The Essential Darwin

This is much less a book about Darwin than it is Darwin's book. I am convinced that there remains great value in reading Darwin, just as I am equally convinced that too few do. Perhaps this is because the nub of Darwinism—evolution by natural selection—appears so marvelously transparent in its conception as to discourage further burrowing for its root. This is unfortunate, for the Darwin who inhabits biology textbooks—the vulgar Darwin—is a pallid representation of the Darwin who lived and whose writings are contained in these pages: —from the Preface by Kenneth Korey