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Voyage of the Beagle

by Charles Darwin, E. Janet Browne (Editor), Michael Neve (Editor)

3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 · rating details · 2,115 ratings · 131 reviews

s/t: Charles Darwin's Journal of Researches
When the Beagle sailed out of Devonport on 27 December 1831, Charles Darwin was twenty-two and setting off on the voyage of a lifetime.
It was to last five years and transform him from an amiable and somewhat aimless young man into a scientific celebrity. Even more vitally, it was to set in motion the intellectual currents that cu...more

Paperback, Classics, 432 pages

Published November 7th 1989 by Penguin Books (first published 1839)

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Mar 24, 2013 Rob Kirkham rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: autobiography-biography-memoir, classics, non-fiction, read-2013, want-to-own, year-of-classics-13, maybe-could-be-ya, science

This book obviously shows its age as a work of science writing, but it is a magnificent travelogue. Darwin's voyage, detailed in this account, transformed his beliefs and laid the groundwork for his theories of evolution. His descriptions of the indigenous peoples he encountered, as well as the fellow expatriates and travelers he met, make for an entertaining cast of characters, set against an ever-changing, but continually marvelous background of islands and foreign lands. We meet a wide range...more This book obviously shows its age as a work of science writing, but it is a magnificent travelogue. Darwin's voyage, detailed in this account, transformed his beliefs and laid the groundwork for his theories of evolution. His descriptions of the indigenous peoples he encountered, as well as the fellow expatriates and travelers he met, make for an entertaining cast of characters, set against an ever-changing, but continually marvelous background of islands and foreign lands. We meet a wide range of fascinating people throughout the trip: the Fuegians of Tierra del Fuego, gauchos of Argentina, and the New Zealander Maoris and the British in Australia. Darwin's reflections on civilized man vs. native man are interesting, but a little prejudiced by his generation's mores. Nevertheless, it would make interesting ground for discussion.

The science discussed in this book is elementary by today's standard. In fact, Darwin's conclusions are so seemingly obvious that it's difficult to believe that this voyage and his discoveries established his presence in the scientific community. On one hand, this makes sense because he first became popular for the fossil collecting he did on this journey. On the other hand, his apparently obvious theorizing may be a testament to his importance as a scientist because it is so ubiquitous today. The things we "know" today, even as children, were great mysteries of nature at one point, and Darwin is one of the most important illuminating voices in human history.

I think this would be a great choice for young adults, even junior high aged students. The writing may be a little dense and difficult for young readers from time to time, but it is a coming of age story, full of fantastic adventures that shock and entertain. The ideas Darwin mulls over in this diary are still relevant today, and there's little in this book as controversial as his theories in On the Origin of Species. I would love to teach this book to my students one day, but I don't know if that will ever be a possibility.

The book is in the public domain and available online here: http://www.literature.org/authors/dar...(less)

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Jun 22, 2012 Jeffrey Mclellan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Sometimes dry, yet fascinating glimpse into the world as it was in the 1830's. Darwin spent nearly 5 years circumnavigating the world as the naturalist companion to the captain of the good ship Beagle.

In addition to his comments about the geology and biology of the areas he visits, you learn about the social conditions as well. He discusses slavery which England had finally banned not many years before but which he comes into direct contact with while exploring areas of South America. He compar...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Kristin rated it 3 of 5 stars

