Author:Janet Browne
This concluding volume of Janet Browne's biography covers the transformation in Darwin's life after the first unexpected announcement of the theory of evolution by natural selection and the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859. Always a private man, Darwin found himself a controversial figure, reviewed and discussed in circles that stretched far beyond the boundaries of Victorian science.
Janet Browne here examines the wider publishing world of Victorian England and the different audiences that responded to the ideas of one of the leading thinkers of the nineteenth century and considers the Darwinian revolution from Darwin's point of view.
One of the most distinguished of all modern biographies
—— GuardianA monumental and absorbing biography
—— ScotsmanHer first book, Voyaging, was hailed as a magisterial introduction to Darwin's life, a work that vividly evoked period, character and ideas. The only question was: could she follow it up? It has taken seven years to get an answer: an emphatic yes
—— Robin McKie , ObserverBrowne's first volume was warmly received when it appeared seven years ago, and the second triumphantly fulfils its promise...[a] remarkable book
—— James Secord , Daily TelegraphA marvellous book... This second part of the life stands on its own. Soothing, unhurried and absorbing
—— Jane Ridley , SpectatorJohnson paints Priestley not as a man of the past but precisely the sort of figure the world needs more than ever
—— New York PostCompelling
—— GuardianPacy, yet full of fascinating scientific digressions
—— TelegraphFascinating and wide-ranging account of 'the world's first computer' ... marvellous
—— Daily MailA delightful read that will stimulate the scientist inside everyone
—— BluesciThis slender, elegantly written memoir by a female surgeon, Gabriel Weston, is a fascinating, no holds barred account of life in the operating theatre
—— IndependentThrough this insightful book, Weston succeeds superbly in communicating the fascinating brutal reality of a surgeon's life
—— Ian Critchley , Daily TelegraphGabriel Weston's story succeeds better than any I have known...more riveting and thought-provoking than any fiction
—— The Lady, Susan HillGlinting like a tray of instruments, her prose is satisfyingly precise
—— Victoria Segal , The GuardianA curiously thrilling read, written with an elegance heightened by its clarity and economy
—— Elizabeth Day , ObserverA valuable and unflinching account, since it so clearly tells the truth
—— Christopher Hart , The Sunday TimesThis book is mesmerising
—— William Leith , ScotsmanHer description of the struggle to remain individual and hence moral is her real achievement. This, to me, is what female writing has to do, and she does it with style and humour and beauty
—— Rachel CuskRichard Dawkin's new book... gives the fact-rejecters their just deserts
—— Daily TelegraphThe book is full of evidence, some familiar and some new. Its case is presented in a manner succinct, clear and sometimes vivid
—— Daily TelegraphNo other book currently available approaches Dawkin's comprehensive yet accessible treatment of the extraordinarily diverse and massive body of data that drives ineluctably to the same conclusion
—— National Center for Science EducationThe Greatest Show on Earth is a lucid, thorough and often exciting survey of evolution and takes in rats' teeth, dogs, bacteria, the so-called missing link, crustaceans, giraffe anatomy, hummingbirds, chimpanzees, enzymes - you name it. It is informed in nearly every paragraph by Mr. Dawkins's irrepressible enthusiasm
—— Sarah Lyall , New York TimesThe Greatest Show on Earth... is essential reading. I would currently rate it... as the best overall book on the evidence for Evolution
—— Marc E. Miquel , SCOPEThis is a magnificent book of wonderstanding: Richard Dawkins combines an artist's wonder at the virtuosity of nature with a scientist's understanding of how it comes to be
—— Matt Ridley, author of "Nature via Nurture"