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Darwin and the Barnacle: The Story of One Tiny Creature and History's Most Spectacular Scientific Breakthrough
"In Darwin and the Barnacle ...ideas light up like matches on each page."―John Leonard, Harper's
A scientific detective story that illuminates the remarkable saga of Darwin's greatest achievement. Pairing Charles Darwin and a rare species of barnacle as her unlikely protagonists, Rebecca Stott has written an absorbing work of history that guides readers through the treacherous shoals of nineteenth-century biology. Beginning her scientific detective story in the 1820s, even before Darwin's Beagle voyage, Stott examines the mystery of why Darwin waited over two decades between formulating his pivotal theory of natural selection and publishing it. Lavishly illustrated, filled with riddles and concepts that challenge our notion of Victorian science, Darwin and the Barnacle is a thrilling account of how genius proceeds through indirection―and how one small item of curiosity contributed to history's most spectacular scientific breakthrough.
A scientific detective story that illuminates the remarkable saga of Darwin's greatest achievement. Pairing Charles Darwin and a rare species of barnacle as her unlikely protagonists, Rebecca Stott has written an absorbing work of history that guides readers through the treacherous shoals of nineteenth-century biology. Beginning her scientific detective story in the 1820s, even before Darwin's Beagle voyage, Stott examines the mystery of why Darwin waited over two decades between formulating his pivotal theory of natural selection and publishing it. Lavishly illustrated, filled with riddles and concepts that challenge our notion of Victorian science, Darwin and the Barnacle is a thrilling account of how genius proceeds through indirection―and how one small item of curiosity contributed to history's most spectacular scientific breakthrough.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
8 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Stott
26 books255 followersRebecca Stott was born in Cambridge in 1964 and raised in Brighton in a large Plymouth Brethren community. She studied English and Art History at York University and then completed an MA and PhD whilst raising her son, Jacob, born in 1984.
She is the author of several academic books on Victorian literature and culture, two books of non-fiction, including a partial biography of Charles Darwin, and a cultural history of the oyster. She is now a Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has three children, Jacob, Hannah and Kezia and has lived in Cambridge since 1993. She has made several radio programmes for Radio Four.
Her first novel, Ghostwalk, is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the UK, is the launch novel of the new fiction list of Spiegel and Grau in the US (a new division of Random House) and is being translated into 12 different languages including Russian and Chinese.
She is writing her next novel, The Coral Thief.
She is the author of several academic books on Victorian literature and culture, two books of non-fiction, including a partial biography of Charles Darwin, and a cultural history of the oyster. She is now a Professor of English Literature and Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. She has three children, Jacob, Hannah and Kezia and has lived in Cambridge since 1993. She has made several radio programmes for Radio Four.
Her first novel, Ghostwalk, is published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson in the UK, is the launch novel of the new fiction list of Spiegel and Grau in the US (a new division of Random House) and is being translated into 12 different languages including Russian and Chinese.
She is writing her next novel, The Coral Thief.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
September 8, 2022
This book is a reconstruction of Darwin's barnacle voyage pieced together using the thousands of letters he wrote during those years, the books he read, the philosophical questions he formulated.
from the preface pxxv
In addition, Rebecca Stott has deftly reconstructed conversations with other zoologists and imagined her way into the family circle, giving a fascinating account of a different Darwin than the one generally presented for posterity. Along the way the alert reader is made aware how the social fabric of the those days was stretched, the heady feeling bestowed by that time of rapid discovery, and how that affected what some people still call progress. They might not have had to contend with the internet and the assault of mass media, but Darwin's contemporaries were not exempt from the fads of the day, which included among other invasive procedures, tortuous sessions wrapped in wet sheets to cure what ails you; to families coming out en mass to watch the dashing soldiers training for war.
Considering my antipathy to Charles Darwin, the pleasure I took in this reading came as a big surprise. Here was a man so circumspect, so concerned about his reputation, so afraid of scaring people off of his radical conclusions, that the manuscript for his most famous work languished in a drawer for seven years while he established scientific credibility. Of course, when he almost casually picked up that particular barnacle from the beach, he never dreamed it would take seven years to unlock the mystery presented by these insignificant looking things, much of that time spent finding the right words to articulate the findings of his research.
In millions along every shoreline in the world, within their snowy cones, these hermaphrodites were fishing away with their feet, glued by their heads to rocks. p72
How to classify them? In setting out to understand these creatures Darwin became convinced that the boundaries between species were less defined than the common tradition had determined. Darwin challenged the idea that When God finished creating his creatures, that was it.