In the first one hundred pages of the Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin is writing a journal about his encounters and discoveries of visiting multiple islands and countries while satisfying his curiosity by exploring everything that would make him wonder. He filled the journal with his questions, observations, experiments, and helpful facts from either him or other people. The book also provided diagrams to help the readers visualize the things he saw. Throughout the book he describes the thin...more
In the first one hundred pages of the Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin is writing a journal about his encounters and discoveries of visiting multiple islands and countries while satisfying his curiosity by exploring everything that would make him wonder. He filled the journal with his questions, observations, experiments, and helpful facts from either him or other people. The book also provided diagrams to help the readers visualize the things he saw. Throughout the book he describes the thing he see with incredible detail, and for all the places he visits he observes everything from the smallest insects to the most intriguing cuttlefish. Although this book is very interesting I feel that Charles Darwin likes to add an excessive amount of detail. To describe my favorite part, when he was exploring the diodon, he almost wrote two pages to describe it's actions and colors. For the diodon he got into so much detail I felt like I had seen it myself. Not only does Charles Darwin examine animals he also looks at the different lifestyles between each region. Charles Darwin seemed to enjoy comparing and contrasting the ways of different regions compared to him. The most commonly mentioned things when it comes to people are what they eat, what is considered proper manners, they're prior knowledge, and how they hunt. Even though Charles Darwin is a journalist he adds a hint of humor by mentioning how he fell off his horse while just mindlessly twirling a different kind of lasso in the air. Not only does he talk about living things he also tells us of the siliceous tube that lightening makes when it strikes loose sand. He also mentions the shape of the land and refers to the Rio Negro as a very broad river, and says the soil around it is gravelly and infertile. For the last portion of the last few pages he continues mentioning the quadrupeds of south Africa and continues describing the way birds work to raise their young such as the cuckoo bird laying eggs in other bird's nests to cocks who have about twenty to thirty eggs in each nest. Through these one hundred pages I learned everything Charles Darwin had learned too.(less)

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Apr 16, 2009 Erik Graff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone

Recommended to Erik by: Bill Ellos

Shelves: sciences

Upon matriculating into Loyola University's MA/PhD program in philosophy during the late summer of 1980, I was assigned to Bill Ellos as his teaching assistant. Bill, a deep-cover Jesuit, had come to Chicago from Washington State, having done some work there with educational film as well as being a university professor. His interests were diverse to say the least. His doctoral dissertation form the Pontifical Institute in Rome was on Wittgenstein, but the work he had me doing originally was most...more Upon matriculating into Loyola University's MA/PhD program in philosophy during the late summer of 1980, I was assigned to Bill Ellos as his teaching assistant. Bill, a deep-cover Jesuit, had come to Chicago from Washington State, having done some work there with educational film as well as being a university professor. His interests were diverse to say the least. His doctoral dissertation form the Pontifical Institute in Rome was on Wittgenstein, but the work he had me doing originally was mostly in medical ethics, sociobiology and the foundations of evolutionary theory. That meant a lot of reading for me, both of Wittgenstein and of Darwin and Wallace. Most of it was close reading in that he expected me to follow themes, to create indices relevant to his work. This was fine. I often was learning more from the research assistantship than from classwork. Besides, we only met occasionally and he got me assistantships every summer so I could literally take the work to Michigan and the beach in the warm months.

Darwin's account of his researches while berthed as a gentleman scientist on HMS Beagle works as a travel book, but it is punctuated by the kinds of observations which led to his theory of natural selection. As such, it is recommended to anyone interested in the subject as an introduction to it. Too often we learn "science" from textbooks, presented as if received from on high as holy writ, and do not learn how the knowledge was obtained, the interpretations derived. The Voyage of the Beagle gives some of that background in a highly entertaining, even adventurous, fashion.

The theory of evolution was not, of course, new with Darwin. One finds such speculation in the ancient Greeks. Kant's Anthropology speculates about our descent from simian ancestors. What Darwin did was to hypothesize an agent, natural selection, for such evolution and provide detailed data supporting his theory.

I was fortunate to have four years and three summers of research assistantships at Loyola and doubly fortunate to be assigned, at least half-time, to Bill Ellos during most if not all of that period. Although I never took one of his medical ethics courses, he probably cared for my intellectual and professional development more than any other at the university. It was he who not only got me to read most of Wittgenstein, but also encouraged me to deliver a paper on the man and later publish it. It was he who got me interested and involved in fields beyond the ken of contemporary academic philosophy. Yet, throughout, I always had the sense that he was adjusting my work assignments somewhat, taking into account my own interests, potential interests and needs, not just his own.

Towards the end of these assignments I learned that one was expected to spend about 16-20 hours weekly on one's assistantship. I was amazed, having spent more like 40 hours weekly at the flat rate of pay we all received. Still, it was worth it. I would have done much of it for Bill and form myself without recompense.

At the end, after orals and after reaching the absolute limit on assistantship assignments, Bill took me out for dinner and conversation at a fine restaurant in Evanston. He needn't have done that, but the human touch, so characteristic of Bill, was much appreciated.

