Darwin's First Theory: Exploring Darwin's Quest for a Theory of Earth

by Rob Wesson

Everybody knows—or thinks they know—Charles Darwin, the father of evolution and the man who altered the way we view our place in the world. But what most people do not know is that Darwin was on board the HMS Beagle as a geologist—on a mission to examine the land, not flora and fauna.

Retracing Darwin’s footsteps in South America and beyond, geologist Rob Wesson treks across the Andes, cruises waters charted by the Beagle, hunts for fossils in Uruguay and Argentina, and explores sites of long vanished glaciers in Scotland and Wales. As he follows Darwin’s path—literally and intellectually—Wesson experiences the land as Darwin did, engages with his observations, and tackles the same questions Darwin had about our ever-changing Earth.

Upon his return from his five-year journey aboard the Beagle, after examining the effects of earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and more, Darwin conceived his theory of subsidence and uplift‚—his first theory. These concepts and attitudes—the vastness of time; the enormous cumulative impact of almost imperceptibly slow change; change as a constant feature of the environment—underlie Darwin’s subsequent discoveries in evolution. And this peculiar way of thinking remains vitally important today as we enter the human-dominated Anthropocene age.

Expertly interweaving science and adventure, Darwin’s First Theory is a riveting and revelatory journey around the world with one of the greatest scientific minds in history.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History, Nature, Evolution, Biography, Natural History

384 pages, Hardcover

First published April 11, 2017

About the author

As a kid from the Pacific Northwest fascinated by mountains and glaciers, geology and geophysics seemed like a good choice as an undergraduate at M.I.T. I followed this with an MS and PhD in geophysics from Stanford University, and then joined the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to study earthquakes. Now more more than four decades later I am a Scientist Emeritus at the USGS and still thinking about earthquakes.

In high school I developed a passion for short stories and the fiction of Steinbeck, Hemingway, and J.D. Salinger, and for the literature of mountains and adventure. Although M.I.T. is known as a science and engineering school, it is an amazing place with creative energy bursting out everywhere. I greatly enjoyed the literature and creative writing classes I took there, and ever since I have harbored the ambition to find the time to focus on writing. After a couple of false starts, my chance finally came when I retired from the USGS. Except for an extended stint in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, I had also spent most of career in the office rather than the field, so I set my objective to combine writing with a return to geologic field work.

In 2008 I set out to explore the geologic legacy of Charles Darwin and Robert FitzRoy on the HMS Beagle in southern South America. It has been a great ride. I’ve met amazing people, geologists and otherwise, in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, England, Wales and Scotland. I’ve rolled in small, open boats, bounced in trucks, swayed in saddles, waded in swamps, and trekked over Andean passes, all the time pondering geologic puzzles that intrigued Darwin and FitzRoy, and that continue to fascinate geologists today.

Darwin's First Theory is the result. I wanted to write about science and how scientists—especially geologists—think, but I wanted to engage readers who are not necessarily science aficionados. Could I adapt the techniques of modern creative nonfiction used by Tony Horwitz, Erik Larson, Hampton Sides, and David Quammen to bring some vitality—some pizzazz—to writing about Darwin, his geologic theories, and how they continue to resonate nearly two centuries later?

Take a look at Darwin's First Theory. I hope that you will enjoy it! And you can judge the level of my success.

You can also see more about the book, about me, and about the adventures and people that went into the book at http://robwesson.com.

Reviews

[Titi Coolda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Foarte frumoasă, în primul rând, impecabil editată cu fotografii color de înaltă rezoluție. Extrem de documentată dar scrisă într-un limbaj accesibil, ușor de înțeles, ușor de urmărit. Nu credeam să citesc vreodată cu atâta pasiune o carte despre geologie, despre istoria Pământului, despre procesele care-l modelează în permanență. Și , sigur , Darwin. ˵ Omul, în aroganța sa, se consideră o operă grozavă, vrednică de intervenția unei zeități. E mai umil și, cred eu, adevărat să-l considerăm creat din animale.˝

[David Kent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this book by Rob Wesson is well written and highly researched. The author is a lifelong scientist and earthquake specialist, and the book includes some of his personal observations and experiences in the areas being discussed. Mostly though the book focuses on Darwin and his effort to develop a geological theory to explain the subsidence and uplift he observed during his famous world voyage on the Beagle from 1831 to 1836. While Darwin is best known for his "Origin of Species" work, his early expertise and training was in geology, and that is the topic on which the book is focused.