If nature didn't travel in straight lines but was constantly sprouting and budding off new forms from it's main "stems", than the notion of high and low forms was too restrictive and crude. This lowest and most humble of creatures, the barnacle, was none the less sophisticated, highly adapted to it's environment....p107
Because of his cautious nature, Darwin had to proceed delicately. I couldn't help musing that some of his findings were sacrificed, and that it's a pity that more people don't know that in some species " the males lived parasitically on the much larger females, mere bags of spermatozoa...." p218
...thus fixed and half embedded in the flesh of their wives they pass their whole lives and can never move again. p101 These males were utterly and fully dispensable. They were minute, multiple, short lived and had been reduced to only three segments of the usual 17 barnacle body parts, p220
Tell that the next time someone confronts you with sexist convictions.
...as usual, the truth, when discovered, turned out far more starting and prodigious than the dreams men had substituted for it....Charles Kingsley, quoted p255
from the preface pxxv
In addition, Rebecca Stott has deftly reconstructed conversations with other zoologists and imagined her way into the family circle, giving a fascinating account of a different Darwin than the one generally presented for posterity. Along the way the alert reader is made aware how the social fabric of the those days was stretched, the heady feeling bestowed by that time of rapid discovery, and how that affected what some people still call progress. They might not have had to contend with the internet and the assault of mass media, but Darwin's contemporaries were not exempt from the fads of the day, which included among other invasive procedures, tortuous sessions wrapped in wet sheets to cure what ails you; to families coming out en mass to watch the dashing soldiers training for war.
Considering my antipathy to Charles Darwin, the pleasure I took in this reading came as a big surprise. Here was a man so circumspect, so concerned about his reputation, so afraid of scaring people off of his radical conclusions, that the manuscript for his most famous work languished in a drawer for seven years while he established scientific credibility. Of course, when he almost casually picked up that particular barnacle from the beach, he never dreamed it would take seven years to unlock the mystery presented by these insignificant looking things, much of that time spent finding the right words to articulate the findings of his research.
In millions along every shoreline in the world, within their snowy cones, these hermaphrodites were fishing away with their feet, glued by their heads to rocks. p72
How to classify them? In setting out to understand these creatures Darwin became convinced that the boundaries between species were less defined than the common tradition had determined. Darwin challenged the idea that When God finished creating his creatures, that was it.
If nature didn't travel in straight lines but was constantly sprouting and budding off new forms from it's main "stems", than the notion of high and low forms was too restrictive and crude. This lowest and most humble of creatures, the barnacle, was none the less sophisticated, highly adapted to it's environment....p107
Because of his cautious nature, Darwin had to proceed delicately. I couldn't help musing that some of his findings were sacrificed, and that it's a pity that more people don't know that in some species " the males lived parasitically on the much larger females, mere bags of spermatozoa...." p218
...thus fixed and half embedded in the flesh of their wives they pass their whole lives and can never move again. p101 These males were utterly and fully dispensable. They were minute, multiple, short lived and had been reduced to only three segments of the usual 17 barnacle body parts, p220
Tell that the next time someone confronts you with sexist convictions.
...as usual, the truth, when discovered, turned out far more starting and prodigious than the dreams men had substituted for it....Charles Kingsley, quoted p255
October 22, 2009
This is one of those books that makes you want to write the author a fan letter. In a thoroughly documented, very well written 300 pages, Stott manages to bring what could have been a quite dry topic to vivid life. Darwin emerges as a brilliant, sensitive, curious family man, driven to understand the variation of species through the minute and lowly barnacle.
His attention to detail and his thoughtful communication with colleagues, all while almost consumed with worry about his own health and ability to survive to publish, turns historical fact into a page-turning mystery. All this is portrayed against the backdrop of an equally well documented account of the times in which he lived and did his work. I don't know how she did it, but I'm very glad she did!
His attention to detail and his thoughtful communication with colleagues, all while almost consumed with worry about his own health and ability to survive to publish, turns historical fact into a page-turning mystery. All this is portrayed against the backdrop of an equally well documented account of the times in which he lived and did his work. I don't know how she did it, but I'm very glad she did!
February 9, 2022
Within six months of returning to England in 1836 after his four year, round the world voyage on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin was speculating in his journals about how one species could transform into another. In 1844 he wrote a 230 page essay describing his ideas about evolution, to be published in the event of his untimely death, but it stayed in his desk until he read a paper by Alfred Russell Wallace in 1858 and realized the Wallace had independently come upon the theory of evolution by natural selection. This spurred him to distill his ideas into his own paper, which was read along with Wallace’s at a meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July of that year. He then developed his theory and expanded it into the book which would become Origin of Species, published the following year.
He was not idle in the years between his return to England the publication of Origin. He used that time to refine his ideas and develop responses to the questions he knew would be raised. He never did answer all of them. For instance, he could find no mechanism to explain altruism in species like bees and termites, or how traits were passed down; that would have to wait until Gregor Mendel’s theories of inheritance were recognized and applied to evolution, which would not happen until after Darwin’s death.