I have no idea where Bill is now.(less)

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Apr 26, 2012 Maggie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel, science, old-literature

i have waited 47 years* to read this book and finally got to it ... ohmy ohmy ohmy ... highly recommended: it's a travelogue, a naturalist's journal ... it includes geology, cultural observations, ornithology, oceanography, and all manner of things on flora and fauna particular to locations visited ... all from c. darwin's perspective. wow. THE travel journal to lead and to end ALL travel journals, imo.

*in the spring of 1965 for a biology class at lsu, i attended a lecture by an enthusiastic pr...more

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Jun 02, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

Darwin's ability to observe the natural world during his circumvention of the southern hemisphere on the H.M.S. Beagle is surpassed only by his ability to recollect and synthesize his observations into theories which then seem self-evident. With only an occasional tangent into analysis, he spends the majority of the book ruminating on the geological forces exerting slow but inexorable changes on the plains of Brazil, the mountains of Chile, and the archipelagos of the Pacific, and describing the...more

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Jul 06, 2012 Plucino rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: latin-america, science, travel

un'America del Sud quasi primordiale, sotto l'occhio attento del padre dell'evoluzionismo

(per mia pigrizia dò per scontato che si sappia chi è Darwin e si abbiano idee imprecise sul viaggio del Beagle, a parte i fringuelli delle Galapagos; recensire non vuol dire necessariamente riassumere ed informare...)

Mito da sfatare: NON è assolutamente il resoconto di un viaggio in nave... Darwin ha passato la maggior parte del tempo a cavallo o a piedi.

Oltre alla Terra del Fuoco, ho trovato avventurosi ed...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Valerie added it

Darwin was largely a paternalistic meliorist, who apparently genuinely believed that Europeans were improving people's lives through colonialism, missionaries, etc.

This book reveals odd doubts, though. Darwin expresses agnostic puzzlement about oral histories telling of terrible plagues accompanying the arrival of Europeans. He's not sure how to believe it, and yet can't (quite) dismiss it--so he recommends further study (which, I might add, has confirmed the stories of epidemics in spades).

Dar...more

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Valerie Why shouldn't I be? It's a nineteenth century book, after all.

Furthermore, those assumptions haven't stopped having effects. Darwin is often misquoted...more
Mar 29, 2013 03:53pm

Valerie Far from it. Darwin's personal foibles are as much a part of his impact as his work. Furthermore, nobody made him take the chances he took. To take ch...more Far from it. Darwin's personal foibles are as much a part of his impact as his work. Furthermore, nobody made him take the chances he took. To take chances to do something you want to do is not heroism. I don't honor astronauts for that, and I don't honor people who took long treks in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly when they did a great deal of harm.

Darwin's work is not less valuable because he was a product of his times and training. And, as I've pointed out, he rose above that training in many ways.

But the prejudices he carried with him and brought back to further disseminate among his contemporaries were anything but harmless. I left out a lot of stuff in the interests of brevity--his insults against Maoris, his arguments that Tahitian life was improved by forced Christianization, his repeated offensive remarks about the population of Tierra del Fuego...

Darwin's paternalistic meliorism was the typical attitude of his time, nation, and class. He was a better writer than many if not most of his contemporaries (though modern publishers tend to clean up his punctuation, which was of the 'one comma every four words' type), which made his words have more impact on his contemporaries--compare, for example, his own contribution to his first published work (a defense of missionaries) with the part written by Captain Fitzroy.

The important contrast would be with other people who undertook such treks. For example, von Humboldt, though recognizing the 'degraded' state of the Mesoamericans of his time, also recognized the high civilizations they had once had. Or for an example of someone considerably worse than Darwin, consider Townsend's abusive comments about 'Flathead' peoples of the American West. At one point he states outright in his diary that he's plotting to KILL one of the curious children of his hosts, to send the child's skull back to a noted collector of skulls (probably, given the time, Morton).

If you want to make a fair comment on my assessment of Darwin's published PROFESSIONAL works, I suggest you check out my reviews of those works. This is no such matter. It's a traveler's tale; a narrative of his adventures published shortly after the author's return home. It's accurate...in places. It has interesting bits of geographical fact. It contains early hints of Darwin's later work on things like coral atolls. It describes some remarkable things like a massive flood in South America, changes to the island of St Helena since the arrival of humans, and a wide variety of other things. It's not an accident that a major city in Australia is named after Darwin, any more than that at least one major river is named after Fitzroy.