Most of the book takes place in the Patagonian regions of Argentina and Chile. There Darwin observed the unusual stepped plains on the eastern coast of Patagonia and speculated on the mechanism for their uplift. Observations of geological formations on the Chilean side, including the aftermath of a large earthquake augmented these thoughts. After returning home to England he further investigated the "parallel roads of Glen Roy" in the Scottish highlands, and retraced his earlier expedition into North Wales.

While in the region near Buenos Aires and south to Punta Alta, Darwin also discovers fossils of what become known as giant ground sloths, which were widespread in North and South America a few tens of thousand of years ago.

Wesson does an excellent job pulling together information from Darwin's own books and notes on the voyage, as well as those of Captain FitzRoy, with whom he shared a tiny cabin for nearly five years. Interspersed are some of the author's more recent experiences, as well as information gleaned from two earthquake/tsunami events in 1960 and 2010.

The writing is generally smooth and lively (except for a few dry spots early on). I felt a growing interest in this facet of Darwin's studies with which I am less familiar. Overall, this is a fascinating book that will bring to light a part of Darwin and the Beagle voyage that most people won't have known about.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darwin is, of course, most famous for his theory of evolution which he developed after his time on the HMS Beagle. However, his original reason for traveling on the Beagle was as a geologist. Darwin made quite a name for himself in the fledgling science of geology in the 19th century, and he published a few theories that have held up even today. This book follows Darwin's journey, through twists and turns, as experienced by Rob Wesson--a seismologist who was working with the US Geological Survey on primarily theoretical type (read: office work). Inspired by Darwin's work on geology, and knowing that it was a vastly underappreciated part of Darwin's legacy, Wesson set off an a fieldwork adventure that traced some of Darwin's original journey with the Beagle, seeing some of the same sights and using some of Darwin's own charts and drawings. This resulting work is entertaining and informative, giving insights into geologic phenomena, Darwin's life, and how the sciences of geology and evolution (and even chemistry and physics) have evolved. Interspersing his own personal journey with that of Darwin leads to much levity but also to a sense of science being cyclical; the things we see now have been seen before, and will be seen again, if we as a species last that long. Darwin's theory of evolution is really tied into his geological theories and this book explores the connections while also giving insight into Darwin as a person and how the journey itself affected him and his ideas. There is A LOT of information contained here, and it sometimes feels a bit jumbled in time--sometimes it is actually a bit jumbled in time--which is the reason for a four star review. Overall, this is an excellent primer on Darwin and the Beagle, maybe a great starting point before jumping into some of the more detailed works out there regarding the theory of evolution. I would say that Wesson met his goal with this work.

[Scotchneat · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, you may or may not know that Darwin was hired onto the Beagle as a geologist. Wesson combines a history of the dates and times of Darwin's education in geology with his own experiences retracing Darwin's travels and explorations in South America.

Darwin's studies of geologic formations were pretty solid. In fact, when he got back from the voyage, his first papers that got him into the scientific societies were theories about continental shifts and land formations.

This, of course, also meant he was observing fossils, and gaining an understanding of geologic time, which led to his rather more well-known theories.

[Buddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating look at the evolution of Darwin's thinking on geology, particularly the elevation of the continents. Rob visits many of the places and routes that Darwin took during his voyage of the Beagle and later travels, giving the reader insight into Darwin's thought process and adding modern insight on his ideas.

[BookBec · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find the idea of geology interesting, but the actual looking at rocks bores me quickly. This book mostly kept my interest, explaining Darwin's ideas clearly with helpful examples. The author's travels in Darwin's footsteps didn't always seem well integrated into the text, but the tie-in with Chile's 2010 earthquake was powerful. And either the author or his copy editor has some odd ideas about commas, which made the reading a bit more challenging than necessary.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many editorial errors in this book that I found distracting. Overall, however, I enjoyed its back-and-forth movement between Darwin's explorations, both physical and theoretical, and modern day events and geology of Chile. Wesson does a good job exploring the nature of science and its growth through comparing Darwin's geological theories with our current, modern understanding.