He spent time with pigeon breeders, learning how they selected and enhanced specific traits to create new varieties. He also visited a zoo and thoughtfully noted the humanlike behaviors of orangutans, but his major scientific effort was a study of barnacles. During his Beagle voyage he had picked up a shell riddled with tiny holes that, upon examination, were found to contain a new species of barnacle, which he named Arthrobalanus, the “jointed barnacle.” It was intriguing, but was only one of the vast trove of species he brought home. “Darwin returned with...368 pages of zoology notes, nearly 200 pages of marine invertebrate notes, a diary 770 pages long; 1,529 species bottled in wine spirits; 3,907 dried specimens, including giant tortoise shells and dozens of different stuffed or skinned finches.” (p. 65)
The impetus to study barnacles in depth came from his correspondence with botanist Joseph Hooker, who reviewed an early draft of Darwin’s evolution hypothesis and was not impressed. How could scientists take his ideas seriously if he had no experience studying even one species in depth? He remembered Arthrobalanus and decided to concentrate on it. By this time he was developing a reputation as a naturalist, and his call for specimens resulted in hundreds of barnacles being sent to him from all over the world.
He would spend eight years writing four detailed and illustrated volumes on the barnacles; everything that was known about them or worth knowing at this time was included, and they sealed his reputation for careful, well documented analysis. During those years the world of biology was expanding rapidly, and the groundwork had been laid that would allow other scientists to recognize and understand the ideas that came in Origin of Species.
His work describing the barnacles made him not just a better scientists but a better writer as well, able to articulate complex ideas and lead the reader from observation to analysis to coherent theory. “The relentless task of putting barnacles into words also crucially sharpened Darwin’s writing abilities both in terms of the need for hard, uncompromising accuracy in describing the curve of a valve, the texture of a shell, the colour of an oesophagus, or the striated ridges of the cirri, and the terms of the need for rhetorical hesitancy when the evidence for a hypothesis was [lacking].” (p. 253)
Darwin’s work on barnacles is almost forgotten today, and as science it has been surpassed by more modern research. It remains, however, a crucial link between his original, half-formed speculations on evolution by natural selection, and his final work in the Origin, which is confident, persuasive, subtly reasoned, and builds to a conclusion that convinced much of the world that he was correct, and that his theory was worth embracing and expanding. Evolution by natural selection is now a key tenet of biology, biochemistry, paleontology, geology, and many more fields. The lowly barnacle had a great role to play in the development of science.
He was not idle in the years between his return to England the publication of Origin. He used that time to refine his ideas and develop responses to the questions he knew would be raised. He never did answer all of them. For instance, he could find no mechanism to explain altruism in species like bees and termites, or how traits were passed down; that would have to wait until Gregor Mendel’s theories of inheritance were recognized and applied to evolution, which would not happen until after Darwin’s death.
He spent time with pigeon breeders, learning how they selected and enhanced specific traits to create new varieties. He also visited a zoo and thoughtfully noted the humanlike behaviors of orangutans, but his major scientific effort was a study of barnacles. During his Beagle voyage he had picked up a shell riddled with tiny holes that, upon examination, were found to contain a new species of barnacle, which he named Arthrobalanus, the “jointed barnacle.” It was intriguing, but was only one of the vast trove of species he brought home. “Darwin returned with...368 pages of zoology notes, nearly 200 pages of marine invertebrate notes, a diary 770 pages long; 1,529 species bottled in wine spirits; 3,907 dried specimens, including giant tortoise shells and dozens of different stuffed or skinned finches.” (p. 65)
The impetus to study barnacles in depth came from his correspondence with botanist Joseph Hooker, who reviewed an early draft of Darwin’s evolution hypothesis and was not impressed. How could scientists take his ideas seriously if he had no experience studying even one species in depth? He remembered Arthrobalanus and decided to concentrate on it. By this time he was developing a reputation as a naturalist, and his call for specimens resulted in hundreds of barnacles being sent to him from all over the world.
He would spend eight years writing four detailed and illustrated volumes on the barnacles; everything that was known about them or worth knowing at this time was included, and they sealed his reputation for careful, well documented analysis. During those years the world of biology was expanding rapidly, and the groundwork had been laid that would allow other scientists to recognize and understand the ideas that came in Origin of Species.
Eight years winning a reputation as a brilliant and dogged systematist had brought Darwin other advantages. It had bought him time. In the barnacle years, the weight of systematic work undertaken in botany, zoology and comparative anatomy had brought the question of the permanence of species to centre stage. For, during these years...naturalists trying to systematise nature had been confounded by decisions about where variations within a species or subspecies ended and new species or subspecies began….Darwin’s species theory would be read differently as a consequence of such increasing pressure. (p. 243)
His work describing the barnacles made him not just a better scientists but a better writer as well, able to articulate complex ideas and lead the reader from observation to analysis to coherent theory. “The relentless task of putting barnacles into words also crucially sharpened Darwin’s writing abilities both in terms of the need for hard, uncompromising accuracy in describing the curve of a valve, the texture of a shell, the colour of an oesophagus, or the striated ridges of the cirri, and the terms of the need for rhetorical hesitancy when the evidence for a hypothesis was [lacking].” (p. 253)
Darwin’s work on barnacles is almost forgotten today, and as science it has been surpassed by more modern research. It remains, however, a crucial link between his original, half-formed speculations on evolution by natural selection, and his final work in the Origin, which is confident, persuasive, subtly reasoned, and builds to a conclusion that convinced much of the world that he was correct, and that his theory was worth embracing and expanding. Evolution by natural selection is now a key tenet of biology, biochemistry, paleontology, geology, and many more fields. The lowly barnacle had a great role to play in the development of science.
