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Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species: A Graphic Adaptation
A stunning graphic adaptation of one of the most famous, contested, and important books of all time.
Few books have been as controversial or as historically significant as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Since the moment it was released on November 24, 1859, Darwin's masterwork has been heralded for changing the course of science and condemned for its implied challenges to religion.
In Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, author Michael Keller and illustrator Nicolle Rager Fuller introduce a new generation of readers to the original text. Including sections about his pioneering research, the book's initial public reception, his correspondence with other leading scientists, as well as the most recent breakthroughs in evolutionary theory, this riveting, beautifully rendered adaptation breathes new life into Darwin's seminal and still polarizing work.
Few books have been as controversial or as historically significant as Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life. Since the moment it was released on November 24, 1859, Darwin's masterwork has been heralded for changing the course of science and condemned for its implied challenges to religion.
In Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, author Michael Keller and illustrator Nicolle Rager Fuller introduce a new generation of readers to the original text. Including sections about his pioneering research, the book's initial public reception, his correspondence with other leading scientists, as well as the most recent breakthroughs in evolutionary theory, this riveting, beautifully rendered adaptation breathes new life into Darwin's seminal and still polarizing work.
192 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
40 people are currently reading
1336 people want to read
About the author
Michael Keller
89 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews
March 12, 2019
"...whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."
The challenge of adapting one of the most lauded publications of science into graphic form must have surely given author Michael Keller and illustrator Nicolle Rager Fuller a few sleepless nights. And yet the result, in content and form, is highly commendable.
Whether you're looking for an introduction, an overview, or a supplemental learning experience, this is an entertaining and enlightening place to start. Keller and Fuller augment Darwin's thesis with pictorial representations that add dimension and clarity to complex concepts and biological references. *You SEE Galeopithecus, and the sphinx-moth, and the Thyacinus without having to visualize it (or Google it!).
If there's a knock here it's on the portraiture of the art. Fuller's renditions range from exceptional to adequate, with adequate most often being the historical human characterizations. But this is almost inconsequential to the overall impact of the book, I still enjoyed it immensely!
"With the Origin of Species, we now have a structure in which we may make sense of the natural world. It is a framework for finally unlocking the deepest mysteries of life with the power of our intellect."
The challenge of adapting one of the most lauded publications of science into graphic form must have surely given author Michael Keller and illustrator Nicolle Rager Fuller a few sleepless nights. And yet the result, in content and form, is highly commendable.
Whether you're looking for an introduction, an overview, or a supplemental learning experience, this is an entertaining and enlightening place to start. Keller and Fuller augment Darwin's thesis with pictorial representations that add dimension and clarity to complex concepts and biological references. *You SEE Galeopithecus, and the sphinx-moth, and the Thyacinus without having to visualize it (or Google it!).
If there's a knock here it's on the portraiture of the art. Fuller's renditions range from exceptional to adequate, with adequate most often being the historical human characterizations. But this is almost inconsequential to the overall impact of the book, I still enjoyed it immensely!
"With the Origin of Species, we now have a structure in which we may make sense of the natural world. It is a framework for finally unlocking the deepest mysteries of life with the power of our intellect."
March 4, 2019
My only complaint is the visual appearance of the book. The text is hand-written and very thin, pale and hard to read. The illustrations were charming and a nice accompaniment to the text but not of the best quality. I expected something spectacular but was disappointed.
January 1, 2023
I really wasn't sure how to rate this because it's such an unusual entity. I mean a science textbook adapted as a graphic novel? Weird huh? Still it was done rather well. The illustrations themselves aren't the most awesome thing in the world, but they added intimacy and spontaneity to the text - which is exactly what they needed to do. Together this becomes an interesting and fascinating book.
September 3, 2018
A wonderful interpretation of the jist of one of the greatest research publications of all time. It is also 20years since I studied the contents herein at the A/Ls, and this book provided a delightful recap of one of my favourite subjects - Zoology.
I figured that this is the closest I would ever come to reading Darwin's original work. What a good thing I bought this book. I can't wait for my daughter to read it herself.
I figured that this is the closest I would ever come to reading Darwin's original work. What a good thing I bought this book. I can't wait for my daughter to read it herself.
June 24, 2017
With stunning illustrations and excerpts from the Darwin’s work, this book explains and simplifies the concepts of natural selection and evolution.