[Mitch M · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book that recounts Darwin's history of forays into the field of Geology. Many of us immediately think of the Theory of Evolution by means of Natural Selection whenever we think of Charles Darwin. The two are inextricably linked. But this book explores Darwin's very first theory: that of the subsidence of Earth's crust as evidenced by the nature of coral reefs and the bread crumbs they leave behind as their colonies move. It's an incredible theory that still holds up today in some manner. But this book helps to reveal the incredible story of Darwin's first scientific love: Geology. I adored this historical recounting of his introduction to Geology, his early field explorations with Adam Sedgwick, and eventual testing of his Geologic and natural history prowess upon the voyage of the HMS Beagle. The entire story was very well researched and well told by Rob Wesson. Speaking of whom, I appreciate his occasional interjections in the early chapters to tell stories of his travels to South America to experience what Darwin did over a hundred years before, but now in a modern light with new scientific understanding.

Overall, this is just an incredible book. It is so well laid out and well-written that I was constantly captivated throughout. If you are interested in Darwin, Geology, or even just scientific history, this book is a must-read.

[Roxana Sabau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mărturisesc cu toată ignoranța că dacă m-ar fi întrebat cineva acum un an cine a fost Darwin aș fi răspuns că a fost un biolog căruia îi datorăm teoria evoluției.

Astăzi știu că Darwin a fost înainte de toate un geolog și că evoluția nu poate fi redusă doar la veriga om-maimuță. Și mai știu că dacă stai pe coasta Pacificului, în Chile, poți ,,decoji” strat cu strat solul și poți descoperi urmele unor cutremure și valuri tsunami care au avut loc acum câteva secole. Scoici găsite la mii de metri altitudine în Anzi, urmele unor oceane care s-au retras de mii de ani și senzația de smerenie care te încearcă atunci când îți dai seama ce fracțiune insignifiantă din viața planetei o reprezintă existența noastră.

Și chiar dacă geologia ar fi plictisitoare, merită citită măcar pentru că deschide o ușă înspre viețile sudamericanilor și influența pe care o au dezastrele naturale repetate, iminente și inevitabile asupra societății chiliene.

[Socrate · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Darwin a început să înțeleagă principiul de selecție naturală prin observarea modului în care plantele și animalele se adaptează mediului lor."

"Teoria lui Darwin despre evoluție prin selecție naturală a provocat un val de schimbări în ceea ce privește modul în care înțelegem lumea și noi înșine."

"Darwin a fost un observator atent al naturii și a folosit datele colectate în timpul călătoriilor sale pentru a dezvolta teoria sa."

"Teoria lui Darwin a fost un punct de cotitură în istoria științei și a avut un impact profund asupra modului în care înțelegem lumea."

"Principiul de selecție naturală a lui Darwin a încurajat o schimbare fundamentală în modul în care înțelegem evoluția și istoria omenirii."

[Bruce Harbison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extensive commentary on Darwin's interest in geology and how that led him to his first theory regarding uplifting and sinking of shorelines, islands and ancient landscapes. Also covered is his correct theory of the formation of coral atolls. He was influenced by others at the time of course.

The author follows part of Darwin's treks through Chile and Patagonia when Darwin had shore leave from the Beagle. The author recreates what Darwin observed and comments on these observations and conclusions.

An illuminating read. I would give it five stars except that there are quite a few grammatical errors in the part of the story written by the author. I highly recommend it though.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked parts of this book but other parts felt heavily scientific. I did learn quite a bit about Darwin...I didn't know he had theories about coral reefs or plate tectonics. I also learned about Fitzroy...poor guy. It's amazing to think that Darwin predicted weather patterns that are happening today. I also didn't realize how important geology is to the world today. But at the end of the day, this is a book about geology and I suppose I will always be more into anthropology. I will never think of Darwin quite the same.

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent recounting of Darwin's geological observations and subsequent theories, prior to and informing his work on evolution. The author revisits many of the sites where Darwin's thoughts on geology germinated and paints an entertaining picture of Darwin and his intellectual and social milieu.

[Nguyet Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book re-tells Darwin’s journey of publishing his Origin Species Evolution. How amazing it is that Darwin first started from Geology then it leads him to evolution.

[Bruce Luyendyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprising new take on Darwin and his beginnings as a geologist. Deeply researched. In parallel with the Darwin story, Wesson weaves in his similar research experiences in places where Darwin first began to think of tectonics. Masterful!