June 1, 2021
What is a barnacle? Darwin thought he knew as there was a list of characteristics a barnacle was supposed to have. Then he started exploring the huge number of barnacles found throughout the world.
There are the stalked barnacles. They defied the characteristic of being hermaphroditic or both sexes. To compound this some were large females with tiny males living as parasites on them.
There are the sessile barnacles. These seemed close to the traits listed.
Then there are the burrowing barnacles. Some barnacles burrow into mollusk shells, shark and whale skin and wood. These defied all the lists and taxed Darwin's abilities to the limit.
Why did Darwin study the barnacles? There was a belief that a scientist should do some intensive study of some group of organisms before trying to put forth new ideas. Ideas needed a factual basis. And it gave credibility to the person. Through his study Darwin corresponded with people all over the world borrowing specimens and exchanging ideas.
So Darwin kept up his tedious study of barnacles, mostly through a microscope, for eight years. The more he discovered, the more he began to question the immutability of species. After publishing four volumes on barnacles, Darwin was ready to tackle the work most people know him for: "On the Origin of Species".
There are numerous plates from illustrations used in the four volumes. Realizing these illustrations were done looking through a microscope at barnacle parts often too small to see with the naked eye makes their fine detail stunning. Other illustrations are portraits of Darwin, his family and others he worked or corresponded with.
The book is interesting reading. It sometimes gets a bit too technical about the barnacles. It provides a window into the world of that time, the 1830s to 1850s.
Darwin was lucky as he had a good income and could afford to spend his time looking at barnacles. Others, such as Hooker, had no steady income and had to find a position with a good salary. Those who couldn't find a position or had to live on starvation wages, no matter how brilliant, were tossed aside by the scientific community.
Darwin had an on going health issue. The book follows some of his sojourn into the world of medical practice, or what passed as medicine at that time.
The book does leave some loose ends. What Darwin's medical issue was is never explained. The illness that killed his eldest daughter Annie was never explained. Another family is stricken with scarlet fever, an illness most people would be unfamiliar with today, but is not explained.
It does help to know a little about barnacles before opening the book. That little may only be seeing barnacles sweeping their feet (Yes, feet!) through the water in a rock pool along a seacoast. It makes the book more interesting.
There are the stalked barnacles. They defied the characteristic of being hermaphroditic or both sexes. To compound this some were large females with tiny males living as parasites on them.
There are the sessile barnacles. These seemed close to the traits listed.
Then there are the burrowing barnacles. Some barnacles burrow into mollusk shells, shark and whale skin and wood. These defied all the lists and taxed Darwin's abilities to the limit.
Why did Darwin study the barnacles? There was a belief that a scientist should do some intensive study of some group of organisms before trying to put forth new ideas. Ideas needed a factual basis. And it gave credibility to the person. Through his study Darwin corresponded with people all over the world borrowing specimens and exchanging ideas.
So Darwin kept up his tedious study of barnacles, mostly through a microscope, for eight years. The more he discovered, the more he began to question the immutability of species. After publishing four volumes on barnacles, Darwin was ready to tackle the work most people know him for: "On the Origin of Species".
There are numerous plates from illustrations used in the four volumes. Realizing these illustrations were done looking through a microscope at barnacle parts often too small to see with the naked eye makes their fine detail stunning. Other illustrations are portraits of Darwin, his family and others he worked or corresponded with.
The book is interesting reading. It sometimes gets a bit too technical about the barnacles. It provides a window into the world of that time, the 1830s to 1850s.
Darwin was lucky as he had a good income and could afford to spend his time looking at barnacles. Others, such as Hooker, had no steady income and had to find a position with a good salary. Those who couldn't find a position or had to live on starvation wages, no matter how brilliant, were tossed aside by the scientific community.
Darwin had an on going health issue. The book follows some of his sojourn into the world of medical practice, or what passed as medicine at that time.
The book does leave some loose ends. What Darwin's medical issue was is never explained. The illness that killed his eldest daughter Annie was never explained. Another family is stricken with scarlet fever, an illness most people would be unfamiliar with today, but is not explained.
