Infinite Tropics: An Alfred Russel Wallace Anthology

by Alfred Russell Wallace, Stephen Jay Gould (Preface), Andrew Berry (Editor)

Alfred Russel Wallace’s reputation has been based on the fact that, at the age of thirty-five and stricken with malaria in the Moluccan Islands, he stumbled independently on the theory of natural selection. Andrew Berry’s anthology rescues Wallace’s legacy, showing Wallace to be far more than just the co-discoverer of natural selection. Wallace was a brilliant and wide ranging scientist, a passionate social reformer and a gifted writer. The eloquence that has made his The Malay Archipelago a classic of travel writing is a prominent feature too of his extraordinary forward-thinking writing on socialism, imperialism and pacifism. Wallace’s opinions on women’s suffrage, on land reform, on the roles of church and aristocracy in a parliamentary democracy, on publicly funded education—to name a few of the issues he addressed—remain as fresh and as topical today as they were when they were written.

Genres: Biology, Nonfiction, Evolution, Science

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent introduction to Wallace's work. Wallace, who independently came up with the theory of natural selection before Darwin published his Origin of Species, was a fascinating man. He earned his living traveling around the world (South America, Asia) collecting specimens for wealthy British collectors. Along the way, his natural intelligence and curiosity led him to make certain deductions, such as the aforementioned theory. He's also known as the father of biogeography -- the pattern of species distribution -- and "the Wallace line" bears his name -- the line that separates Asian and Australian species distribution (it runs through the islands of Indonesia, where he extensively explored and collected).

This book serves as an overview of the breadth and range of Wallace's interests, and it contains some of the more memorable passages found in Wallace's books and articles, drawing heavily from The Malay Archipelago in particular.

[Ali]

Wallace >>> Darwin

[Phil Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Andrew Berry has brought together an excellent collection of the writings of Alfred Russel Wallace. The selection covers Wallace's career as a widely-travelling professional collector of plants and animals, as a naturalist, and as a scientific theorist. It also covers his political views and his later belief in spiritualism.

Wallace is best known for coming up with the theory of evolution by natural selection independently from Darwin. He certainly deserves credit for this, but nobody should take seriously the ridiculous conspiracy theory which claims that Darwin stole the theory of natural selection from Wallace.

Wallace himself was always happy to play second fiddle to Darwin. For example, in 1908 Wallace made a speech to the Linnaean Society in which he explicitly defended Darwin's priority, pointing out that "...the idea occurred to Darwin in October 1838, nearly twenty years earlier than to myself (in February 1858); and that during the whole of that twenty years he had been laboriously collecting evidence..."

Darwin's notebooks from the 1830s and his essays of 1842 and 1844 show that Darwin had developed his theory long before he published "On the Origin of Species" and long before Wallace had his brainwave.

Wallace was an admirable character. He did not have the advantages of wealth that Darwin had; he was a socialist (of sorts) who had progressive views on many issues; and his attitude towards native peoples was unusually enlightened for an era when racism was rife.

Wallace also disagreed (later in his life, at least) with Darwin's mistaken decision to allow into his evolutionary theory a subsidiary role for the Lamarckian idea of the inheritance of acquired characteristics. In this, Wallace has been said to be more Darwinian than Darwin himself.

Unfortunately, on the negative side, Wallace also ended up believing in spiritualism and arguing that the human brain/mind could not have evolved. Darwin and Wallace had become good friends, but Darwin was disappointed with Wallace over this issue. Darwin and Wallace also differed over the relative importance of natural selection and sexual selection. But these differences of opinion did not stop Darwin successfully campaigning to get a state pension for Wallace.

[Olena V · Rating 4 out of 5]

A true book for neeeerds.
I do wish for less Wallace and more commentary from Andrew Berry.

[Nurul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini hadiah dari Profesor saya. Sebagai satu2nya student di department saya yang berasal dari Malay archipelago pada saat itu, ternyata tak salah buku ini kini berada pada rak buku saya.

Hingga saat ini, buku ini memang saya baca sepotong2 dan berulang kali. The origin of species memang diungkapkan oleh Darwin. Namun, publikasi Darwin ini nyatanya didorong oleh surat Wallace kepada Darwin saat ia berada di Ternate tahun 1859 yang saat terserang malaria, sempat2nya berpikir tentang fenomena variasi species. Surat dari Ternate itu juga yang pada akhirnya membuat ia bersama Darwin mempublikasikan teori seleksi alam.

Ya, anthology ini juga mencantumkan publikasi2 penting dari Wallace. Wallace tak hanya terkagum-kagum akan keunikan flora-fauna Malay archipelago, namun juga seorang ilustrator yang detil (lihat di bukunya 'the Malay archipelago'), serta pengamat masalah lain mulai dari geologi, evolusi manusia, hingga spiritualisme.

http://noonathome.wordpress.com/2008/...

[Dave Angelini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wallace is usually remembered as a footnote in discussions of Darwin. However, where Darwin was timid, Wallace was bold. His life is just as interesting as his scientific contributions, and this anthology of his writing features excellent historical context and weaves his personal letters together with his published works to present a biography that is informative and compelling. This serves as excellent reading for biology students interested in the development of evolutionary thought, as well as for the general public looking for tales of adventure in Victorian times.

[Kabir Peay · Rating 4 out of 5]

great collection of wallace's readings. the guy was really amazing. wallace was an unparalleled naturalist as well as pretty far ahead of his time in terms of theoretical ponderings. often remembered only for "co-discovering" evolution via natural selection, this book does a good job of giving insight into his other contributions to evolution / ecology / biogeography. the commentary is also very useful in contextualizing his work and thinking.