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A review by hellojoie
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin: 1809-1882 by Charles Darwin
4.0
I'm sad to say that on my first trip through a History of Psychology course, I wasn't super interested in Darwin. A little older and a little wiser when I took a similar grad school course, that all changed. I was assigned a presentation on Darwin's early life through his voyage on the Beagle, which led me to reading some snippets of his own writing. His writing was charming, often full of wit, and sometimes deeply moving (his letter on the death of his daughter Annie is particularly touching). Soon enough I found myself ordering this fully restored edition (edited by his granddaughter). I read a decent chunk in 2016 before life got in the way, and I've just devoured the rest of it in 2 days.
Perhaps it's my own ignorance, but Darwin's autobiography didn't read at all like I would expect something from a 19th century man of science would read. Perhaps this is because his autobiography was initially written for his family, but the tone is conversational, detailed without being boring, and full of humor. This edition includes passages previously removed by his family, including his then-controversial thoughts on religion (well, maybe now-controversial too in some circles). I lost a bit of steam in the appendices when passages detailing a semi-feud between Samuel Butler* and Darwin seemed to go on a bit longer than needed, but the original letters from Darwin's friends and families - full of their advice to him on dealing with a bully - were completely enchanting. I did not expect to laugh out loud multiple times at letters from the 1880s today, but hey, there you have it.
You can actually read this whole she-bang through Darwin Online, but it was well worth the money to own my own copy. Given how much my attitude toward Darwin changed in just 5 years, I'd love to reread this again in the future and see how my perspective has changed again.
* Edit 7/9/2017: In my first review I accidentally wrote Samuel Barber instead of Samuel Butler. To clarify, Darwin did not feud with one of the most important American music composers who lived a century after Darwin.
Perhaps it's my own ignorance, but Darwin's autobiography didn't read at all like I would expect something from a 19th century man of science would read. Perhaps this is because his autobiography was initially written for his family, but the tone is conversational, detailed without being boring, and full of humor. This edition includes passages previously removed by his family, including his then-controversial thoughts on religion (well, maybe now-controversial too in some circles). I lost a bit of steam in the appendices when passages detailing a semi-feud between Samuel Butler* and Darwin seemed to go on a bit longer than needed, but the original letters from Darwin's friends and families - full of their advice to him on dealing with a bully - were completely enchanting. I did not expect to laugh out loud multiple times at letters from the 1880s today, but hey, there you have it.
You can actually read this whole she-bang through Darwin Online, but it was well worth the money to own my own copy. Given how much my attitude toward Darwin changed in just 5 years, I'd love to reread this again in the future and see how my perspective has changed again.
* Edit 7/9/2017: In my first review I accidentally wrote Samuel Barber instead of Samuel Butler. To clarify, Darwin did not feud with one of the most important American music composers who lived a century after Darwin.