It does help to know a little about barnacles before opening the book. That little may only be seeing barnacles sweeping their feet (Yes, feet!) through the water in a rock pool along a seacoast. It makes the book more interesting.
January 13, 2022
I found this to be a very well researched, gripping account of a part of Darwin’s life that few know about. I was impressed with the research completed by the author to place Darwin’s slow but meticulous progress on barnacles in context with life events. I was expecting something more along the lines of placing the barnacle work into a context of how his theory in the origin of species was developed. However, I found it to be immensely enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone interested in Darwin’s life.
February 10, 2025
Darwin spent 8 exhausting years rigorously studying and classifying barnacles to gain credibility as a leading systematist. Only then did he feel credible enough to publish his most world changing views.
This is a biography of Darwin's early struggles as a scientist, author, and experimentalist.
This is a biography of Darwin's early struggles as a scientist, author, and experimentalist.
September 10, 2016
When I picked this up I thought it would be a lot more about Darwin's notes and discoveries regarding the barnacle (which he studied daily for 8 years, writing 4 volumes on it, and studying, describing, and analyzing these pin head sized creatures honed his chops for writing "The Origin of the Species." Did you know that ancient barnacles were hermaphrodites, had both male and female parts and were often self-fertilizing. Over time, the male parts became their own male creature, often just a sac of sperm, often embedded inside female organisms. More time passed and the males added additional parts to become more than just sperms, and could be found outside the female, living as parasites, but far more independent creatures than their ancient ancestors. SO INTERESTING! There is an ancient Greek myth about how we all began as hermaphrodites, and the Gods split us into two distinct sexes, which is why we spend our lives searching for our other half. Even Christian theology states that male and female were joined into one (Adam) before God created the female as a distinct and separate human. Gah, science is so awesome. Religion isn't bad either. ;)
Okay, so my criticism: Stott does cover the barnacle and Darwin's interactions and labors over it extensively, but she also throws in a TON of biographical information about Darwin, his family, his friends, their families, world history that only slightly relates (the siege of Sebastopol, anyone?) to the topic matter at hand. I don't mind the biographic details, but it was not what I was expecting. And if you want a biography on Darwin I would suggest one of the following: "Charles & Emma" by Deborab Heiligman for a less serious/shorter book; or the two-part biography from Janet Browne, "Charle Darwin: Voyaging" and "Charles Darwin: The Power of Place."
Okay, so my criticism: Stott does cover the barnacle and Darwin's interactions and labors over it extensively, but she also throws in a TON of biographical information about Darwin, his family, his friends, their families, world history that only slightly relates (the siege of Sebastopol, anyone?) to the topic matter at hand. I don't mind the biographic details, but it was not what I was expecting. And if you want a biography on Darwin I would suggest one of the following: "Charles & Emma" by Deborab Heiligman for a less serious/shorter book; or the two-part biography from Janet Browne, "Charle Darwin: Voyaging" and "Charles Darwin: The Power of Place."
November 23, 2022
Toen Darwin op reis was met de Beagle vond hij op een Chileens strand een 'barnacle'. Eenmaal thuis heeft hij jarenlang onderzoek gedaan naar verschillende soorten rankpootkreeften; hij kreeg ze dan ook uit alle hoeken van de wereld opgestuurd. Dit boek vertelt hoe hij dit onderzoek heeft aangepakt en met welke andere wetenschappers hij zoal communiceerde. Hierbij heeft de auteur gebruik gemaakt van de vele brieven die er van Darwin bewaard zijn gebleven. Ook vertelt ze over zijn ziekte en zijn gezin. Daardoor komt Darwin als man tot leven terwijl het toch ook een verhaal over Victoriaanse wetenschap blijft. Het was interessant.
- Naam: Marloes D
- Opdracht: Herfst
- Boek titel: Darwin and the Barnacle
- Nederlandse titel: -
- Auteur: Rebecca Stott
- Reden waarom dit boek bij deze opdracht past: een non-fictie boek over de natuur
- Aantal bladzijden: 901
- Aantal punten voor deze opdracht: ?
- Naam: Marloes D
- Opdracht: Herfst
- Boek titel: Darwin and the Barnacle
- Nederlandse titel: -
- Auteur: Rebecca Stott
- Reden waarom dit boek bij deze opdracht past: een non-fictie boek over de natuur
- Aantal bladzijden: 901
- Aantal punten voor deze opdracht: ?
February 20, 2018
A marvelous narration of what Darwin was doing for eight years while sitting on material for explaining evolution. He researched barnacles.
But this books talks about other amazing personalities, explorers, collectors, his correspondents, friends, doctors, family etc. And about how England was changing in the era, as the indusrial and scientific revolutions launched dramatic progress - housing developments, the railways, post office, a spirit of enquiry and optimism and exploration and adventure. What a stark and delightful contrast to the coal-streaked, exploitative miserable world portrayed by Charles Dickens in pretty much everyone of his books.
