A Delicate Arrangement: The Strange Case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace

by Arnold C. Brackman

Title A delicate the strange case of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace Author Arnold C. Brackman Publisher Times Books, 1980 Original from the University of Michigan Digitized Jan 8, 2007 Length 370 pages Subjects Science › Life Sciences › Evolution Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology England Evolution Evolution (Biology) Naturalists Science / Life Sciences / Evolution

Genres: History, Science

370 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1980

Reviews

[Karl Sjogren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book because it introduced me to Alfred Russel Wallace. It is informative, but a bit prosecutorial about Charles Darwin. I suspect it's because when Arnold Brackman wrote it, Wallace was, unjustifiably, an obscure and overlooked player in the development of the theory of evolution. As a result, Brackman became his champion.

In conversation, I have found that people who earned biology degrees before Brackman's book were not taught about him, but those who graduated in the years that followed were.

[V · Rating 4 out of 5]

The only book I could find that was specifically about the Wallace/Darwin affair, the Watergate in the history of biological science, was published nearly 30 years ago and appears to have almost immediately gone out of print. Aside from a few of the author's irritating habits (e.g. adding italics in quotations and the quite unnecessary display of his scornful attitude toward modern psychoanalysis), the book is quite readable. Although his descriptions of both parties at times approach caricature, the narrative is firmly based in the letters, journals, and more formal writings of Wallace, Darwin and their friends and colleagues. The author makes much of the fact that many of the letters to and from Charles Darwin during the critical period are missing... it would be interesting to know whether any such materials have turned up since the publication of this book. All in all, Brackman provides a relatively reasonable analysis of what happened and why.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though this book is essentially a discussion of a little-known controversy within the field of evolution science, it reads very much like a detective novel. Brackman pieces together bits of historical evidence to show that Darwin made a quiet compromise with his conscience and with the conventions of his field as he appropriated the work of a gifted but less well known rival.

[Laura Hunsinger · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essentially a biography of Alfred Russel Wallace with a focus on his theory of evolution. The subject matter is fascinating for anyone with an interest in evolution. That said, I wasn’t impressed with the author. He wrote dryly and frequently added italics to quotations that interrupted the flow of the book and I found them completely necessary. He also added quite a few personal anecdotes which I found superfluous but maybe that’s just my preference.

[Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I randomly pulled this book off my bookshelf and before reading it decided to find out if it was worth reading, so I checked the reviews here. The most interesting pointed to Michael Shermer's "In Darwin's Shadow." You can find an excerpt online (just google for it) that discusses the theory in A Delicate Balance and finds its arguments wanting. So I approached the subject with a certain amount of skepticism.

But I still began reading the book, because even if it's wrong, it could still be an interesting tale. But it's not. The writer is apparently a newspaper man, and he writes the book like a piece of dry investigative reporting. He presents his case in tedious detail, but he spends no time bringing the personalities to life, which for me is a necessity in historical writing. He is like a prosecuting attorney, outraged at an injustice and determined to prove his case.

He also has a bad habit of attributing feelings to people when he can't know them, especially ascribing all sorts of feelings to Darwin based entirely on what he thinks Darwin would have felt based on what he thinks happened.

The sad thing is, this could have been interesting. There are issues of class and education, there is the fascinating underlying science.Instead we are just given a laundry list of facts and conjectures.

I gave up after a few chapters. I did skip ahead to see if the book ever developed a more human tone, but no, it seems to just be a painstakingly detailed prosecution of something that never bothers to try and make us care.