turn away. He also described a situation in which a man whom he believed to be very kind sold apart members of a family.
While long and at times difficult to get through, this book is well worth reading for those who want to learn about Darwin, or who enjoy reading travelers' accounts. I found that while it did generally take several pages for me to become engaged in the book, that afterwards I was content to read several chapters in one sitting.
Charles Darwin-Naturalist, Poet, Adventurer.......2006-11-09
I learned a lot about Darwin in this book that I simply didn't know beforehand. The most important is what an exceptional writer he was. If he had never published his Origin of Species and become famous by it, this book would still be a classic, if not of science, than certainly of literature. His prose, while necessarily more pedestrian, reminds me more than anything of the prose of another famous naturalist, Thoreau (who actually quotes the "Naturalist Darwin" in Walden from this book regarding the natives of Tierra Del Fuego).
The "scientific detail" cited by another reviewer did not bog down the prose at all, a remarkable feat....a talent also found in Thoreau. The famed passage on The Galapagos was indeed interesting. But the most scientifically intriguing passages, I found, had to do with barrier reefs and atolls and how they come to be...I almost said "evolve"....But perhaps that would be premature for this book. In any event, I've never read a scientific account so riveting and fascinating as Darwin's on this subject given herein.
But, as I say, I learned quite a bit about Darwin as a young man, ready for adventure, risks, and brimming with curiosity. He is almost as much a poet as scientist in some passages, quoting Shelley at one point, and he fortifies his narrative with a poignancy absent in most scientific accounts. This stylistic flavour is evident in many passages, but I'll just proffer one from the end of the narrative:
"In my walk I stopped again and again to gaze upon these beauties, and endevoured to fix in my mind and for ever, an impression which at the time I knew sooner or later must fail. The form of the orange-tree, the cocoa-nut, the palm, the mango, the tree-fern, the banana, will remain clear and separate; but the thousand beauties which unite these into one perfect scene must fade away: yet they will leave, like a tale heard in childhood, a picture full of indistinct, but most beautiful figures." (P.444, in my edition)
Whether as poetic or scientific, this work is virtuosic and unsurpassed in its seamless melding of the two. I'll leave the reader to decide which s/he enjoys the most.
Charles Darwin as Indiana Jones.......2004-09-28
We all know Charles Darwin as a scholarly bearded old English gentleman, and like Leonardo da Vinci, Darwin has this image defining him for all future generations. Even though most everyone knows Darwin spent five years traveling the oceans on the HMS Beagle, the image of a young dynamic Darwin never takes over. Reading this book will change this.
Darwin sailed on the Beagle, a small three-mast sailing ship, and circumnavigated the globe. Over five years, he visited numerous islands in the Atlantic and Pacific and extensively surveyed the east and west coasts of South America. He hiked up and down mountains, traveled on horseback across the arid Argentinean plains, crossed the lonely Peruvian desert, and trekked the grandiose Chilean Cordilleras. He thought nothing of packing a train of mules for a two-month overland journey across the Andes going from Chile to Argentina and back again. On all his land expeditions he hired local guides, from Gauchos in Argentina to South Pacific islanders in Tahiti. Darwin's accounts of his expeditions are not only interesting adventures, they are also good portraits of the people he met. These include Latin American governors and generals, Argentinean ranchers, very primitive natives on Tierra del Fuego, and so on.
The journal begins with an account of Cape de Verd islands, then most of the book is spent on Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, and we have to wait until Chapter 17 before we get to what all Darwin fans really want to read, namely the account of his visit to the Galapagos. Though short, the account does not disappoint. We read of Darwin's finches, of two allied species of lizards, and of the giant turtles. Darwin also presents his great insight: that geographical isolation contributes to speciation. He came by this insight when it was pointed out to him that nearly identical species were seldom found on the same island. Another insight was that the fauna and flora an island depends more on that of the nearby mainland than on latitude. For example the plants of the Galapagos Islands were similar to those of the American west coast, while those of Cape de Verd, at the same latitude but in the Atlantic, resembled plants found in Africa. Darwin then continues with accounts of Tahiti, New Zealand and Australia, where we read how he thought coral reef islands were formed.
In the last chapter Darwin tells us of his visit to St-Helena and he does in fact mention its most famous resident, Napoleon Bonaparte. Though the French Emperor had already died, his remains had not yet been moved to Les Invalides in Paris. Darwin writes of the grave only in passing and is explicitly careful not too make too much of it. Apparently visitors in those days had a habit of overdoing their descriptions of Napoleon's rather simple headstone.
Travel notes like these and the descriptions of the people he met, were for me the most charming aspect of the book. The portraits Darwin paints are invariably sympathetic to human nature. Certainly Darwin was a man of his times and valued civilization very highly, but he was no racist and believed that all men could find happiness and enlightenment, and that all men had a right to be free. He despised slavery, and wrote eloquent passages attacking the prevalent institution. From this journal, we come to know a dynamic, adventurous young man, and a thoughtful liberal one who would only later shake our view of our place in the world.
Darwin.......2001-08-16
If you like science and the little details that go with it-you will really enjoy this book. It reads easily yet contains much detail.
Average customer rating:
- A Passionate Naturalist
- a bit long but supremely entertaining :)
- Darwin's Journal
- What sparked evolution as an idea?
