From the Bookshelf of Around the World in 80 Books…
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What Members Thought
Interesting characters and their life stories. Enjoyed and found interesting her depiction of the science developing over time, through Darwin's publishing of his great works, and beyond, and how she incorporated real events, published science and religious analysis, and people into the novel. She highlighted the conflicts at the time, which continue today, of science and religion/spirituality, and how many were able to embrace both, while many could not.
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This was a lovely book. I really enjoyed the beginning where it described how Henry Whittaker traveled around the world and made his fortune. I loved the time in Tahiti and i especially liked the last chapter where Alma was in her old age. It made me want to read Darwin's Origins of Species. Lots of new ideas and descriptions of travel in the 1800s. There wer some odd or unusual topics in the middle and it dragged a bit there, but overall a good story with lots to think about.
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‘The trick at every turn was to endure the test of living for as long as possible. The odds of survival were punishingly slim, for the world was naught but a school of calamity and an endless burning furnace of tribulation. But those who survived the world shaped it—even as the world, simultaneously, shaped them.’
3.5 stars
3.5 stars
Nov 07, 2013
Amina
marked it as to-read
Dec 22, 2013
Tanya
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Jan 03, 2014
Carolyn
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Mar 22, 2014
Kirsten Barber
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Jul 01, 2014
Kara
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Mar 30, 2015
Megan
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Jan 18, 2016
Joy
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Aug 22, 2016
Terri
marked it as own
Jul 06, 2019
Natasha
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Feb 09, 2021
Pantteri
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Mar 16, 2023
Anna
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