Engaging and accessible, historically accurate and admirably lucid in its scientific exposition, Cyril Aydon's life of the man who fathered the theory of evolution examines Darwin's personal quests and illuminates his revolutionary achievements. It begins with one of the most overlooked factors in the great man's success—he was rich, and could thus devote himself to the pursuits that established him as one of the undisputed giants in the field of natural history. He made major contributions to geology, he virtually invented ecology, and he changed forever our view of the place held in the natural order by Homo sapiens. Darwin was also a devoted father and husband, and Aydon's biography never loses sight of the man and the family that stood behind him throughout his career, especially when it erupted in the epochal controversy accompanying publication of The Origin of Species. That career included Darwin's expeditionary voyage aboard the Beagle, a viscerally thrilling and intellectually exciting adventure that is vividly recounted here. In addition, pages of photographs and an extended postscript consider the far-reaching influence of Darwin, following intellectual thought through two centuries of evolutionary speculation and scientific discovery. Read Less