What it is NOT is a report of his scientific findings, which he hadn't even begun to tap into. For that, one would need to go to his actual notebooks. If you know of a publication of those, lead me to it.

But I feel that it's very important to point out that Darwin did NOT intervene to protect people from their oppressors, and that he often agreed with said oppressors. Not always; which is why I pointed out the exceptions. But too often. Nor did I say the book was not worth reading. I was simply warning prospective readers of Darwin's PERSONAL biases. Which he himself would almost certainly not have considered above reproach.

One characteristic of Darwin's that I've always admired was his reluctance to debate. Which is why he left the debates about his theories to others who relished the 'bulldog' role. He published his theories when he was ready to publish them (except with Origin of Species, when he was in danger of being 'scooped'. But he didn't engage in acrimonious disputes about his work. And he was always willing to hear courteously what is meant to challenge his beliefs, and to discuss the comments calmly. If he had read my review, he might or might not have agreed with it: what he wouldn't have done, I'll hazard, is reject it out of hand.(less)
Mar 29, 2013 04:32pm

Dec 14, 2012 Gwern rated it 3 of 5 stars

Frequently exceedingly dry and of no interest except to naturalists, and probably not always them either: Darwin's voyage was so long ago that much of his information and speculation is simply outdated (his talk of 'miasmas' is one instance where later information makes his material of purely historical interest).

If one is reading it for background on evolution and _Origin of Species_, one will be disappointed: there are a handful of lines in the main part of the work which may be taken as prefi...more Frequently exceedingly dry and of no interest except to naturalists, and probably not always them either: Darwin's voyage was so long ago that much of his information and speculation is simply outdated (his talk of 'miasmas' is one instance where later information makes his material of purely historical interest).

If one is reading it for background on evolution and _Origin of Species_, one will be disappointed: there are a handful of lines in the main part of the work which may be taken as prefiguring or groping towards evolution, and then there's some speculation in the surprisingly short Galapagos section (I suspect he spends as much time describing the gauchos' methods of horsemanship and dealing with cattle as he does on all of the Galapagos material!). In general, the 'pacing' is quite odd: reams of material on South America, some pages on the Galapagos, a dash to New Zealand & Australia, a long section on islands and 'cacao-nuts' (coconuts), a mini-monograph on coral atolls, and the book abruptly ends.

Which is not to say he doesn't occasionally drop in interesting or acute observations, for he does. (The shepherd-dog of South America quite took my fancy, for example.) They are just rare welcome morsels in the general desert of this door-stopper. If I had to recommend it to my past self, I would tell him to skip the bulk but to read the Tierra del Fuego sections where the events are both interesting and evocative of the long uncivilized past of man (and perhaps his future), the Galapagos section for its substantial historical interest, and maybe the brief conclusion.

----

My National Geographic anniversary edition is substantially lacking in additional material; there is surprisingly little about its reception, what contributions it made, where it was prescient and where it was wrong (disturbing, since one doesn't know what mistakes, misimpressions, outdated information, plausible yet wrong speculation, etc. one might be absorbing over the 400+ pages). As well, Darwin's original illustrations would benefit mightily from additional material like color photographs and maps.(less)

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Jul 26, 2012 Amerynth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: adventure, exploration, read-2011, sailing, south-america, patagonia

If you enjoy natural history, you'll find Darwin's account of his five-year journey around the globe in "The Voyage of the Beagle" both accessible and interesting. His trip is recounted in exhaustive detail -- which I found really enjoyable when he was writing about a subject I was interested in and somewhat tedious when he was talking about geology, which I don't much care for reading about. The most enjoyable part of the book was the account of Jemmy Button, York Minster and Fuegia Basket, nat...more

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Aug 24, 2012 Büchermonster rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Charles Darwin ist gerade einmal 22 Jahre alt, als er von dem mit ihm eng befreundeten Botaniker John Stevens Henslow die Einladung erhält, den Kapitän Robert FitzRoy auf seiner Fahrt mit der HMS Beagle zu begleiten. Dieser suche für die zwei Jahre dauernde Reise einen Begleiter mit naturwissenschaftlichen Kenntnissen, der ihn bei seiner Mission, im Auftrag der britischen Krone die südamerikanische Küste zu vermessen, unterstützen könne. Darwin nimmt das Angebot begeistert an und stößt am 27. De...more

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Apr 26, 2012 Ann added it

This is Darwin's account of his famous voyage around the world, with particular focus, of course, on South America.