- Darwin emerges as a scientist
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The Voyage of the Beagle (Adventure Classics)
Charles Darwin
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ASIN: 8854401765
Release Date: 2006-09-12 |
Book Description
Recorded during a remarkable five-year voyage throughout South America, these findings became the foundation of naturalist Charles Darwin's revolutionary theory of natural selection. His writing brings to life an exotic world of natural wonders, transporting readers to Chile, Argentina, the Andes Mountains, and finally, the Galapagos Islands, the unique ecosystem that inspired Darwin's groundbreaking work. Darwin's work is as relevant today as it was more than 100 years ago, when he first revealed his revolutionary theory.
Download Description
AFTER having been twice driven back by heavy southwestern gales, Her Majesty's ship Beagle, a ten-gun brig, under the command of Captain Fitz Roy, R. N., sailed from Devonport on the 27th of December, 1831. The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego.
Customer Reviews:
A Passionate Naturalist.......2007-05-10
Listening to Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle may have not been the best decision. Darwin tends to describe a lot, and my mind easily wandered as long lists of descriptors made it difficult to understand what exactly Darwin was talking about. Reading the book would probably have given me a greater understanding and increased comprehension of what exactly Darwin studied, saw, and observed. But, one advantage to listening to the Voyage was that the narrator David Case, in a very old English accent, made me feel like Charles Darwin was the one speaking to me in first person. I was many times caught thinking that the narrator really was Darwin himself. Having never listened to an audiobook before, this experience was a lot of fun.
As we all know, in Darwin's voyage around the world, Darwin spent a lot of time studying nature and making very detailed observations - which to the untrained listener - that is me - seem tedious. But Darwin also had many human-to-human interactions with Gauchos in Argentina to governors and generals in South America. Darwin's commentary on his meetings with generals, governors, and commoners was the most interesting part of the audiobook as it gave me a feel for how Darwin felt about others around him. Darwin was definitely a product of Victorian society and thus had very defined views about what is civilized and what is barbaric, but in listening to the audiobook, I found that Darwin was not a racist as much as simply a proponent of his upbringing. To prove my point, I do remember that, at one point, Darwin denounces the practice of slavery.
Darwin's voyage is considered the defining event in his life that ultimately led to the formation of his theory of evolution by natural selection. While this book shows that Darwin's keen sense of observation and later application of his observations were the source of his success, another important aspect of his life can be gained by listening to this book, that Darwin truly had a love for nature. Many of his sketches of animals and beatles are not only detailed but written in an obviously excited state. Darwin had a passion for what he did - a lesson that we all could learn from.
a bit long but supremely entertaining :).......2007-05-02
This was the first book I had ever listened to rather than reading, and it was a great experience. Englishman David Case does a beautiful job narrating Darwin's classic journey. Since the book was compiled from Darwin's field notes and journal entries, I think listening is great because it was written in first-person. So the entire time, you're listening to this distinguished British accent mouthing Darwin's own words. It's hard to listen for any length of time without forgetting that you're not actually listening to Darwin himself.
I found it particularly amusing to listen to Case describe from Darwin's point of view the fascinating maneuvers of dung beetles, his description of the Spanish ladies of Buenos Aires, or the experience of tasting young tortoise soup and other exotic foods. His accounts of gaucho life in Argentina and of sneaking up behind the giant and seemingly deaf Galapagos tortoises were particularly entertaining.
Having been to several parts of South America which were visited on the voyage, I found this book to be really interesting and fun to follow along with. I would really like to visit the Galapagos or Tahiti now. I'm not sure if having visited the places makes the book more enjoyable, or if it's the other way around. I suppose I'll have to find out now. :)
Darwin's Journal.......2007-01-10
This audio book had an excelent reader, using pretty close to the dialect of the time. Which was good because I was using it for a character reference, playing Darwin in a theater piece. The book it self was a little long and winded. It was truely a journal of his voyage. Don't look for many of his scientific conclusions. For this you would want to get "Origin of the Spieces." It was filled with stories of his adventures and what he came accross on his trip. Good listening material for long driving trips. It was a bit dry for just sitting and listening to, but there were some entertaining parts burried in there.
What sparked evolution as an idea?.......2006-05-21
Charles Darwin: discoverer of evolution (more or less), civilizational icon, elderly white-bearded guy, and as it happens, quite the world traveler. Many of us recall Darwin's study of finches on the Galapagos Islands, and how the shape of their beak corresponds to the food supply on their particular island. This was, in fact, part of a five year long journey around the world that Darwin took as a young man fresh out of university. In these pages, The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin put to paper his observations and speculations from that journey.
The Beagle itself was a smallish naval ship on a mission to perform various mappings and explorations. Darwin was on board, in part, to keep the captain company, something a man under the captain's direct command could not properly do. More importantly, Darwin went as a naturalist, fully intending to study the natural world as he encountered it. One can thus categorize his writings as covering three major themes. Zoology and to a lesser extent botany are what he is best known for, and Darwin describes the seemingly endless variety of life forms he came across. His studies were more than casual and he gives the reader some very detailed descriptions of his findings. Even well before the Galapagos Darwin made extensive commentary on how a life form interacts with its immediate environment. Clearly, we can see in retrospect that his mind was attuned to the question that would later provide him with greater name-recognition than most men that ever live. Closely related to his biological work are his geological observations. He spends as much time pondering the mountains and sea floor and cliffs and rivers as he does birds and lizards. Darwin was an enthusiastic follower of the latest findings in Geology, and was reading Charles Lyell's Principals of Geology en-route. From the start we see a smooth transition between his geological observations on the terrain and his biological observations. Darwin's key goal throughout is to understand how a living creature came to be born and survive in the place that it does. Even without this interplay, however, he treats geological observations as worthy and illustrative of the varied aspects of our view of the Earth. Finally, Darwin intersperses all this with nearly as many descriptions of the people and cultures as he does for flora or geology. Darwin set off on foot at nearly every stop the Beagle made, and was eager to see new things and meet new people. His conclusions range from the enthusiastic to the repulsive.
