Charles Darwin

by Grant Allen

Overview

Charles Darwin by Grant Allen provides an in-depth exploration of Darwin's life and the intellectual climate that shaped his groundbreaking ideas. The narrative examines how Darwin, although not the first to propose evolution, clarified the crucial mechanisms behind natural selection. The book explores the historical context in which Darwin developed his theories, showing how societal shifts and the contributions of earlier thinkers influenced his work. It delves into Darwin's background, highlighting his upbringing in an environment conducive to scientific inquiry, and the broader intellectual movement that surrounded him. The work underscores the significance of Darwin’s contributions not just to biology, but also to how they reshaped intellectual thought across disciplines. By examining the interplay of ideas from figures such as Lamarck and Malthus, the text enhances the reader's understanding of the scientific revolution that Darwin became a pivotal part of. It also reflects on the lasting implications of his work on both science and society, setting the foundation for future advancements in evolutionary biology and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789369424054
Publisher:	Double 9 Books
Publication date:	01/30/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	561 KB

About the Author

Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen was a Canadian science writer and novelist, born on February 24, 1848, in Kingston, Canada. He was educated at Merton College in England. Known for his public advocacy of evolutionary theory in the late 19th century, Allen's works often explored the intersection of science, philosophy, and social issues. His novels, essays, and popular science writings made him an influential figure in promoting evolutionary ideas during a time of significant scientific debate. Allen s literary contributions include fiction and scientific writings, with works such as The Woman Who Did garnering attention. He was also a proponent of progressive social ideas. Allen passed away at the age of 51 on October 25, 1899, in Hindhead, United Kingdom. He was the son of Catherine Ann Grant and Joseph Antisell Allen, and had one child. Allen's legacy as a thinker and writer continues to be appreciated for its contributions to both literature and the understanding of scientific concepts in the public sphere.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER III. EAKLY DAYS. As the Chester express steams out of Shrewsbury station, you see on your left, overhanging the steep bank of Severn, a large, square, substantial-looking house, known as the Mount, the birthplace of the author of the ' Origin of Species.' There, in the comfortable home he had built for himself, Dr. Robert Darwin, the father, lived and worked for fifty years of unobtrusive usefulness. He had studied medicine at Edinburgh and Leyden, and had even travelled a little in Germany, before he settled down in the quiet old Salopian town, where for half a century his portly figure and yellow chaise were familiar objects of the country-side for miles around. Among a literary society which included Coleridge's friends, the Tayleurs, and where Hazlitt listened with delight to the great poet's ' music of the spheres,' in High Street Unitarian Chapel, the Mount kept up with becoming dignity the family traditions of the Darwins and .the Wedgwoods as a local centre of sweetness and light. On February the 12th, 1809, Charles Darwin first saw the light of day in this his father's house at Shrewsbury. Time and place were both propitious. Born ina cultivated scientific family, surrounded from his birth by elevating influences, and secured beforehand/rom the cramping necessity of earning his own livelihood by his own exertions, the boy was destined to grow up to full maturity in the twenty-one years of slow development that immediately preceded the passing of the first Reform Act. The thunder of the great European upheaval had grown silent at Waterloo when he was barely six years old, and his boyhood was passed amid country sights and sounds during that long period ofreconstruction and assimilation which followed the fierce volcanic outburst of the French Revolution. ...