September 3, 2010
How scholarly can a graphic novel be? This one is surprisingly good - though most of its four stars are for the drawings, which are just amazing. Other than that, it is all here - speciation, isolation, genetic drift, natural selection, niche exploitation, sexual selection. My problems with the text are small factual ones:
Forgetting to add "and Australia" is a small oversight and the origins of the emu are mentioned later on. The Tasmanian Tiger is referred to as the Tasmanian wolf, Gregor Mendel is described as Austrian, which is technically true, although he was born and spent most of his life in what is now the Czech Republic (he spent most of his life in an Abbey in my home town, actually). Nevertheless, the book captures Darwin's inner struggle between his life's work as a naturalist and his expected role as a clergyman, further underlined by the fact that he sat on his work for such a long time before publishing. I also like the way it corrects the small meanders in Darwin's theory which have since been explored and refined by others and how it introduces the works of others, both those authors by whose works Darwin was influenced, such as Lyell, Lamarck and Malthus and those who used his work as a basis to build their own theories, such as Gould and Dawkins.
"From the great Ostrich in Africa to its smaller cousins the rhea and emu in South America."
Forgetting to add "and Australia" is a small oversight and the origins of the emu are mentioned later on. The Tasmanian Tiger is referred to as the Tasmanian wolf, Gregor Mendel is described as Austrian, which is technically true, although he was born and spent most of his life in what is now the Czech Republic (he spent most of his life in an Abbey in my home town, actually). Nevertheless, the book captures Darwin's inner struggle between his life's work as a naturalist and his expected role as a clergyman, further underlined by the fact that he sat on his work for such a long time before publishing. I also like the way it corrects the small meanders in Darwin's theory which have since been explored and refined by others and how it introduces the works of others, both those authors by whose works Darwin was influenced, such as Lyell, Lamarck and Malthus and those who used his work as a basis to build their own theories, such as Gould and Dawkins.
June 2, 2018
A stunning achievement. It's difficult to condense Darwin's observations and ideas down to the amount of words available in a graphic format but this book does a wonderful job of it. Great illustrations and careful and precise wording are the order of the day in the work. This is certainly more than just an adaptation of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species." It footnotes updated information indicating where Darwin was not completely clear on some issues, such as inheritance, and it has a whole section at the end that extends Darwin's ideas to include those in genetics and other areas that, when allied with Darwinian natural selection, serve to create the modern synthesis of Darwinism with genetics. Very well done.
December 28, 2017
While this was very interesting and very outside of what I normally read, I did not really enjoy it. I'm not sure this is the type of book that you enjoy for casual reading anyway. That being said I did like the book and learned a lot about Darwin's theory in the process of reading this.
March 18, 2010
Rife with inaccuracies, many of them stemming from the attempt by the author to update Origin with new information. A lot of these additions are less than helpful, and a good number are misleading because of the way they are phrased, or flat-out false. The quality of the artwork is less than optimal, though I appreciate how hard it is to find an artist who is good at drawing both humans and the sort of animal and plant illustrations science requires, and who works quickly and consistently enough to provide 190 pages of material.
I also question the utility of Origin itself in teaching children about evolution. Darwin was many things, but an engaging writer was not one of them. Close adherence to the structure of the book while also trying to focus on the important parts of it also means Keller's book often feels haphazard or incoherent.
All in all, a decent effort, but there are better books on evolution to buy for your children. Most, of course, aren't comics, but give your kids some credit. It's not like the fact that this one had illustrations made it much more engaging.
I also question the utility of Origin itself in teaching children about evolution. Darwin was many things, but an engaging writer was not one of them. Close adherence to the structure of the book while also trying to focus on the important parts of it also means Keller's book often feels haphazard or incoherent.
All in all, a decent effort, but there are better books on evolution to buy for your children. Most, of course, aren't comics, but give your kids some credit. It's not like the fact that this one had illustrations made it much more engaging.
October 20, 2015
I appreciate the effort that was taken with the illustrations. But at the end of the day, a book has to do what a book has to do. It has to convey a message.
Here the message from Michael Keller was too obscure for a newbie in evolutionary theory or Victorian English and was too trivial for an expert. No doubt Charles Darwin was one of the greatest genious of all time. But the century old thesis is too archaic and outdated to get you to turn the pages. I would recommend reading Richard Dawkins instead.
Here the message from Michael Keller was too obscure for a newbie in evolutionary theory or Victorian English and was too trivial for an expert. No doubt Charles Darwin was one of the greatest genious of all time. But the century old thesis is too archaic and outdated to get you to turn the pages. I would recommend reading Richard Dawkins instead.
April 25, 2014
The artwork is good, and the graphic adaptation part of it is interesting, the parts where it shows Charles Darwin's life, but the actual subject matter is rather dry--not that I didn't expect that, it is a science book, after all. The base theory is sound, natural selection is obviously a proven fact in today's day and age, but the leaps of logic Mr. Darwin makes are quite unfounded.