In Darwin's non-PC world, he had no hesitation in describing things as he saw them, and in his views on culture we find the most editorializing within these pages. He is, clearly, an enthusiastic supporter of civilization and humane qualities. This need not mean Western assimilation, though that doesn't hurt in his appraisal, but it does mean showing some sign of mental sophistication. Thus, the reader finds that his kindly descriptions of the Tahitians or Indians differ considerably from those of the South American Fuegians or Australian Aborigines. Though his tone may seem out of sorts to readers today, he is abundantly clear about his specific reasons for saying the things he does.
Darwin's two-year journey on the Beagle turned into a five-year journey in actuality. Four of those years, and all but the last hundred pages here, were spent in South America alone. Throughout he employs a somewhat detached style of presentation as was typical of the age. There are few of what we would consider lively passages. But he is ever-present as an observer of the surroundings. As fitting an age unaccustomed to extensive word of the world around it, his original readers must have found his vivid descriptions (and occasional drawings) breathtaking to consider. It was a different time in Darwin's day, and one wonders if the receptive people of England truly appreciated that they were holding the raw material from which one day would flow the most astounding scientific theory of that century.
Darwin emerges as a scientist.......2002-02-01
This was not the best choice for listening to in the car: too much tedious detail, and I found my mind wandering too often. Still, it was interesting, and I learned a lot.
Darwin was a promising but obscure student at Cambridge when he was suggested for the trip. By the time he returned, his reputation was made. It's not hard to see why: this book is packed with careful observations and attention to detail, as well as thoughtful analyses of topics from species extinction (though not origins at this stage) to the formation of coral atolls. Darwin is clearly very well-read and makes frequent references to the noted authorities of the time, sometimes supporting them and sometimes disagreeing.
I hadn't actually realized that the voyage of the Beagle was as long as it was. I saw it as a year or so, going from England to South America and back again. It was in fact a five-year, round-the-world cruise, covering the Pacific Islands, New Zealand, Australia, and numerous other locales as well as the well-known South America and the Galapagos.
My favorite parts are actually the more human anecdotes. Darwin is less than enchanted with New Zealand and Australia, and is not afraid of saying so, noting that most of the citizens are ex-convicts. My favorite single anecdote, though, is about the South American governor who is so dedicated to the rule of law that he has himself put in the stocks when he violates one of his own laws. Darwin also indicates his dislike of slavery and admits to feeling shame when he accidentally causes a male slave to flinch when he makes a threatening gesture to him. So much for that creationist conceit.
There are two appendices not written by Darwin. One is a summary of the orders given to Captain Fitzroy about the mission of the Beagle, which is very telling of the naval issues of the time. It focuses on getting accurate locations of known ports as well as the possible finding of new ones. As a Hornblower fan (and therefore with some interest in naval trivia), I found this very interesting.
The other appendix is Captain Fitzroy's attempt to construe their geological observations to be evidence of the Noachian Deluge. This is not on the same intellectual level as Darwin's writings, and I found it mostly of intellectual interest as evidence that creationist arguments have changed hardly at all in the last 175 years.
All in all, it's an interesting book and a classic of natural history, though not something I'd recommend listening to unless one has a passion for the subject.
Book Description
(Book Jacket Status: Jacketed)
Easily the most influential book published in the nineteenth century, Darwin’s The Origin of Species is also that most unusual phenomenon, an altogether readable discussion of a scientific subject. On its appearance in 1859 it was immediately recognized by enthusiasts and detractors alike as a work of the greatest importance: its revolutionary theory of evolution by means of natural selection provoked a furious reaction that continues to this day.
The Origin of Species is here published together with Darwin’s earlier Voyage of the ‘Beagle.’ This 1839 account of the journeys to South America and the Pacific islands that first put Darwin on the track of his remarkable theories derives an added charm from his vivid description of his travels in exotic places and his eye for the piquant detail.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent version.......2007-04-28
This is an excellent volume. Two of Charles Darwin's major works are included: "The Voyage of the Beagle" and "The Origin of Species." There is a well written and sprightly introduction by evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins. One additional good feature is a Chronology, beginning on page xxxiv.
Dawkins sets the stage with his 20+ page introduction. He speaks eloquently of the importance of Darwin's work, and the profound nature of his theoretical perspective on evolution. He places Darwin's work in an historical context, in which we see other theorists before Darwin working on how to explain change in animal species. He concludes with the strong statement that (Page xxix): "[Darwin] also gave us by far the most plausible theory for how evolution has taken place, the theory of natural selection."
