Odyssey: Young Charles Darwin, the Beagle, and the Voyage That Changed the World

Historian Chaffin (Revolutionary Brothers) delivers a granular look at Charles Darwin’s journey aboard the HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836. Drawing on Darwin’s voluminous diaries and letters and the writings of Capt. Robert FitzRoy and others onboard, Chaffin meticulously, if somewhat ponderously, charts the ship’s many stops along the coast of South America and Darwin’s long excursions into the interior. (He spent three-fifths of the five-year voyage on land.) Copious attention is paid to the natural specimens Darwin collected, as well as to his scientific influences, including geologist Charles Lyell, who broke with prevailing opinion to argue that “still active and readily observable natural processes, rather than rare catastrophes” shaped the earth. Back in England, Darwin drew from Lyell’s theories and the observations he had made in Punta Alta, Argentina, the Galápagos Islands, and elsewhere to develop his ideas about the evolution of plants and animals. Though medical ailments and fears about religious blowback delayed the publication of The Origin of the Species until 1859, Chaffin clearly demonstrates that Darwin’s time aboard the Beagle formed the “intellectual bedrock” for his theory of natural selection. Even if the documentation of every excursion grows tedious, readers with a passion for the subject will savor this account of the scientific process at work. (Feb.)