Book Review - Charles Darwin by Cyril Aydon

Let me start of by mentioning that I am a real fan of books. I don’t need to ever remind myself that books hold a tremendous source of knowledge and wisdom upon their pages. For those familiar with my room, they will know the colossal bookshelf that sits only two feet away from my head when I sleep. Its position is half due to my theory of osmosis, half simply because I like having books close to me, and half because the shelf gives me a place to rest my tea cup. And that adds up to 150% which is me telling you that I like books more than the average guy. So keep that in mind when I review some of my favorites - that I tend to be very complimentary.

The book in question is a fantastic journey through the life of one of the most influential minds of modern thinking (especially on the subject of evolution, as many will know the name Darwin for). In my first year of university in 2003, I studied Psych 1 and Darwin had a whole subsection of his own within my file. I remember being fascinated with him back then already. Darwin was a compulsive recorder of his thoughts and activities and thus I would imagine that biographers would have a good time picking through what to include in their particular writing on is life- Cyril chose well.

Cyril Aydon’s biography is a very balanced read and gives much insight into the life and work of Darwin as well as his childhood. One area in which I did find the book lacking, is in the area of its insight into the life of Darwin’s marriage and home life. I suspect that this is due to the fact that Darwin’s work consumed so much of his time and energy and his home life simply went unrecorded. We do know however that he played backgammon with his wife every night for the better part of 47 years (and kept a running tally of wins and losses)... I wonder what the final tally was- google does not know.

Two things become very clear through the reading of this book (and I will try not to spoil anything for anyone wishing to read it after me):

1. Darwin was not successful because he had a brilliant mind. Yes, sure, he was more intelligent than most, but it was his passion for truth and other parts of his personality, like his ability to notice minute detail, that made him the inceptive propagator of a very new and groundbreaking theory. It seems to me that he was naturally selected to formulate the theory of natural selection. Ok, silly joke, but I was only half joking and therefore it is only half silly.

2. Darwin was not anti-religious. He simply really believed in his theories and could not come to doubt them because he saw them as being factual, and he lived in a time when there was middle ground between the islands of thinking like Darwin or having a literal understanding of the book of Genesis. If anything, he tried to stay away from controversy. It was more the people alongside him that used the logical out-workings of his theories to argue fiercely against the church.

I think the book to be well written and I enjoyed the balance it gave to narrative and scientific content. It did not lose itself in dates and places as many biographies do, and at the same time took you on a journey to a sunny destination. The book has a great summary chapter which charts the popularity of Darwin’s theory since his death. A nice addition I think.

“Anyone with intelligence can have an idea. Having an idea is hardly more praiseworthy than having hiccups. It is the labour and skill that go into developing and applying an idea that turns chance thought into great science.” - Aydon (2002)