Darwin's "The Voyage of the Beagle" provides a view of his trip, as the resident naturalist, on the ship Beagle, during which time (left England in 1831 and returned in 1836) he made myriad observations that helped him work through his theory of evolution. As he notes elsewhere (page 537), the facts that he observed on this voyage "seemed to me to throw new light on the origin of species. . . ." Upon reflection, he felt that this voyage had been a wonderful developmental experience in his life. He observes (Page 516): "In conclusion, it appears to me that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries. It both sharpens, and partly allays that want and craving, which. . .a man experiences although every corporeal sense be fully satisfied."
There follows his chef d'ouevre, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." The chapter headings are key for understanding the logic of evolution, with natural selection as a key force in explaining change in species, among which chapters are "Variation under Nature," "Struggle for Existence," "Natural Selection," "On the Imperfection of the Fossil Record," and "On the Geological Succession of Organic Beings." A brief quotation at the end of this book encapsulates the basic logic (Page 913):
"These laws [of nature]. . .being Growth with Reproduction: Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the direct and indirect action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms."
Such a straightforward logic: inheritance of characteristics from generation to generation; variability in characteristics within a species; more individuals born than the carrying capacity of the land can provide for; selection of those individuals' whose characteristic best facilitate survival and subsequent reproduction. Darwin surely had errors and problems in this work. Nonetheless, it remains one of the most important scientific contributions of the last millennium.
His theory has stood up well over time; one major problem, the explanation for the transmission of characteristics from generation to generation, was solved independently by the developing understanding of genetics. When natural selection and genetics were wed in the "synthetic theory of evolution," associated with thinkers like Mayr and others, Darwin's theory reached its culmination.
Must read for any science lover.......2006-11-06
This collection is truly wonderful, and a must read for any up and coming evolutionist, or even if you are just looking to learn a bit more about evolutionary theory. The Origin or Species doesn't read like a text, rather it's an intellectual piece that casually discusses his theory. I found the Voyage of the Beagle to be rather interesting as well. I've read several books detailing nautical adventures, and this by far is the absolute best!
Lots of Darwin.......2005-05-03
Origin of Species
This is a quick review of the book not a dissertation on Darwin or any other subject loosely related. At first I did not know what to expect. I already read " The Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches". I figured the book would be similar. However I found "Origin" to be more complex and detailed.
Taking in account that recent pieces of knowledge were not available to Charles Darwin this book could have been written last week. Having to look from the outside without the knowledge of DNA or Plate Tectonics, he pretty much nailed how the environment and crossbreeding would have an effect on natural selection. Speaking of natural selection, I thought his was going to be some great insight to a new concept. All it means is that species are not being mucked around by man (artificial selection).
If you picked up Time magazine today you would find all the things that Charles said would be near impossible to find or do. Yet he predicted that it is doable in theory. With an imperfect geological record many things he was not able to find at the writing of this book have been found (according to the possibilities described in the book.)
The only draw back to the book was his constant apologizing. If he had more time and space he could prove this and that. Or it looks like this but who can say at this time. Or the same evidence can be interpreted 180 degrees different.
In the end it is worth reading and you will never look at life the same way again.
------------------------------------------------------
Voyage of the Beagle
Remember this says "Journal" and that is what it is. It is his first parson adventures on and off the Beagle. He even includes stories about the people on the ship, the ship's life, and maintenance. He is always going ashore and venturing beyond the ship charter to go where no Englishman has gone before. He makes friends with tyrants and the down trodden. Once, to get an animal to come to him, he lay on his back and waved his arms and legs in the air. Whatever you do, do not turn your back on him. He is always knocking something on the head and taking it back for study. It is fun trying to match the old names for places with the new.
Open your mind..!!!!.......2005-04-12
This book is something everyone should read....Its next to the bible and is something most people talk about but fail to fully understand the work..OPEN YOUR MIND...after all God gave you one...USE IT...if we did not have the bible This book would be what you preach..!!
Customer Reviews:
buy another edition.......2007-05-10
This book was supposed to be the 2nd edition of Charles Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle. Definitely a classic and definitely worth a read. But you should probably buy another publisher's version because I found a few blatant typos in this copy. Although there weren't that many and it didn't detract from the reading too much, why own a copy with errors in it?
As far as the book itself is concerned, I thought it was pretty good in teaching us about Darwin and his travels. It reads a lot like a travel guide, in that he just catalogues all these animals and plants and things that he encounters. His skills of observation are amazing, it's really no surprise that he eventually gathered the data that he felt was necessary to back up his claims of evolution. He definitely pays amazing attention to detail.
On the other hand, he just jumps into chapter 1 page 1 with a lot of this dry detail and it was hard to get interested in the book at first. He definitely tries to use some fancy prose at parts ("Goodbye, Australia!"... I liked that part a lot) and he's really good at it, too, I wonder why he doesnt try to be more dramatic more of the time, haha.
The main thing that I found attractive about this book is that Darwin not only talks about the flora, fauna, and geology of the places he visited, but he also talked about the cultural and societal influences that they had. The section in his book about the South American gauchos was reallly really interesting. In addition, I'd read the Darwin Conspiracy (a novel!) before i read this book, it is very interesting to see how the descriptions of the Fuegians drastically differed, even though some of the actual events that occurred in the two works were the same.
And it's interesting that although Darwin does talk about the indigenous people somewhat, it seems that he focuses on the European Settlers (subsequent immigrants) and their culture a lot. And this part I found especially fascinating, I suppose because there wasn't that language barrier (Like the part where he criticizes Brazilian slavery).