But what struck me was how little medicine progressed and how Darwin, considered the greatest biologist of all time, suffered from sickness and ailments that are so cheaply and easily curable today. And how many children he lost in infancy - a situation now reversing even in the poorest areas of the world. Here is a summary of Darwin and his doctors in my blog -
http://varahamihiragopu.blogspot.com/...
The best history of medicine and its massive progress in the twentieth century is Thomas Hager's book "Demon under the Microscope". I also strongly recommend it.
But this books talks about other amazing personalities, explorers, collectors, his correspondents, friends, doctors, family etc. And about how England was changing in the era, as the indusrial and scientific revolutions launched dramatic progress - housing developments, the railways, post office, a spirit of enquiry and optimism and exploration and adventure. What a stark and delightful contrast to the coal-streaked, exploitative miserable world portrayed by Charles Dickens in pretty much everyone of his books.
But what struck me was how little medicine progressed and how Darwin, considered the greatest biologist of all time, suffered from sickness and ailments that are so cheaply and easily curable today. And how many children he lost in infancy - a situation now reversing even in the poorest areas of the world. Here is a summary of Darwin and his doctors in my blog -
http://varahamihiragopu.blogspot.com/...
The best history of medicine and its massive progress in the twentieth century is Thomas Hager's book "Demon under the Microscope". I also strongly recommend it.
February 19, 2022
In this wonderful book Rebecca Stott relates the tale of Darwin’s foray into marine biology; how it came about and where it lead, setting it all in a beautifully rendered portrait of Darwin’s personal, family, and socio-cultural context.
Connecting the various epochs of Darwin’s life, Stott skilfully tells a fantastic story, of how the disaffected ex-medical student, embarked on studies for a career as a clergyman, instead pursued his natural-historical instincts, ‘transmutating’ himself (and indeed all of us) in the process.
Little did Darwin’s father realise, when he finally acquiesced to uncle Josiah Wedgewood’s support for Charles’ wish to join the Beagle expedition – “Natural History … is very suitable to a Clergyman” – where it would all lead.
As another reviewer (on Amazon UK’s website) notes, the barnacles themselves aren’t quite as prominent in this book as the title might lead one to expect. But they do nonetheless provide a fantastic central theme from which to tell a really very engaging story about what amounts to almost the whole of Darwin’s life and work, but from a new and refreshing perspective.
I loved reading this, and found it exciting, engaging, informative, entertaining, well-written, and just plain good old-fashioned fun!
Connecting the various epochs of Darwin’s life, Stott skilfully tells a fantastic story, of how the disaffected ex-medical student, embarked on studies for a career as a clergyman, instead pursued his natural-historical instincts, ‘transmutating’ himself (and indeed all of us) in the process.
Little did Darwin’s father realise, when he finally acquiesced to uncle Josiah Wedgewood’s support for Charles’ wish to join the Beagle expedition – “Natural History … is very suitable to a Clergyman” – where it would all lead.
As another reviewer (on Amazon UK’s website) notes, the barnacles themselves aren’t quite as prominent in this book as the title might lead one to expect. But they do nonetheless provide a fantastic central theme from which to tell a really very engaging story about what amounts to almost the whole of Darwin’s life and work, but from a new and refreshing perspective.
I loved reading this, and found it exciting, engaging, informative, entertaining, well-written, and just plain good old-fashioned fun!
November 18, 2025
What a delight! Darwin and the Barnacle follows Darwin's life, both personal and professional, as he takes on a study of barnacles in preparation for writing his theory on species. A task that Darwin only expected to take a year or two takes the better part of a decade. Over the course of this time, Darwin and his wife have and lose children and Darwin struggles with his health. Professionally, he struggles with classification, develops a wide network of zoological contacts and finally publishes his four volume study of the barnacles of the world. Rebecca Stott shows how Darwin grows and learns over this period, becoming ready to finally write and release his theory on how species originate. The gentle back-and-forth between Darwin's personal life and how he struggles with his barnacles make this book an informative and relaxing read. I had a delightful time making my way through this book.
August 26, 2020
When Darwin wrote the essay that became The Origin of Species he filed it carefully away and devoted years and years to a study of barnacles. Why? What did he learn about barnacles and about the origins of life, and about himself?
Bits of this book are brilliant: the first third and the last few chapters are gripping and informative. But the middle is turgid, you would have to be very very interested in Darwin or in barnacles to stay gripped.
Bits of this book are brilliant: the first third and the last few chapters are gripping and informative. But the middle is turgid, you would have to be very very interested in Darwin or in barnacles to stay gripped.
September 23, 2023
Darwin wrote the thesis for his theory of natural selection more than 10 years before he wrote the book.
He first needed to become an eminent scientist who people would listen to and trust.
To achieve this he took on and delivered a full account of the multiple species of barnacles. And in so doing made multiple major scientific discoveries and significant evidence for his theory. And importantly nothing to disprove the theory.
