From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals) - Hardcover

Darwin, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0393061345 ISBN 13: 9780393061345

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2005

Synopsis

Hailed as "superior" by Nature, this landmark volume is  available in a collectible, boxed edition.

Never before have the four great works of Charles Darwin―Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845), The Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)―been collected under one cover. Undertaking this challenging endeavor 123 years after Darwin's death, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson has written an introductory essay for the occasion, while providing new, insightful introductions to each of the four volumes and an afterword that examines the fate of evolutionary theory in an era of religious resistance. In addition, Wilson has crafted a creative new index to accompany these four texts, which links the nineteenth-century, Darwinian evolutionary concepts to contemporary biological thought. Beautifully slipcased, and including restored versions of the original illustrations, From So Simple a Beginning turns our attention to the astounding power of the natural creative process and the magnificence of its products. 101 illustrations

About this title

About the Author:

Naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is the father of evolution. His groundbreaking The Origin of Species argued that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. As much as anyone in the modern era, Darwin has changed the course of human thought.

Edward O. Wilson is the author of more than thirty books, including Anthill, a novel, and The Meaning of Human Existence, a finalist for the National Book Award. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, Wilson is a professor emeritus at Harvard University and lives with his wife, Irene, in Lexington, Massachusetts.

Review:

"...will bring the wonders of Darwin to a wide audience. [Darwin] was not only great in his time, but if anything he is even greater today." John Tyler Bonner, The Times Literary Supplement "Anyone who wishes to start the new year with a real intellectual feast will buy the four 'great books' of Darwin, published in one volume by W.W. Norton." A.N. Wilson, The Daily Telegraph

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0393061345
• ISBN 13: 9780393061345
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 1706
• Editor: Wilson Edward O.