Oh and the last thing I want to say is that the part on the Galapagos was really underwhelming. After all this buildup and suspense I thought he was going to say something really profound, haha. And he definitely did foreshadow some of the ideas of adaptive radiation in that chapter both about the finches and the tortoises, but it wasnt what I was expecting. In fact, the Galapagos chapter basically read like all the other chapters in its mechanical recollection of all the details of his observations.
Overall, awesome book.
Book Description
This is the story of the man without whom the name Charles Darwin might be unknown to us today. That man was Captain Robert FitzRoy, who invited the 22–year–old Darwin to be his companion on board the Beagle .
This is the remarkable story of how a misguided decision by Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle , precipitated his employment of a young naturalist named Charles Darwin, and how the clash between FitzRoy's fundamentalist views and Darwin's discoveries led to FitzRoy's descent into the abyss.
One of the great ironies of history is that the famous journey – wherein Charles Darwin consolidated the earth–rattling
ல
igin of the speciesߤiscoveries – was conceived by another man: Robert FitzRoy. It was FitzRoy who chose Darwin for the journey – not because of Darwin's scientific expertise, but because he seemed a suitable companion to help FitzRoy fight back the mental illness that had plagued his family for generations. Darwin did not give FitzRoy solace; indeed, the clash between the two men's opposing views, together with the ramifications of Darwin's revelations, provided FitzRoy with the final unendurable torment that forced him to end his own life.
Customer Reviews:
The lives of Robert FitzRoy.......2007-04-01
Robert FitzRoy was a brilliant, fascinating and complex man. While this book focusses primarily on his role as the Captain of 'HMS Beagle' during two voyages (the second included Charles Darwin), it includes other aspects of his career and life.
Mr Nichols presents the facts - especially those related to the voyages of HMS Beagle - well. While acknowledging the later differences between Darwin and FitzRoy, the facts are presented impartially. In summary, we owe a great deal to the collaboration between Darwin and FitzRoy. The fact that their complementary skills and intellects were only combined through a form of coincidental opportunities is the purest serendipity.
Highly recommended to those who would like to know more about the events and circumstances behind Darwin's voyage on HMS Beagle as well as the voyage itself.
I am currently reading as much as I can about Robert FitzRoy, and can recommend the following two books as well:
This is a novel about Robert Fitzroy:
This Thing of Darkness
This is a biography of the HMS Beagle herself:
HMS "Beagle" (Voyages S.)
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
A stormy life.......2007-03-04
Britain's Royal Navy has had many figures worthy of note. Some of these have inspired good works of history, while others prompted novelists to produce stirring tales of more or less believable adventures. Captain William Bligh almost immediately comes to mind, as does Patrick O'Brian's lengthy series on Jack Aubrey. One real figure, who should stand out for many accomplishments, has been quietly relegated to the shadows - if not scorned for holding rigid views. Robert FitzRoy, however, was a man of many parts who deserves better treatment. Peter Nichols provides that assessment in this fine biography. The title, however, gives the game away. FitzRoy's name was overshadowed by the passenger he carried for five years, Charles Robert Darwin.
FitzRoy's ascent to the captaincy of HMS Beagle seemed ill-omened. His predecessor, Stokes Pringle, overwhelmed by the enormity of his assignment, put a bullet in his head, taking a dozen days to expire. The task, mapping a channel through Tierra del Fuego in an effort to smooth the path of empire, was taxing enough to make the bravest quail. The 500 kilometre strait might require sailing five times that distance to traverse it - if you made it at all. FitzRoy, although unaccountably young for the mapping job, took it over and pursued it with determination. During the survey, a whaleboat stolen by the Fuegians proved a pivotal point in his life. In attempting to recover the boat, FitzRoy abducted four of the natives, returning them to England as a means of raising them to become civilised Christians. Nichols seems sympathetic to this concept, even while knowing it was doomed to failure.
The world knows the subsequent events: while preparing for the next voyage, FitzRoy brought on board a "companion", Charles Darwin. Not Navy, and not the official "naturalist", Darwin was a gentlemen who could converse with the isolated officer. As a "gentleman", Darwin had less regard for the Fuegians than did FitzRoy, yet condemned slavery while the captain viewed the practice as a civilising force. This discussion was set aside when the pair observed the obvious effects of running water far from the sea. A Noachean Flood, or an ancient Earth? There were clashes and apologies, FitzRoy driving Darwin from his cabin, only to lure him back. The captain's moods were an on-going topic of the ship's officers. The dismal end of his predecessor also may have preyed on FitzRoy's mind when the Beagle beat up the Chilean coast. He believed the mapping inadequate and wanted to return to the Strait for more surveys. Distraught, he actually resigned his command, but was talked out of it by his officers.
At the end of the survey voyage, FitzRoy went through several roles. Unable to gain a ship, he was a Member of Parliament briefly and was sent to New Zealand as its governor. Empire building is fraught with risks and Nichols is only mildly sympathetic with FitzRoy's disastrous role there. The new governor was shipped home after but two years. Back in England, FitzRoy's command skills brought him to a novel task - weather forecasting. The science was just beginning and FitzRoy initiated a reporting and prediction system across the British Isles. At the height of his success at this venture, the Admiralty shut it down, even in the face of the fishing fleet's demands to sustain it. A see-saw career if there ever was one.