As a graphic adaptation, it's okay, but as you'll know if you're friends with me, I don't agree in the slightest with the conclusions.
As a graphic adaptation, it's okay, but as you'll know if you're friends with me, I don't agree in the slightest with the conclusions.
June 4, 2019
Since I had such a rough time getting through the actual Origin of Species book, I thought I'd give it another try in the form of a graphic novel since I feel the subject matter is important to know about. Unfortunately, I still really struggled through the book. I got a little better understanding of the subject because of the illustrations, but in all honesty, the illustrations were pretty bad, especially when it came to the drawing of humans. I guess I'm going to have to find a different way to learn about evolution--maybe a children's book?
November 25, 2017
I really enjoyed reading this graphic novel. It was well drawn, and the subject matter was presented clearly, in easily comprehended pieces. I liked the addition of current species distribution maps for comparison.
May 22, 2018
nice summary of the heavy (and difficult to read original) book, gorgeous illustrations. for adults and teens alike.
August 8, 2017
Dit boek is een aangename introductie in de evolutieleer, en wat Darwin nu feitelijk dacht.
Ik stelde het op prijs dat aanvullingen vanuit de hedendaagse wetenschap in voetnoten toegevoegd werd.
Ik merk bij mijzelf dat dit boek gecombineerd met wat ik reeds eerder las, een beter beeld geeft van wat de evolutieleer nu eigenlijk inhoudt.
Ik stelde het op prijs dat aanvullingen vanuit de hedendaagse wetenschap in voetnoten toegevoegd werd.
Ik merk bij mijzelf dat dit boek gecombineerd met wat ik reeds eerder las, een beter beeld geeft van wat de evolutieleer nu eigenlijk inhoudt.
November 3, 2017
Timbunan dari BBW tahun lalu *program babat timbunan* Nyaris terlupakan jk tdk sedang butuh referensi. ilustrasinya ciamik punya. Saya lbh menikmati ilustrasi dari.pada kata2 yang tersaji.
September 26, 2014
If you were going to make a list of books that would be difficult to do a graphic novel adaptation of, Darwin's On the Origin of Species, would be an excellent candidate for that list.
So some serious degree-of-difficulty points for Michael Keller for making the attempt.
I was not surprised to find the results were a mixed bag. Darwin relies heavily on shear volume of evidence to make his case for natural selection as the mechanism for evolution. And while a picture may be worth a thousand words, a limited number of pictures does not, as it turn out, add up to hundreds of detailed lines of evidence.
In spite of the size of Darwin's original work, Keller felt the need to add material. The beginning of this book is essentially a biography of Darwin. The end gives a summary of the major discoveries in the field of evolution since Darwin's time. Both of these segments were among the most enjoyable parts of the graphic novel.
There were many good, creative uses of illustration to show examples and to reinforce points from Darwin's theory. The book has some absolutely beautiful artwork in places, and some of the page-design is excellent. But the visual quality is a bit inconsistent. Some of the drawings worked for me and some did not.
This felt a bit too rambling to be a really good tight synopsis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, but it struggles to bring to bear the volume of evidence seen in the original work.
That being said, the degree to which it does succeed is impressive considering what it is attempting to accomplish, and it does contain some really beautiful nature illustrations.
So some serious degree-of-difficulty points for Michael Keller for making the attempt.
I was not surprised to find the results were a mixed bag. Darwin relies heavily on shear volume of evidence to make his case for natural selection as the mechanism for evolution. And while a picture may be worth a thousand words, a limited number of pictures does not, as it turn out, add up to hundreds of detailed lines of evidence.
In spite of the size of Darwin's original work, Keller felt the need to add material. The beginning of this book is essentially a biography of Darwin. The end gives a summary of the major discoveries in the field of evolution since Darwin's time. Both of these segments were among the most enjoyable parts of the graphic novel.
There were many good, creative uses of illustration to show examples and to reinforce points from Darwin's theory. The book has some absolutely beautiful artwork in places, and some of the page-design is excellent. But the visual quality is a bit inconsistent. Some of the drawings worked for me and some did not.
This felt a bit too rambling to be a really good tight synopsis of Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection, but it struggles to bring to bear the volume of evidence seen in the original work.
That being said, the degree to which it does succeed is impressive considering what it is attempting to accomplish, and it does contain some really beautiful nature illustrations.
April 5, 2011
I'm with the hoards of other people out there that want to read a classic/controversial book, but find they don't have the time or the will to go about it. So, when I saw the library had picked up the graphic novel edition - and it didn't look cheesy - I thought I'd give it a shot.
I felt a little cheap reading the graphic adaptation, but all of the text was direct language from Darwin's book, or scientific commentary on it. (And the pictures were fantastic...)
