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What about Darwin? – All Species of Opinion from Scientists, Sages, Friends and Enemies, Who Met, Read, and Discussed the Naturalist Who Changed
Author(s): Tf Glick (Author)
- Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
- Publication Date: 9 July 2010
- Language: English
- Print length: 560 pages
- ISBN-10: 080189462X
- ISBN-13: 9780801894626
Book Description
Charles Darwin and his revolutionary ideas inspired pundits the world over to put pen to paper. In this unique dictionary of quotations, Darwin scholar Thomas Glick presents fascinating observations about Darwin and his ideas from such notable figures as P. T. Barnum, Anton Chekhov, Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Jung, Martin Luther King, Mao Tse-tung, Pius IX, Jules Verne, and Virginia Woolf. What was it about Darwin that generated such widespread interest? His Origin of Species changed the world. Naturalists, clerics, politicians, novelists, poets, musicians, economists, and philosophers alike could not help but engage his theory of evolution. Whatever their view of his theory, however, those who met Darwin were unfailingly charmed by his modesty, kindness, honesty, and seriousness of purpose. This diverse collection drawn from essays, letters, novels, short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, and parodies demonstrates how Darwin’s ideas permeated all areas of thought. The quotations trace a broad conversation about Darwin across great distances of time and space, revealing his profound influence on the great thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Editorial Reviews
Review
What about Darwin? is a simply delightful book to browse through.
–Glenn Branch, Reports of the National Center for Science Education
–Michael Ruse, Quarterly Review of Biology
–Glenn Branch, Reports of the National Center for Science Education
An invaluable source book on the reactions of important thinkers to Darwin’s ideas and to the man himself. In addition, [Glick] has created an entertaining volume that lends itself to browsing and to sparking unlikely connections.
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Wonderful nuggets of information can be gleaned from
What about Darwin?, a splendid compilation of opinions of the great (and not so great) who read Darwin’s works. This volume is terrific fun. Like Tennyson, get two copies; one for yourself and one to put on the side table in the guest bedroom.–Michael Ruse, Quarterly Review of Biology
About the Author
Thomas F. Glick is a professor of history at Boston University and has written widely on Darwin. Among his many books are Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican Confronts Evolution, 1877–1902, also published by Johns Hopkins; The Reception of Darwinism in the Iberian World; and The Comparative Reception of Darwinism.