The final chapter of the Captain's life [by which time he was a Rear Admiral] was one of fundamental challenges. Already a religious man, FitzRoy became steeped in the Bible's words, becoming convinced it would brook no challenges. Changes observed in the natural record were manifestations of the divine, FitzRoy believed. His notions were reinforced by various commentators like Philip Gosse, who viewed the growing sciences of geology and biology with fear and loathing. In 1859, however, all those declaring Nature could be unravelled by Biblical study were directly refuted by the publication of Darwin's opus, "On the Origin of Species". Reason and evidence triumphed over superstition and dogma. FitzRoy was outraged, and expressed it at the famous British Association meeting the following year.
It's not known how much this revelation led to FitzRoy's taking his own life, but it can hardly have been insignificant. Nichols concludes that Darwin's work was but one symbol of a rapidly changing time. The author examines British society at this point in FitzRoy's with a perceptive eye. Civilisation was moving forward and the author concludes FitzRoy felt left behind. The fear of social upheaval was already being overtaken by events - Darwin's natural selection had little, if anything, to do with it, notes Nichols. It's a worthy thesis, lacking only a more thorough analysis of its roots. We never learn of the early foundations of the captain's thinking. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Evolution's Captain.......2006-03-08
This was bought as a gift and I only leafed through it ... The recipient was delighted and I intend to borrow the book as soon as possible. Very interesting !!
Fundamentalism cuts deep for FitzRoy.......2006-02-14
Nichols focus our attention on the question if Captain FitzRoy was destroyed by the thought he took Darwin on his voyage of discovery. The issue that highlights Nichols excellent book is apparently still alive today. When one touches the third rail of Fundamentalism it cuts deep for some true believers. For example, just yesterday the L A times published an article about a minister teaching elementary age children how to argue against science and the theory of evolution. He instructed them that if in a class room a teacher mentions the word "evolution, or big bang" the children were to raise their hands and ask, how do you know, where you there? And then to tell their teacher only one was there, GOD. And GOD wrote the truth of it in the bible. Imagine this still being up for debate, happening in a country that realizes it has a shortage of scientists. Some polls say 50% of Americans still believe in Creationism. You might ask, how does this relate to Mr. Nichols excellent biography of Captain Robert FitzRoy, the Captain of the H.M.S. Beagle which took Charles Darwin on his voyage to question the common notion that we are being asked today to swallow as "intelligent design"? Well FitzRoy and most of Victorian England's thinking in the mid 1800s was unquestioning in its support of Creationism, even Darwin started from this premise. So as a backdrop to an excellent story of exploration you have a book that provides an entry level introduction to the very beginnings of a new understanding. As Nichols puts it , " How wide was the gulf between Darwin and FitzRoy. Darwin stood at the threshold of an expansion of thought and science that would not be equaled for a hundred years.... Fitzroy in his way was no less a scientist... was stuck, deeply by prejudice and the cleaving to an old order, to a mindset a thousand and more years old, when science was subservient to religion. That order was about to be toppled, and the constructs of the Bible smashed like an old wooden bridge, weakened by rot, before the torrent of a spring flood." You get the idea, and this quote does show Nichols gets carried away with enthusiastic language which I found part of the enjoyment of reading the book. This book would be interesting if only for the story of how FitzRoy kidnapped three natives from Tierra del Fuego, brought them to England, educated them to be Christians and then returned them to their "savage" cousins. Their story is part of FitzRoy's story too. I recommend the book strongly for its ideas and wonderful adventure story.
Near miss.......2005-08-08
This generally sympathetic account of Robert FitzRoy and his role as the captain of the HMS Beagle during Darwin's famous voyage is a good summer read. But anyone familiar with manic-depressive illness can't avoid the conclusion that Nichols misses a key aspect of FitzRoy's persona: he had bipolar disorder! It is remarkable how Nichols could so carefully document the elements of this illness in his biography of FitzRoy and yet not get it. As Nichols reports, FitzRoy had a family history of suicide, episodes of ill-considered spending (e.g., he purchased 2 ships with a crew on the vague hope that the Admirality would reimburse him), followed by severe depression (during the voyage of the Beagle, when FitzRoy gave up his command during an attack of depression, Darwin himself wondered whether there was something wrong with FitzRoy's brain). Add to this the episodic, lifelong course, ending -- in this sad case as in about 15% people with the illness even today -- in suicide. Nichols would have us believe that FitzRoy slit his throat with his wife and children nearby because of his disagreements with Darwin, capped by an unfavorable notice in The Times. It is clear instead that FitzRoy had a mental illness that had barely been described in the year he died of it, but which even now continues to go undiagnosed and untreated. Nichols would have served his readers -- and FitzRoy's memory -- better if he had recognized what should have been plain and considered this in his account of FitzRoy's often erratic behavior. Nevertheless, the book should be read by anyone interested in the early days of the Theory of Natural Selection.
Average customer rating:
- A classic...
- Classic Sci-Fi and the Basis for Alien
- Interesting and imaginative but dated!
