Status
Available
Call number
Description
Darwin's eldest daughter Annie died when she was only ten years old. In the writing case are keepsakes of her life that cast precious light on Darwin's work and on his love for his wife and children. Taking Annie's story as his starting point Randal Keynes brings together science and humanity in a book that makes a major contribution to our understanding of Charles Darwin.
Publication
Riverhead Books, Published by the Penguin Group, New York, NY
Subjects
ISBN
9781594484742
Collection
Language
Media reviews
The Darwin industry produces biographies regularly, but this one has a rare combination of emotional power and historical authority. Annie's death seems to have reinforced Darwin's doubts about religious consolation. As the author of a theory that relieved God of any responsibility for creating new
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species, Darwin found it hard to believe that he intervened in human life. And as a grieving parent, he found it impossible to see this death as part of any divine plan. It might have an explanation, even a cause, but no reason. Keynes's Darwin, in other words, is a thinker facing up to the realities of the secular world most of us now live in. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member mbmackay
Wonderfully detailed history of Charles Darwin's family life through the lens of the tragic death of his much loved daughter.
Read in Samoa May 2002
Read in Samoa May 2002
LibraryThing member SwitchKnitter
This was a look at the home life of Charles Darwin. It seemed to be that the title promised more than it delivered. The daughter in question, Annie, seemed to be an enigma rather than a beloved special child. There was some interesting stuff about his attitude towards his children and the effect
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Annie's death had on him, but it didn't seem as tightly tied to his work as the author seemed to think it was. It was an okay book. I'll probably have forgotten I read it in a month, honestly. Show Less
LCC
QH31.D2 K48