He was a very young man when he made the journey, and his youthful enthusiasm, curiosity, and sense of wonder were contageous. His keen powers of observation also were manifest on every page.

It is unfortunate that he was somewhat afflicted with the imperialistic, colonial attitudes of his time and culture, although he was perhaps a little more evolved, (pun intended), than most.

Stil...more

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Feb 18, 2009 John rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Commanders in the Royal Navy could not socialize with their crew. They ate their meals alone-- then they met with the officers on board ship. This took it's mental toll on the ship's Captain's and so they were allowed a "civil" companion-- someone from outside the Navy who would be under their command but was not part of the crew. Captain Fitz Roy (age 26), a Nobleman and a passionate Naturalist chose Charles Darwin (a wealthy, upper-class Naturalist "enthusiast") to be his companion aboard the...more Commanders in the Royal Navy could not socialize with their crew. They ate their meals alone-- then they met with the officers on board ship. This took it's mental toll on the ship's Captain's and so they were allowed a "civil" companion-- someone from outside the Navy who would be under their command but was not part of the crew. Captain Fitz Roy (age 26), a Nobleman and a passionate Naturalist chose Charles Darwin (a wealthy, upper-class Naturalist "enthusiast") to be his companion aboard the HMS Beagle for the five year voyage to map Patagonia and Tierra del Feugo and circumnavigate the globe.

What I found most interesting about this book was how easy it is to read and enjoy. It is the edited journal of Charles Darwin during his voyage on HMS Beagle, yes, but it reads like a travel channel show with Darwin as your host. This is not the old, "Origin of Species" Darwin with his long white beard and noble, wisely appearance. This is just-out-of-college Darwin, looking for adventure. He's 24 years old, he knows nothing, he wants to see everything, he is good natured, idealistic, and full of questions. It's like he's on a cruise ship (which happens to be a ship-of-war) and he only has a few days at each port to "party" and see all the sights ("Naturalist gone Wild!"). What makes the journals enjoyable is that this is not a young man who thinks he has all the answers. He is aware of his inexperience and unfamiliarity with every surrounding he finds himself in and relies on interviews with others (locals, magistrates, natives, scientists) to fill in the blanks. He is smart. He accumulates facts. He writes them down. He expresses brief opinions. He gathers more facts. He has adventures. And here and there a light clicks on. We see something start to dawn on him. He doesn't put it together (that will come years later) but all the information he needs to formulate his later theories is here-- he just doesn't see it. But we do! And that's the fun of reading these journals: watching this young man grow up on this five year voyage. What makes this an extraordinary read is that we know how it ends. This book is a little like watching The Sixth Sense a second time (after you know the twist) to watch all the clues missed the first time-- knowing that years later-- Darwin will see the twist.(less)

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Apr 01, 2013 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science

Darwin traveled aboard the H.M.S. Beagle in the 1830's, stopping at the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and all over South America in the five year journey. This work chronicles the events of the trip itself and reads partly as a traveler's journal and partly as a detailed description of the natural surroundings by a scientist. Stopping at the Galapagos Islands resulted in the formulation of a new theory which changed the face of modern science, but the voyage was apparently f...more Darwin traveled aboard the H.M.S. Beagle in the 1830's, stopping at the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and all over South America in the five year journey. This work chronicles the events of the trip itself and reads partly as a traveler's journal and partly as a detailed description of the natural surroundings by a scientist. Stopping at the Galapagos Islands resulted in the formulation of a new theory which changed the face of modern science, but the voyage was apparently full of many interesting events and constitutes quite an interesting and readable adventure.

The book lets you really get to know Charles Darwin in as personal a way as is possible for culture and writing style of this time period. He comes across as a humble man, showing respect for all peoples and animals he encounters. It's well known that Darwin was sharply critical of slavery (one of several reasons he felt it important to later publish The Descent Of Man), and it comes across in this book often to the point of pure rage. He makes a point to show how unashamed he is of treating different races of people as all equal from the biological perspective. He does however make a strong distinction between peoples he finds to be kind, hospitable, civilized, moral, and those peoples who are brash, free-loading, and "savage". Not a politically correct term any longer, but by no means is he being racist. He speaks the highest praise of the native Polynesians of Tahiti, harping on their grace, elegance, and civil nature, yet is easily exhausted by their Maori cousins of New Zealand who seem to him unnecessarily violent and un-civilized (owing probably most to their use of a slave class, which again he hates).

