Darwin: The Indelible Stamp

by James D. Watson

For the first time ever in one volume, here are four of the most influential works of Charles Darwin, reprinted in their entirety, each illuminated by commentary from eminent scientist James D. Watson. Included are On the Origin of Species , arguably the most important scientific work of the nineteenth century; Voyage of the Beagle , a captivating travelogue richly stocked with observations that helped guide the young Darwin through his evolutionary world view; The Descent of Man , which explored the origins of humans and their history; and The Expressions of Emotions in Man and Animals , which explored the origin and nature of the mind. With his separate introductions for each of Darwin's books he goes further to explain how the modern considerations underlying genome research would have been impossible without Darwin, bringing a contemporary relevance to these nineteenth century masterworks.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Biology, History, Evolution, Stem, Philosophy

1276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

In 1928, James D. Watson was born in Chicago. Watson, who co-discovered the double helix structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) at age 25, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1962, along with Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins. His bird-watching hobby prompted his interest in genetics. He earned his B.Sc. degree in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1947, and his Ph.D. from Indiana University in Bloomington in 1950. He worked with Wilkins and Francis Crick at Cavendish Laboratory in England in 1951-1953, when they discovered the structure of DNA. Watson became a member of the Harvard Biology Department in 1956, then a full professor in 1961. His book The Double Helix, which was published in 1968, became a bestseller. Watson was appointed director of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory on Long Island in 1968, and became its president in 1994. As director of the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH in 1989, Watson launched the worldwide campaign to map and sequence the human genome. Watson was an outspoken unbeliever who considered that human progress had been shackled by the idea of divine fate, and that human beings should do their utmost to improve the future. In a Youngstown State University speech, Watson said, "The biggest advantage to believing in God is you don't have to understand anything, no physics, no biology. I wanted to understand" (The Vindicator, Dec. 2, 2003).

More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wa...

http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prize...

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/pa...

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://www.dnaftb.org/19/bio.html

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Darwin was an explorer, a man who looked at the world around him and saw the beauty of it. He took the time to describe things he saw in great detail so that the individual reading his work could mentally picture the item in almost perfect form. Darwin was a teacher he shared his discoveries with all who would learn. I think everyone should read his logs if for no other reason than to experience the world as it was in perfect harmony.

[erica]

Decided it was time I get more intimately acquainted with some classic Darwin source material... At roughly 1260 pages, I should finish reading this anthology sometime before I die. Hopefully.