This book gets 5 stars 🌟 for bringing this story to the public and showing the pure genius of Darwin 🙂
He first needed to become an eminent scientist who people would listen to and trust.
To achieve this he took on and delivered a full account of the multiple species of barnacles. And in so doing made multiple major scientific discoveries and significant evidence for his theory. And importantly nothing to disprove the theory.
This book gets 5 stars 🌟 for bringing this story to the public and showing the pure genius of Darwin 🙂
June 26, 2024
This is my first book by Rebecca Stott and on Charles Darwin. It took me a bit to choose this book off my TBR shelf because I suspected it would be mostly boring. I was so wrong. Ms Stott does a wonderful job of weaving in history of the time with personal stories of Mr. Darwin’s family life as well as his professional life. She made me really want to understand his barnacles and appreciate how through he was in his studies. I also loved learning of his kind ways with his wife and children. I was also amazed at how much traveling he had done and also all the other people who were also interested in learning about plant and animal species during the 1800’s.
A very enjoyable read.
A very enjoyable read.
November 20, 2019
Loved it. Primary sources throughout,letters used to provide humanizing details so that the great scientist can be seen as the husband and father as well. Enough detail on the barnacles to help a layman understand how they shaped Darwin’s thinking, without being too dry or technical for the non-specialist
September 4, 2022
What was Darwin doing between the time he first drafted "On the Origin of Species" and its publication over 8 years later? Why researching, categorizing and writing about barnacles, of course!
An enjoyable telling of Darwin's "little project" that consumed mis life for almost a decade. Plus, insight into his early, "pre-Beagle" years as a budding scientist.
An enjoyable telling of Darwin's "little project" that consumed mis life for almost a decade. Plus, insight into his early, "pre-Beagle" years as a budding scientist.
September 10, 2023
Loved this book; Stott brought Darwin and "his" barnacles to life. Amazing creatures and an amazing story; along with his experiences on the Beagle, Darwin's painstaking barnacle study (which took him about eight years) helped make him a brilliant scientist. Stott also is a great writer and she manages to bring Darwin, his people, and his animals alive.
September 12, 2018
After reading DARWIN'S GHOSTS by the same author, I went ahead and got DARWIN AND THE BARNACLE - and it was a good choice. This book focuses on Darwin's years long study of barnacles, which gave him both recognition as a researcher, and material data on evolution for his later books.
November 17, 2017
Somehow this biography which has to own the most boring title in history, is one of the most fascinating and absorbing books I've read all year.
August 18, 2019
This part of Darwin's work was not often written or mentioned in Darwin's biogeography. A fresh look and a progression of barnacle taxonomy work bring forth the variations in species theory.
August 9, 2020
Thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! The author invited us to know this curious, interesting and intelligent man and one who loved his children.
February 21, 2023
This is an extremely well researched and well written book.
There were times when I could not put it down.
If you have any interest in Darwin you should read this book.
There were times when I could not put it down.
If you have any interest in Darwin you should read this book.
June 13, 2025
An enjoyable read for those who like science history or have an interest in how the natural science began. Pictures in the book are very hard to see.
March 3, 2022
A slow starter of a book. It took time for me to get used to the narrative style of the writing (using perfect tense instead of simple past), however once I did and the story built up, it was almost impossible to put it down!
An insight into the man, the times and the developing interest in science.
Tough question is, what do I read after reading something so gripping as this?
An insight into the man, the times and the developing interest in science.
Tough question is, what do I read after reading something so gripping as this?
May 21, 2011
It took me a lot of pages to get into this book - well over half way - perhaps due to the author making speculative statements about what Darwin was thinking/ doing just to pad out the story. (This always annoys me in TV documentaries!) Or due to the quotes set in smaller typesize (irritating when the main typeface is only just ok without glasses). Or the odd moment where she uses the present tense when speaking about Darwin's actions.
But, suddently, I was hooked! The book gave an interesting overview of life in the early-to-mid 1800s (for a 'man of independant means' at least). There was a big reliance on the new postal service (the 'text messaging' of latter day) - he wrote thousands of letters in his lifetime. And I discovered that he wasn't a well man (mystery illness, unnamed in book*) and yet spent eight years studying the various barnacle species in minute detail. Hard not to admire someone with such extraordinary patience. Now I definitely feel the need to read more about Darwin!
* he went for something called the Water Cure in the Malvern Hills.
"Darwin was to leave his books behind, especially novels. Gully [the Quack] felt as strongly about the digestion of novels as he did about over-rich food. Four weeks of the Cure would change the depraved appetites of even the most decadent of readers. 'I have seen men', he wrote, 'whose jaded and morbid minds could previously take no nutrient save the garbage of English and French novels, devour the strong meat of History and Biography with clean and large appetite.'"