The trek is full of long excursions and not just the simple little port visits I had imagined. He spends weeks or sometimes months off the ship and surveying the countryside and its peoples. The crew stops at a port and then Darwin and a shipmate or two would procure guides and horses/mules to take long trips to the tops of mountains, to volcanoes, through primeval forests, across desolate Patagonian plains, up rivers, to tributary islands, deep into the countryside of the Australian outback, and many other places. Each place he visits he describes his surroundings in Tolkien-esque detail, making it easy to visualize these places. Sometimes he's visiting these places simply to see and write about them, but often he's gathering specimens of plants, insects, and animals to take back to the ship and study. He spends much of the time then dissecting the animals and looking at various specimens under his microscope.

Aside from the total variety of experiences, what makes this book truly enjoyable is his wit. What could perhaps be difficult subject matter he makes easy to understand and the entire account is made interesting because of the humorous way he describes his exploits or the quirks of some of the people he encounters. He gathered one animal specimen by sneaking up behind him and hitting it on the head with his geological hammer. When he observed the giant tortoise would drop to the ground and pull into his shell when alerted to him, he then crept onto his back and surfed the turtle for awhile until he fell off. He has such a dry wit but it enlivens even the dreariest subject matter.

Above all the book shows what it means to go into the unknown with a sense of adventure, humility and wonder. Darwin's personality seems ideally suited for the rigors and challenges of a global journey to so many wild places and yet to come away with a treasure of scientific insight that helped modern man better understand the natural world.(less)

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Jul 26, 2011 Katya Epstein rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book a lot. It was a delight for me to discover that Charles Darwin was a real geek, brimming with an enthusiasm for all things geological or entomological (or zoological) that shines through in spite of the incredibly dry and haughty reading by David Case (I was listening to the audiobook). Darwin went on an unimaginably wild five-year adventure all the way around the world, but he refers only in passing to any of the danger or drama encountered: To him the fossils and geo...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Brandon T. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In the conclusion to his book, The Voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin writes, “it appears to me that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist, than a journey in distant countries.”

He couldn’t have known at the time just how true those words were - for himself. The observations he made while sailing with the English ship H.M.S. Beagle would provide an underpinning for Darwin when he later formulated his theory of evolution.

The five-year expedition, under the command of Captain Robert...more

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Dec 21, 2009 Jeffrey rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: science

Darwin was so much more than just the discoverer of evolution. He was an intrepid explorer, riding hundreds of miles across the pampas of South America, bushwacking his way up every mountain or hill that he saw, and recording his observations about the animals, plants and people of the lands he visited as a clever and thoughtful observer. I read this book to prepare for a trip to the Galapagos this winter. I got much more than expected. I can heartily recommend this book to all erstwhile 25 year...more

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May 13, 2011 Sean Meriwether rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: travel, science-geek

What I found more fascinating in Darwin’s journey vs his better known work is the sheer exuberance of discovery. Through observation and reasoning alone he builds his understanding as he picks up the jigsaw pieces he later brings together in Origin of Species. It is this ability to reason things out that is sadly lacking in modern culture. The opening section drifts with more “episodic” tales about what he sees, almost as a tourist, detailing the geologic anomalies and life forms that he encount...more

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Mar 22, 2009 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

My higher hopes for this journal of Darwin's voyage on the Beagle were never realized. I sought greater details of his observations such that I could see what he saw and understand more how he reached his celebrated conclusions. But this book falls far short of my expectations and hopes to glimpse the processes of a great thinker.