- Decent but definitely overrated by some reviewers
- An Amalgamation of Four of Vogt's Novelettes and Short Stories Into One Novel
|
The VOYAGE OF THE SPACE BEAGLE
Vogt Van vogt
Manufacturer: Scribner Paper Fiction
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0020259905 |
Download Description
The first third of this novel, BLACK DESTROYER, appeared in the 7/39 ASTOUNDING as Van Vogt's first science fiction story. It was the basis of the Sigourney Weaver Film, Alien. Van Vogt (1912-2000), named an SFFWA Grandmaster in 1995, was the most influential science fiction writer of his time.
Customer Reviews:
A classic..........2007-09-18
You hear that a lot. This is a classic, that is a classic. But this IS a classic.
The Voyage of the Space Beagle is one of those books that have inspirited many later authors and movies. A. E. Van Vogt is one of the Fathers of modern Sci-Fi. While the Black Destroyer may, or may not, have inspirited the makers of the movie Alien I do know that two of the aliens in the book also show up in Barlowe's Guide to Extraterrestrials along side such great aliens as the Puppeteers, The Thing, the Overlords, the Guild Steersmen and the Old Ones.
The book is four short stories put together. Or a novel that has been cut up into four short stories for other collections. But in the end this is the story of a huge spaceship on a deep space mission to explore and understand. The science is kind of soft, more of a space opera but also reminds me a tad of Star Trek. But remember this was first printed decades before Star Trek.
Classic Sci-Fi and the Basis for Alien.......2007-06-12
The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt is a book that could best be described as Classic Sci-Fi. Science Fiction in general is a genre that is very new to me, and I have never read any van Vogt. So I decided to go on a voyage!
This book was originally 4 short stories that were put together in a "fixup" by van Vogt. The stories are all about the crew of the Space Beagle (a Darwin reference) and its intergalactic expedition. The crew is made up of military personnel and scientists that are on board to study alien life in other galaxies. Eliot Grosvenor, is the books protagonist. He is the lone Nexialist aboard the ship. Nexialism is a relatively new science. It is one that encompasses ALL the other sciences and relates them together. It is more generalized than specific, but it also adds an element of hypnotism and mind control. At first, Grosvenor isn't given much thought. He is left to himself until trouble comes aboard and his skills are called into play.
Each story, or section, in the book describes contact with an alien race. In the first story, the crew members explore what they think is a seemingly deserted planet. The stumble across Coeurl, a cat-like creature that has tentacles and an incredible hunger. He pretends to be just another dumb animal, and the crew members "capture" him and take him aboard the ship to study. But Coeurl is hungry and he has an agenda. He quickly escapes and terrorizes the ship.
They also encounter the Riim, a bird-like creature that has great hypnotic power; the Ixtl, a devil-like alien that is keen on breeding, by implanting his eggs in the stomach of the crew members; and Anabis, who is galaxy-wide and is waiting to take over planets.
While the aliens are the main part of the storyline, what appealed to me even more was the relationships of the crew members. If the creatures outside don't get you, the people inside just might! There is a political undertone that reflects the climate on the ship. The military and the scientists always seem to be at odds with each other and underlies the harmony on the ship. It seems to be a pretty accurate assessment of ventures even today that involve the same types of people. While a lot of the "scientific" stuff is really dated, I was intrigued by the politicking going on inside the walls of the Beagle. This was a short, fun read. I can see a lot of present day science fiction that was influenced by this writer. Overall, I highly enjoyed it!!
Interesting and imaginative but dated!.......2007-04-25
With all the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to read Van Vogt's "Voyage of the Space Beagle" with the same clarity and futuristic vision that perhaps inspired Gene Roddenberry to spin off Star Trek vesting the Enterprise with the five year mission to go where no man has gone before. In a style that will remind readers of Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" or Asimov's "I, Robot", this quintessential example of early pulp science-fiction and space opera - at once fun-loving, thought-provoking, intense, frightening and entertaining - is actually a series of four short stories joined together by the common theme of inter-stellar exploration and alien first contact.
Each of the four stories is brim full of the stock in trade and requisite hard sci-fi toys and elements of the typical stories of the day - blasters, stun guns, force fields, teleportation, bizarre aliens, hostile landscapes, communicators, travel at near light speeds, and the like. But assessing it from the hard side of the sci-fi spectrum, "Voyage of the Space Beagle" is certainly not unique, has little beyond short-term entertainment value to recommend it and I think most readers would be unlikely to accord it the status of "classic".
But look more closely at the softer side of the sci-fi field of play! Ah, now there's where "Voyage of the Space Beagle" comes into its own with some compelling and imaginative ideas, insights and questions - Elliot Grosvenor as the expert in the newly founded science of Nexialism which purports to be the nexus or bridge between hitherto unrelated fields of scientific endeavour such as physics, chemistry, metallurgy, geography or sociology for example (a means of looking at the "big" scientific picture from a new meta-level, as it were - do you think we're talking about a 1950s version of Science Officer Spock here?); the social difficulties of a population living in the confined quarters of an exploratory vessel for extended periods; the political, command and management clashes between scientific, technical and military personnel with their varying motives, agendas and decision making styles on such a mission; the completely ineffectual nature of democracy as part of a command structure in the context of such an operation; and the unbridgeable philosophical differences and overwhelming communication difficulties that might be encountered in an alien first contact situation.
