On the On the Origin I
Like John Whitfield at Blogging the Origin, I’m taking the opportunity to read Darwin’s On the Origin of Species now that it’s been 150 years since its publication, and 200 years since its author’s birth. I figure if I’m ever going to read it, now is the time. Unfortunately I’m not quite as fast as John, which means I’m not actually reading his blog, as I don’t want any spoilers.
Well, ok, I already know the book’s conclusion. But I want to experience each chapter without preconcieved notions and hence I’m putting off reading John’s comments until I’ve finished them myself … and I have yet to finish the first chapter. A few pages before going to sleep each night is the pace I’ve set.
Since I’ve only just started I don’t have much to say, except that so far, I’ve quite liked it. Apart from his incessant abuse of commas (which I know is simply indicative of when it was written), Darwin’s a good author. I don’t see why people complain about the pigeons in the first chapter - I think it’s brilliant. Darwin knows he’s going to upset a lot of people with his ideas, and so he starts out with the deviously innocent topic of breeding pigeons. It’s fantastic.
What’s also fantastic is how he keeps touching on areas where I, as a mere biology student in the 21st century, could totally fill him in. Although he was, to my knowledge, unfamiliar with Mendel’s ideas on inheritance at the time, he still seems very close to the right idea, occasionally. Perhaps, if his brain hadn’t already been so chock full of all that knowledge, he’d have had the intellectual energy to do some experiments and put things together. As it is, he didn’t, and maybe that’s a good thing. Maybe, the world needed that time of uncertainty to adjust, before the modern synthesis happened.
Anyway, I must say it’s a lot easier to read than I thought it would be. I’ve read most of Voyage of the Beagle already, and thought the Origin would be heavier, but it isn’t.
Expect more posts on the On the Origin!
I had started reading The Origin several times in the past, but got distracted somehow and never finished it. I’m reading it again with every intention of doing so (along with his other three great books, all bound together in a wonderfully thick volume edited by E. O. Wilson, the ant guy). I actually like his writing style, liberal sprinkling of commas and all, and, if approached with a sense of curiosity rather than duty, it is a pleasure rather than the dead pull some people anticipate. (Even if his phraseology is a little contagious).
Comment by JohnB — Wednesday, January 21, 2009 @ 15:26
Brace yourself for later chapters — when I read it I found the ones past the halfway mark (on geographic variation) a lot heavier.
Comment by Michael — Wednesday, January 21, 2009 @ 23:27
John; Excellent emulation of Darwin there.
Michael; Thanks for the heads-up!
Comment by Felicia Gilljam — Wednesday, January 21, 2009 @ 23:41
I hope you’ll read the blog (and add your thoughts) once you’ve finished each chapter! I have struggled with a few bits (the latter half of chapter 5 in particular), but it hasn’t been the writing that’s bogged me down, it’s been when I can’t work out what Darwin is saying scientifically. Usually he is excellent at putting thought into words, but not all the time.
That said, I wouldn’t have wanted to try and read it in my teens. I think it helps to have read some other 19th century stuff first (Dickens would be ideal - he likes a comma, but, man, does he know how to entertain), and I found that I couldn’t read that with any pleasure until I was in my early 20s.
Comment by John Whitfield — Friday, January 23, 2009 @ 19:04
Hi John and thanks for the comment - apologies for it sticking in the spam filter. No idea what triggered it…
I remember trying to read the occasional old classic in my teens (mostly when school forced me to) and it was awful. I think in the end to be able to get over the difference in language structures you need to either actually like the difference itself, or be really interested in the topic/into the story.
Comment by Felicia Gilljam — Friday, January 23, 2009 @ 20:01
Oi oi, I’ve been following John’s blog and found it really interesting (and I see he’s commented here, cool!), as well as useful since it means I can avoid reading the actual thing, which I really don’t have time for at the moment. (I’m actually going through the Art Of War right now.)
Anyway, I don’t think it’s the knowledge that got in the way of Darwin experimenting, he spent most of his research career studying earthworms, so he was probably out in the field looking in the dirt.
Comment by Glynn — Saturday, January 24, 2009 @ 19:07