What I did not expected was the degree of the author's nationalism and how, even as a naturalist, the author seems to be most taken with the state of human development...more

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Mar 01, 2011 raul rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have an old colonial binding of this book titled Darwin's Journal of a Voyage round the World. It's a slightly different edit than the Voyage of the Beagle but it's taken from the same source material. This is not adventure writing, it's the writing of a scientist trying to understand a world that is largely new and foreign to him. The scope is vast, the observation is dry, but keen and humble. The book is also a fascinating window onto the observation that led to the Origin of the Species a f...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Erneilson rated it 3 of 5 stars

I had read this book years ago as a biology student, so I was unsure if I wanted to read it again, but I talked myself into it. While a bit dry, it was fascinating to me to see his perspective on not just the biology of the areas he visited, but the local cultures, especially of the native peoples. He had the typical 19th century British prejudices, but generally was pretty open minded and fair. The best part was finding those particular insights that we now know lead him to his theory of evolut...more

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Mar 15, 2012 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, travel

An excellent book, highly recommended for those who will be traveling or have traveled to South America. It's a unique experience to visit the same places that Darwin visited, and to see his perspective on them and how they have changed. He visits Cape Verde, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, The Galapagos, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Tasmania, Reunion, St. Helena, and several other small islands. He offers detailed observations on the geology and ecology of many places, descriptio...more

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Dec 17, 2010 Jefke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Prachtig boek, maar dat weet iedereen!
Als 21ste eeuwer is het wel interessant om een aantal culturele geplogenheden en wereldvisies te horen uit de 19de eeuw. Darwin wijdt uit over culturen, over hoe een European in die tijd keek naar "de wilden" (een term die tegenwoordig politiek incorrect is). Over slavernij.
Meest opmerkelijk vond ik dat hij het meest onder de indruk is van Patagonië terwijl hij het lelijk vindt. Ik ben daar ook geweest en voor mij was het de mooiste plek op aarde die ik ooit...more

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Feb 04, 2013 Ken-ichi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nature, naturalism, history, xmas2009

While most stretches of this book demanded rigorous eyelid control and/or intravenous caffeine, the moments of insight into Darwin's personality as a naturalist and as a humanist make it an invaluable document of one of history's greatest minds and 19th century thought. Strangely, I was particularly drawn toward Darwin's views of other peoples and races, more so than his observations from nature. His capacity for empathy (or his desire to appear empathetic) seems exceptional for the time, but th...more

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Nov 07, 2008 Gilly McGillicuddy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2008, naturalists

What I wrote in my LJ while I was reading it.
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So I've started reading The Voyage of the Beagle. I've only read a chapter or so so far, but it's very enjoyable. I just kind of wish I'd paid more attention to my geology classes in school. It's a lot more relaxed and not nearly as self-conscious and defensive as TOoS was. It's all along the lines of "Hi all! We arrived on Random Island today. The trees are pretty but the people didn't even give us coffee. Can you believe it?! Anyhoo, I found a rock...more

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Feb 27, 2007 keith koenigsberg rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone

Shelves: traveladventure, science

The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin (w-1839 r-12/2006 hrs-9). A captivating narrative of scientific exploration, and probably the best adventure travel book I've ever read. Certain to uplift your mind and your spirit.

First, although he is occasionally a bit long-winded in a Victorian way, and also occasionally goes into deep scientific detail which the modern lay reader will be tempted to skim, the majorioty of the volume is terse, modern, and exciting. Second, there is an actual adventu...more The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin (w-1839 r-12/2006 hrs-9). A captivating narrative of scientific exploration, and probably the best adventure travel book I've ever read. Certain to uplift your mind and your spirit.

First, although he is occasionally a bit long-winded in a Victorian way, and also occasionally goes into deep scientific detail which the modern lay reader will be tempted to skim, the majorioty of the volume is terse, modern, and exciting. Second, there is an actual adventure, as Darwin relates his personal experiences ascending jungle rivers and distant mountains, avoiding bandits and hostile Indians, mingling with savages and roughnecks, eating whatever grub they have to offer and sleeping with them under the stars. The wildlife he encounters poses a certain danger, though he rarely mentions it; thus when he describes the "great black bug of the Pampas," which gorged itself on his blood one night in Chile, he left out the fact that it was probably the source of the Chagas disease that plagued him for the rest of his life. Third, it is the work of popular science, comprised of his acute observations and his intuitive reflections upon them, first made in the field, afterwards contemplated at home and then enriched by careful reading. As a result, it preserves the thrill, the intellectual stimulation and the scientific discoveries of a historical exploration. It lives up to the blurb that one editor, Leonard Engel, gave it: "The greatest scientific travel adventure ever written."

