Darwin is both surprisingly readable and surprisingly relatable. This account of his famous voyage comes before his revelations on the origin of species, although the seeds are being sown throughout this book. It is fascinating to see the planting not only of those seeds, but of the seeds of plate tectonic theory, as Darwin observes the signs of plate movement in geologically active areas of the world such as South America. Reading this book, and relating to this young man with the inquiring mind, I found myself wondering if I too, given the same evidence, could have drawn the same conclusions.

The appendix is an interesting contrast to the rest of the book, as it demonstrates two opposing reactions to the evidence presented by the voyage - evidence that seems to contradict the Biblical story of the great flood which at the time was considered literal truth. While Darwin eventually discarded the Biblical story in favour of a theory that matched the evidence presented, his friend Captain Fitzroy argued that the evidence could be made to fit the accepted truth. These two opposing approaches to new discoveries are still in play today.

Another surprise was that Darwin pretty much hated everywhere he went. He suffered awfully from sea sickness and was pretty brutally honest about the places he visited. Of New Zealand he said "the scenery is nowhere beautiful, and only occasionally pretty" and "I believe we are all glad to leave New Zealand. It is not a pleasant place.". Harsh.

On the other hand, his talent for vivid description is really amazing. I can easily see why this book was popular when it came out. It's probably better than a lot of travel books that come out today!

One of the few places that Darwin actually liked was the lush rainforest of South America. Here I was surprised, because even Darwin seemed to accept that the inevitable fate of this magnificent forest was to be cleared for farm land, and the idea doesn't even seem to particularly worry him. It's another expression of the English ideas that helped justify confiscation of Maori land - that the only good use of land is to work it, and that land in its natural state is "useless".

Elsewhere, he observes native species in delicate island ecosystems being driven to extinction by introduced species or human settlement and simply accepts it as a natural consequence of those changes. How different to our modern view of such things!

Great book. Intelligent, relatable and revealing. ( )

The Beagle was sent on a surveying mission by the Royal Navy; initially it was intended to last three years but it was extended to five and the ship circumnavigated the globe. The captain, Fitzroy, wanted a companion on the voyage and through a convoluted series of events, ended up with a youthful Darwin along, which so annoyed the official ship's Naturalist who was also the surgeon (as was common), that he resigned and left at the first port of call, part way across the Atlantic. Fortunately another surgeon was appointed at the same port.

Very little of what Darwin wrote actually talks about the oceans...this is because he was no great sailor and spent most of his time aboard acutely seasick. Which, in turn, is why Darwin contrived to spend three out of five years on land!

All this and more is discussed in an excellent introduction to this edition, which has printed the 1st edition, abridging Darwin's journal by approx. 1/3, however. I'm not sure how to feel about that; have I been saved from really dull stuff that would have made what is a pretty lively book a chore to read? Or have I missed out on some interesting material? Weirdly, having made this 1/3 chop, the original Naval orders for the mission are included along with Fitzroy's essay attempting to reconcile the Bible (specifically the Deluge i.e. the Noah story) with contemporary geology. Even more weirdly both of these appendices are worthwhile. The mission orders are very practical and sensible and as specific as practicable and not, as I imagined they would be, vague and bureaucratic.

Fitzroy's essay reminded me of the kind of thing that went on in Oxford and Cambridge in the Middle Ages, where people devoted themselves primarily to attempting to reconcile reality with the Classical philosophers and the Bible, deploying a lot of casuistry and not much else for the most part. (Roger Bacon being a notable exception and look what happened to him - yep, locked up by he Church for practising black magic.) The fact is that even at the time of Beagle's voyage, it was clear that the Earth had to be orders of magnitude older than the historical record (with Genesis taken at face value) suggested and literal belief in the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, was crumbling amongst the educated scientists. Christianity itself was still axiomatic for most, however and Darwin no exception at the time as cannot be mistaken from this book.

Getting back to Darwin and his book, the Voyage is a rarely dull, often vivacious account not only of the flora and fauna Darwin encounters but also of the geology, people and societies he encounters, too, the latter providing most of the funny and dramatic moments, of which there are many. I cannot recommend it to people uninterested in geology and biology, however. Readers who cannot cope with such entries as a detailed theory of the formation of coral reefs (still considered correct as far as it goes, I believe) will get bogged down quite often. That said, anyone who has successfully waded through The Origin of Species will find this an easy ride by comparison.

Darwin displays an interesting blend of progressive attitudes (e.g. anti-slavery) and typical-of-his-day Victorian Christian notions (e.g. Christian Western Europe is the pinnacle of human societies) whilst observing on the many different nations and cultures he encounters alongside the wildlife and geology. Apparently the people of Tierra Del Feugo are the "least improved" on the planet.

What you won't find here is a theory of evolution, the question of the origin of species arising only a few times and then very obliquely and in passing.

In conclusion, nowhere near as important as Origin of Species but much more fun to read.

( )

This travelogue details Darwin's famous journeys from one side of the globe to the other. Although it is very technical, to the point of being hard to understand, this still offers glimmer of Darwin's genius and should be accompanied reading along with his Origin of Species. This is definitely worth it for enthusiasts and intellectuals alike.

3.25 stars. ( )

An enjoyable introduction to Darwin.

(Note, this is a review of the Recorded Books Audio version of excerpts from Voyage.)

I picked up this e-audio-book from my library and enjoyed it. Read by a distinguished English actor, Darwin here presents his tour on the Beagle and the observations of a thouroughly 19th century Englishman, hardly the bête noire anti-god iconoclast some may imagine him to be. It was delightful to hear his descriptions of Patagonia, and interesting to hear his observations on the politics of the less civilized world. He's not afraid to call people savages - and ends "thanking God" that he'll never again travel to a country where slavery is practiced. Though, of course, scientific in his observtions, he's also not afraid to refer to animals as "ugly" or unpleasant. ( )

I didn't find this book tedious at all (as one reviewer below did). I found it enthralling from beginning to end.

Here is a young man setting out on a five-year voyage (not a quick return flight to the Costa del Sol then) to places where most of the locals have never strayed beyond 10 miles of their homes. The amazing thing is, Darwin lands on some out-of-the-way place where the locals are usually delighted to welcome this intrepid Englishman with free food and lodgings simply to hear stories about the world, and Darwin wants nothing more than to get out of there to look at beetles and fallen rocks and speculate about how they came to be there.

If it were me, I'd have been socialising with the people and chasing the local girls, but this guy is absolutely focused on one question: what is all this life everywhere, and how can I better understand it?

So yes, the book can be tedious on one level, but the enthralling part is getting inside the mind of this man who some would claim as the greatest man in history, the first man to actually understand what we are and where we came from. ( )