But, suddently, I was hooked! The book gave an interesting overview of life in the early-to-mid 1800s (for a 'man of independant means' at least). There was a big reliance on the new postal service (the 'text messaging' of latter day) - he wrote thousands of letters in his lifetime. And I discovered that he wasn't a well man (mystery illness, unnamed in book*) and yet spent eight years studying the various barnacle species in minute detail. Hard not to admire someone with such extraordinary patience. Now I definitely feel the need to read more about Darwin!
* he went for something called the Water Cure in the Malvern Hills.
"Darwin was to leave his books behind, especially novels. Gully [the Quack] felt as strongly about the digestion of novels as he did about over-rich food. Four weeks of the Cure would change the depraved appetites of even the most decadent of readers. 'I have seen men', he wrote, 'whose jaded and morbid minds could previously take no nutrient save the garbage of English and French novels, devour the strong meat of History and Biography with clean and large appetite.'"
February 22, 2013
This is an account of the Barnacle Years - the eight years that Charles Darwin took to disect his way through an inordinately large amount of barnacles, classify them and publish four papers on them. This work was the foundation of his scientific experience that made him that little bit less easy to dismiss when he did publish On The Origin of Species in 1859. A lot of the account of science methodology the zoology of the time and other goings on were new to me and very fascinating, and this wasn't an area of Darwin's life that I had that much knowledge of so I enjoyed reading those bits. I had no idea he was so unwell for most of that period, I had just heard of the sea sickness aboard The Beagle. I learnt a lot about both Darwin and his barnacles and got glimpses of the times he lived in.
Stott has done a huge amount of research and I enjoyed the direct and indirect quotes from letters to contempories and other sources she found. The book with the best title mentioned in this book is undoubtedly 'Three Weeks in Wet Sheets; Being the Diary and Doings of A Moist Visitor to Malverns'. They don't make book titles as they used to!
Stott has done a huge amount of research and I enjoyed the direct and indirect quotes from letters to contempories and other sources she found. The book with the best title mentioned in this book is undoubtedly 'Three Weeks in Wet Sheets; Being the Diary and Doings of A Moist Visitor to Malverns'. They don't make book titles as they used to!
October 29, 2008
At first, I really enjoyed this book's take on the study that focused Darwin's mind on the theory of evolution by natural selection. I particularly liked the detailed descriptions of the barnacles themselves, and the meticulous studies that Darwin carried out on these amazing little creatures. I'm an invertebrate biologist so I understand that other folks (people reading this book purely from a science history standpoint, for example) might find these descriptions dull. About halfway through, however, the book contains a big error in articulating the theories of von Baer and Haeckel regarding the evolution of animal development. This may seem like a small point, but I was unfortunately left wondering how many other errors were present that I didn't detect because they were on topics that I know little about. So this kind of wrecked the book for me- I put it down in June and now it's October. I hope to finish it nonetheless.
February 11, 2013
Wonderful and readable history. So detailed and human it's like you live in the Darwin household. I didn't want it to end in a way cos I want to know how his Origins book is received - in this authors voice.
I loved - TOP of PAGE 76. Darwin writing down the pros and cons of marriage. Poor Emma, so many children.
BOTTOM of PAGE 104. the barniculs... "their life cycle was entirely dedicated to reproduction: they had absolutely no other function or way of experiencing the world; at their prime they were 'mere bags of spermatozoa', in darwin's words" . that's what she said.
TOP of PAGE 182, ... the danger, the political intrigue, the discovery of peoples living their lives so differently from those in England and Europe, the zoological and geological differences and the sublime and awe-inspiring variety"
I loved - TOP of PAGE 76. Darwin writing down the pros and cons of marriage. Poor Emma, so many children.
BOTTOM of PAGE 104. the barniculs... "their life cycle was entirely dedicated to reproduction: they had absolutely no other function or way of experiencing the world; at their prime they were 'mere bags of spermatozoa', in darwin's words" . that's what she said.
TOP of PAGE 182, ... the danger, the political intrigue, the discovery of peoples living their lives so differently from those in England and Europe, the zoological and geological differences and the sublime and awe-inspiring variety"
February 19, 2009
The publication of Origin of Species and what came after has been discussed extensively, but this book is about the decades of work (and interruptions to work, also known as "life") that preceded it, which Darwin needed not only to confirm his early ideas, but to get the cred to have them accepted when he finally published.
If I were more of a biography reader, I would probably have liked this better.
If I were more of a biography reader, I would probably have liked this better.
July 30, 2012
The story of Darwin's research before the big evolution stuff. As the title suggests, he spent a lot of years studying barnacles. This book does a really good job of illustrating what the research was like--the collecting, letter-writing, classifying, and this is where the story really shines. Stott gives some of the technical details about barnacles, but not enough to really get bogged down. The writing is really surprisingly interesting. It does get bogged down occasionally with minor irrelevant details, but for the most part keeps the pace interesting.
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