And its achievement does not end there. THE VOYAGE is a testament to one man's curiosity--his insatiable curiosity about practically every stone, plant and bug that he happens to see, and his wonder about how they got that way. (Side note: he collected and taxidermed seemingly hundreds, maybe thousands of plants and animals on the spot. How on earth did he transport several tons of collections back home?) He makes you feel that, with the right attitude, you can walk out in your yard and make your own discoveries. Whether describing the spider that sails through the air on its own web, the gaucho who strips naked to swim his horse across a river, the face of a man habituated to slavery (which Darwin rails against), Darwin's eye is keen and his heart is warm. (It is entertaining, though to see that he was in many respects a man of his time, ranking the "savages" as to their intelligence and their potential to be "civilized" and "Christianized". He is often less PC than you would hope.) Reading this book, one returns to a time when mankind believed in progress, when one bright young man could respond to the wonders of the world and find an eager audience. All the while, of course, he was seeking natural explanations for the mysteries of creation and gravitating toward his theory of evolution. So THE VOYAGE succeeds on all levels: it is a classic of scientific investigation, a noble literary work and a monument of the human spirit. (less)

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Dec 13, 2012 Barbara rated it 5 of 5 stars

22% of the way through. Here I am reading the 1830s journal of a young amateur naturalist as he makes his observations about geology and about the geographical differences between similar species and similarities between living species and fossils....

Then I remind myself that, though there were evolutionary ideas in the air at the time and though he was a keen reader of the revolutionary geologist Lyell, Darwin was still years from formulating his theory of the mechanism of the evolution of life...more

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Jan 01, 2010 Matthew Robus rated it 4 of 5 stars

Note: I read the edition included in the EO Wilson 4-book compilation, not the edition as listed in MyBooks.

First of all, Darwin is an amazingly modern-sounding writer, given when this was written. Unlike many contemporaries, he is easy to understand and did not write in the overly wordy style often encountered. Although I tired of some of the descriptions of travelling over the pampas, in general this is an interesting travelogue by a guy who was alert and interested in everything he saw.

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Dec 30, 2012 Laura Bowlby rated it 2 of 5 stars

I listened to this on DVD in preparation for my trip to the Galapagos. It was mildly interesting, listening to his journal entries while picturing him on the Beagle in the 1830's, visiting the East and then West Coats of South America before his 19 days on the Galapagos. Lots of scientific names and it probably has limited appeal to naturalists and those planning a trip to Galapagos. I didn't finish it, having abandoned his journal entries after he left the Galapagos and headed to Tahiti.

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Mar 24, 2009 D.J. Murphy added it

I read the parts of this book relating to Patagonia in southern Chile while I was traveling in this region. I found Darwin's observations fascinating, particularly concerning the differences in climate, fauna and animals between this area and areas, such as Dublin, of comparable latitude from the North Pole as southern Chile is from the South Pole. It is also amazing that Darwin was in Chile during a major volanic eruption, earthquake and tsunami.

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About Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, eminent as a collector and geologist, who proposed and provided scientific evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selec...more Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, eminent as a collector and geologist, who proposed and provided scientific evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and the general public in his lifetime, while his theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930s, and now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. In modified form, Darwin’s scientific discovery remains the foundation of biology, as it provides a unifying logical explanation for the diversity of life.

Darwin developed his interest in natural history while studying medicine at Edinburgh University, then theology at Cambridge. His five-year voyage on the Beagle established him as a geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell’s uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author. Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin investigated the transmutation of species and conceived his theory of natural selection in 1838. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority. He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.

His 1859 book On the Origin of Species established evolution by common descent as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. He examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.

In recognition of Darwin’s pre-eminence, he was one of only five 19th century UK non-royal personages to be honoured by a state funeral, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.
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“If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” — 50 people liked it

“There are several other sources of enjoyment in a long voyage, which are of a more reasonable nature. The map of the world ceases to be a blank; it becomes a picture full of the most varied and animated figures. Each part assumes its proper dimensions: continents are not looked at in the light of islands, or islands considered as mere specks, which are, in truth, larger than many kingdoms of Europe. Africa, or North and South America, are well-sounding names, and easily pronounced; but it is not until having sailed for weeks along small portions of their shores, that one is thoroughly convinced what vast spaces on our immense world these names imply.” — 2 people liked it

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