Charles Darwin

by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent

A biography tells how a simple country parson born in 1809 became one of the most influential figures in the emerging field of modern science and changed the way people see the world, its creation, and its natural history.

Genres: Science

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

As a child, my favorite activity was exploring nature, especially finding animals like frogs, toads, and lizards. I kept tropical fish, had a dog, and loved riding horses. My love of animals led to a Ph.D. degree from U.C. Berkley in Zoology. In grad school I met and married fellow student Greg Patent. Our two sons, David and Jason, were born before we finished school. I wanted to use my training and my knowledge, but I also wanted to raise my sons and be there for them when they needed me. I decided that writing the kind of books I'd always loved reading was a good solution to my dilemma, and that turned out to be true. One of my favorite things is learning new "stuff," and every time I tackle a new book project I get to indulge myself in that passion. I'm a lucky gal!

Fast forward to the present. Our sons are grown and have their own families. We live in Missoula, MT, where Greg is now a food writer (http://www.thebakingwizard.com) and a radio personality (httpp://www.mtpr.org--look for Food Guys). My writing has expanded to other nonfiction topics, especially ones dealing with the Westward Expansion period of U.S. history. I've taught writing classes in many venues, visited schools in most U.S. states, attended many conferences for teachers and librarians, won a number of awards, and had great travel adventures in pursuit of my subject matter.

Reviews

[Bléu · Rating 4 out of 5]

I LOVED THIS SMALL, BRIEF AND CONCISE BIOGRAPHY, SO MUCH. Ever since we tackled Darwin's principle in bio, I was already intrigued about him and the exploring aboard the Beagle ship that made him discover his theory of evolution. I also discovered he's one of those scientists who likes long walks from Keri Smith's "The Wander Society". Overall, I was long ago curious about Charles Darwin and Ms. Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's jam-packed, yet well researched biography quenched that curiosity. I had come to admire Mr. Darwin more, as a scientist whose only satisfaction comes from discovering despite his chronic illness that lasted his lifetime. Reading about his journey of finishing the work that would further heighten his prominence is such adrenaline filled knowing that Mr. Alfred Wallace came with the same conclusion at such a short period. The field of science, if you really want your name written in the history books is a race of who will first discover and publish whom, with detailed evidences. Yet this does not necessarily mean science discovery is all about that, if you want to look at it objectively, it is about further discovering knowledge that would increase the chances of making life far easier for those suffering from cruel illnesses--knowing as much knowledge to act as coverage for a far deeper understanding.

[Richard Gullickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the impressions left by this very informative and concise book is how many scientists had similar ideas to Darwin’s theory of evolution based on natural selection. In retrospect, the idea seems so obvious that it is surprising that this concept wasn’t more widely discussed 2000 years ago. Darwin did come to realize that adaptive changes in species were not directly driven by environmental changes. His key contribution is the notion that each species has substantially variability (driven by mutations) and that only those new traits which provide a survival advantage in the changing environment would be passed along to the next generation. The most amazing thing about natural selection driven evolution is that there are many who do not accept it even in this day of genetic sequencing when evolution is written in the DNA of the species for all to read. The account of the voyage of the Beagle is fascinating, especially being reminded that it took 5 years from Darwin’s life (probably the best years) and that he spent much of his time on this round the world voyage on land. It’s amazing how much he accomplished given his continuing health issues. It’s ironic that one of Darwin’s greatest sources of contentment was being away from London in the bucolic setting of his country home, Down House. Posterity had the last laugh when after Darwin’s death in 1882 his body was buried in Westminster Abbey instead of at the home he loved so much.