David Quammen is the author of The Song of the Dodo, among other books. He has been honored with the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, an award in the art of the essay from PEN, and (three times) the National Magazine Award. Quammen is also a contributing writer for National Geographic. He lives in Bozeman, Montana.
Everyone knows "Darwin's" Theory of Evolution. Fewer people know that although Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years, Alfred Russel Wallace independently wrote up his own version first, or that Darwin's powerful friends manipulated circumstances so that his name was attached to a "joint publication." Darwin was an explorer who became a recluse, a trained clergyman who became an atheist, and a scientific amateur who trained himself to be a methodical, dedicated researcher. Most important, Darwin was a timid man with a very bold theory. In Reluctant Mr. Darwin, Quammen examines not only the odd life of a great scientist but the 19th-century biological research establishment to which he belonged. Writing for the scientific novice, the author clearly explains difficult concepts, such as natural selection, mutation, and various versions of evolutionary theory. Although at times Quammen writes as though he was actually channeling Darwin's mind, his conclusions are usually plausible. Grover Gardner is a first-rate reader who seems genuinely to enjoy recounting the foibles of Darwin's life. An excellent general audience title; recommended for all public, academic, and secondary school collections.-I. Pour-El, Des Moines Area Community Coll., Boone, IA Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
It's easy to hear why PW named Grover Gardner Narrator of the Year in '05. He uses inflection, stress, rhythm and his rich vocal range to create an easy and often amusing conversational style. This is particularly appropriate for the modern idiom that makes Quammen's book so lively and readable. (He writes, for example, that Darwin did "a vast amount of scholarly nibbling and scribbling.") It took Darwin 21 years (and the threat that someone else might publish first) to publish his theory because almost all his contemporaries held theological views of nature, and his wife feared that she and Charles would not be united in heaven. Quammen explains that the synthesis of Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's genetic discoveries was essential to establish what now underpins all modern science. This short, highly readable book is as valuable as it is timely. Simultaneous release with the Norton hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 17). (July) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
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