I wanted to come away with the feeling that I'd read "Origin of the Species," but I didn't. None of this was particularly new for me either - having taken AP Bio in H.S. and then Bio in college (I never took the AP test...) as well as Philosophy of Science and other such courses.
There was some stuff that it was nice to brush up on, as well as gleaning some new tidbits here and there.
It keeps me asking questions, which I think is good.
I felt a little cheap reading the graphic adaptation, but all of the text was direct language from Darwin's book, or scientific commentary on it. (And the pictures were fantastic...)
I wanted to come away with the feeling that I'd read "Origin of the Species," but I didn't. None of this was particularly new for me either - having taken AP Bio in H.S. and then Bio in college (I never took the AP test...) as well as Philosophy of Science and other such courses.
There was some stuff that it was nice to brush up on, as well as gleaning some new tidbits here and there.
It keeps me asking questions, which I think is good.
April 4, 2020
Keller does a bang-up job of distilling Darwin's On the Origin of Species (which I have not read) into a digestible graphic novel version that has an opening and concluding chapter focused on Darwin himself while the middle chapters are sectioned based on the principles that he researched and shared (along with others who were making similar or competing discoveries).
It's chock-full of information in a good way. I felt like I understood a large portion of what he talks about using the graphic adaptation as a guide for understanding. There were plenty of visual information, diagrams, and explanations to accompany the storytelling aspect.
It's chock-full of information in a good way. I felt like I understood a large portion of what he talks about using the graphic adaptation as a guide for understanding. There were plenty of visual information, diagrams, and explanations to accompany the storytelling aspect.
April 24, 2020
Lots of people say The Origin of Species is essential reading. I attempted to read the real thing but sorry, no, I don't have the brain capacity to digest the complex sentences. This graphic novel presented the gist of Darwin's arguments pretty well. You can still get the basic idea. But I have a little mixed feeling reading a science book from a hundred years ago. It's hard to be amazed or felt that you've learned something new knowing all the progress of science that happened since the book was published. And yet, it is undeniable that this book is very influential and served as the basis of other discoveries that came after.
August 30, 2024
2.5 stars rounded up.
Fascinating in so far as Darwin’s origin of species is a magnificent piece of scientific storytelling. The artwork is at times awkward looking and other times helps to illustrate evolutionary principles, overall has a neutral effect on the document.
This did kind of blow my mind imagining a world where evolution is not the prevailing theory, when it seems so obvious today.
Fascinating in so far as Darwin’s origin of species is a magnificent piece of scientific storytelling. The artwork is at times awkward looking and other times helps to illustrate evolutionary principles, overall has a neutral effect on the document.
This did kind of blow my mind imagining a world where evolution is not the prevailing theory, when it seems so obvious today.
September 9, 2017
My first graphic novel. I will probably never read Darwin's original "Origin of Species." So this book was very satisfactory. Simply easy to understand thru illustrations. I enjoyed the book. Wonder what other classics are in graphic adaptation.
January 30, 2018
I think the idea behind this is cool, but I feel like there is too much jammed into one graphic novel. I wish it was a small series and spaced out better. It took me forever to read because I had to read it in sessions to get through it.
April 14, 2018
Beautifully illustrated review of the landmark science of On the Origin of Species is an approachable way to recenter the lay reader with natural selection and evolution. The richly colored pages are set against Darwin's own words from the work that explains in exquisite detail the theory.
November 6, 2018
Interesting graphic novel approach to Darwin’s Origin of Species with cool illustrations. I’ve always wanted to read the original yet the complexity of the topic wasn’t helped by the difficulty of the language. This was a pleasant solution.
August 24, 2020
Masterful in every way. If you want the short, sweet, to-the-point version of On The Origin of Species I would highly recommend this book to you. Although it’s a comic book, it’s still a challenging read, so I didn’t feel like I was being babied with it.
June 3, 2021
I read this with my 10th grade science book club. It was an effective and fun way to introduce the theory of evolution by natural selection. The students had many positive comments and our discussions showed that they were really grasping the ideas presented in the book.
July 5, 2021
This was an impressive adaptation of Darwin's work. When I saw the concept in the library I felt compelled to give it a chance, not quite sure how it would stack up to my expectations. While it is not perfect, I found myself pleasantly surprised.
May 31, 2023
It was really interesting seeing the process of how a theory comes about and the cascade of discoveries that occur after. Some of it I had to read twice to fully understand but I have definitely learnt a lot about natural selection and biology in general
January 23, 2024
So glad my husband had this book in his library. I would not have wanted to read the original! The illustrations were quite good, especially the animals and birds, which added so much to my comprehension of this subject.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 120 reviews