Clearly Van Vogt was appreciative of our ultimate smallness in the universe. Like Clifford D Simak, he was also openly critical of man's history of violence and the arrogant impression of his own power and importance:
"You assume far too readily that man is a paragon of justice, forgetting, apparently, that he has a long and savage history. He has killed other animals not only for meat but for pleasure; he has enslaved his neighbors, murdered his opponents, and obtained the most unholy sadistical joy from the agony of others. It is not impossible that we shall, in the course of our travels, meet other intelligent creatures far more worthy than man to rule the universe."
I wonder if Van Vogt appreciated the irony in his own writing. Despite the obvious criticism of the human condition inherent in his character's words, Van Vogt persisted in writing stories in which every alien encounter failed to transcend that hostility and savagery and either began or ended with violent confrontation or battle. For the most part, the inhabitants of the Space Beagle barely even tried. Sigh!
"The Voyage of the Space Beagle" is fun to read, entertaining and imaginative to be sure but not truly visionary and capable of lasting other than as a memento of what good space opera was like in the 50s! Recommended for lovers of classic science fiction.
Paul Weiss
Decent but definitely overrated by some reviewers.......2006-10-08
This novel is a collection of four novellas that were originally published independently in various pulp magazines from the 30's to the 50's. This book contains four tales about the adventures of the crew of a star ship named the Space Beagle that travels to the far reaches of our galaxy and beyond. The ship is filled with a wide range of scientist from every major discipline (physicists, astronomers, geologists, chemists, biologists, etc.) as well as soldiers. The main character, Elliot Grosvenor, represents a new science/philosophy of Nexialism. This is a discipline that supposedly brings together all other disciplines but additionally provides a mechanism for viewing the totality of problems (kind of what Scientology purports to be). The science/philosophy of Nexialism is actually fairly well developed and represents one of the strengths of this book in my view. There really isn't a great deal of exploration (or even much voyaging) in these tales, in spite of the title. In each of the stories the ship is assailed by some alien menace that must be defeated. In all cases the threats initially appeared overwhelming, but were then defeated relatively simply. Much of the text is taken up discussing the internal political dynamics of the ship and the maneuverings of individuals and factions. The main interest in this story is, in my opinion, primarily historical. There are many details of the movie `Alien' that are taken directly from one of the novellas in this series. There are definitely some imaginative ideas in this novel, but some of the physics is just nonsense. Overall this is a decent, but far from outstanding, book. This book is far less interesting than even the middlin' works of hard sci-fi greats such as Larry Niven or Arthur C. Clarke. It certainly does not merit some of the 5-star reviews given to it by other reviewers. It is a nice book to buy for $1 from a used book store, but I wouldn't recommend spending much more.
An Amalgamation of Four of Vogt's Novelettes and Short Stories Into One Novel.......2006-05-14
Van Vogt combined four of his shorter stories into one novel, so although the novel publication dates lists 1950, parts were written in 1939 and 1943. A web search has led to the four stories being:
* * Black Destroyer * A. E. van Vogt * nv Astounding Jul '39
* * Discord in Scarlet * A. E. van Vogt * nv Astounding Dec '39
* * War of Nerves * A. E. van Vogt * nv Other Worlds May '50
* * M 33 in Andromeda * A. E. van Vogt * ss Astounding Aug '43
Filler material was written by Vogt to combine the four stories into one novel. The 1939 and 1943 stories are the best part of the book, the filler material is mostly boring. Although a lot has been written about Black Destroyer and it being the seed for the movie Alien, I thought that the creature in the novelette Discord In Scarlet more represented the alien. Maybe people have gotten the two mixed up. At any rate, the high value of this novel, over let's say a short story collection that contains Black Destroyer, is that Discord in Scarlet as well as M33 in Andromeda are included. When you hit these parts of the novel, your just propelled through reading it. Although the aliens are indeed horrific, there isn't as much tension as there is in the movie Alien; it's more that's it's so compellingly written. Sections are also from the aliens point of view which are superb. From what I understand, the alien in Discord in Scarlet is so omnipotent, that when the story was written it was still considered that the Universe may be closed, ie cycles through indefinite Big Bangs and Big Crunches. Well, this alien some how resisted or survived the Universe's previous Big Crunch. In between the stories are discourses on a science called Nexialism which Vogt possibly took from the root word nexus. It's defined as `applied whole-ism'. Yeah, Vogt really packed in a lot of information in that definition. From reading the novel, it appears it's just a basic knowledge of a combination of sciences. A sort of `jack of all trades, master of none.'. Actually Vogt almost seems to say it's `a master of all trades'. Considering the ambition of scientists, which scientists wouldn't want to be an expert in all fields of science instead of being limited by the shear wealth of information of just one small section of one field of science.
A breakdown of the start of the stories are:
Black Destroyer, chap 1-chap 6, Superb
Filler material on Nexialism, chap 7-chap 12, Boring
Discord in Scarlet, chap 13-chap 21, Excellent
War of Nerves, chap 22-chap 27, Mundane
M33 in Andromeda, chap 28 (end, pg 192), Great Finish
Product Description
Charles Darwin as naturalist on HMS Beagle voyage in 1831
Books:
- From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals)
- Fundamentals of Molecular Virology
- Genetics: Analysis of Genes and Genomes
- Genetics: From Genes to Genomes
- Genetics of Populations (Biological Science (Jones and Bartlett))
- Handbook of Statistics 18: Bioenvironmental and Public Health Statistics (Techniques and Instrumentation in Analytical Chemistry)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)
- Historical Geology: Evolution of Earth and Life Through Time (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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