Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Riverdale, NY : New York : Baen ; Distributed by Simon & Schuster, c2002.
Description
When the renowned Dr Erasmus Darwin is called upon to heal a man dying of an apparently impossible ailment, he has no idea that it is the beginning of a quest that will lead him to the darkest corners of Europe, and a stunning encounter with the most famous inhabitant of a certain Scottish loch.
User reviews
LibraryThing member GibsonGirl
This collection contains six substantial stories featuring Erasmus Darwin, the polymathish ancestor of the more famous theorist of evolution. The elder Darwin (1731-1802) was arguably the most famous English medical practitioner of his era, a poet and a talented dabbler in the natural sciences.
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Here he is a kind of 18th-century Sherlock Holmes, complete with a Watson-style assistant in the form of one Col. Jacob Pole, an ex-military man and irascible treasure hunter. Darwin is an amiable, opinionated, fascinating fellow. The saturnine Jacob Pole is a perfect foil. And although the depiction of the era is superficial—not inaccurate, just not overly deep—a sufficient sense of the roots of the Industrial Revolution (which in its turn birthed science fiction) comes across. -- Paul di Filippo, Sci-Fi.com "Off the Shelf". [Because he said so gracefully everything I wanted to say!!] Show Less
LibraryThing member Cheryl_in_CC_NV
Very cool; original. Fans of Jules Verne and Sherlock Holmes would like it I think.
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Original publication date
Physical description
337 p.; 25 inches
ISBN
074343529X / 9780743435291