Darwin's Armada: Summary and book reviews of Darwin's Armada by Iain McCalman, plus links to an excerpt from Darwin's Armada and a biography of Iain McCalman.

Darwin's Armada tells the stories of Charles Darwin, Thomas Huxley, Joseph Hooker and Alfred Wallace, four young amateur naturalists from Britain who voyaged to the southern hemisphere during the first half of the nineteenth century in search of adventure and scientific fame. It charts their thrilling voyages to the strange and beautiful lands of the southern hemisphere that reshaped the young mariners' scientific ideas and led them, on returning to Britain, to befriend fellow voyager Charles Darwin. All three crucially influenced the publication and reception of his Origin of Species in 1859, one of the formative texts of the modern world. For the first time the Darwinian revolution of ideas is seen as a genuinely collective enterprise and one that had its birth in a series of gripping and human travel adventures. Many of the most urgent ecological and social issues of our times are seen to be prefigured in this compelling story of intellectual discovery.

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A must-read for anyone interested in how the theory of evolution developed. It is recommended particularly for those with an interest in the biological sciences, although non-scientific readers will find it very accessible.  (Reviewed by Kim Kovacs).

Full Review (970 words).

Media Reviews

The New Yorker McCalman evokes the physical hardships and social intricacies navigated by his heroes...and also the feel of an era when 'adventure and science went hand in hand.'   Publishers Weekly In delightful prose...McCalman does a good job of detailing the hardships...suffered while also demonstrating the scientific growth each underwent.   Kirkus Reviews Starred Review. An extraordinary true-adventure story, complete with trials, tribulations and moments of exultation.   The Guardian (UK) Rather like Wallace, McCalman knows he is an outsider to mainstream Darwin studies, but he tells his story well. It reads as a combination of Boy's Own travellers' tales stretching from the Amazon to Antarctica, and a scientific adventure as racy as any historical novel.   The Australian [An] exhilarating take on the collective biography idea applied to Charles Darwin and his fellow adventurers in evolutionary science: Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley and Alfred Wallace.

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