Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was an evolutionary scientist whose The Origin of Species (1859) is one of the most
important scientific works ever written.
Summary
'I have attempted to write the following account of myself, as if I were a dead man in another world looking
back on my own life �'
Self-taught and ambitious, Darwin genuinely believed he was 'below the common standard in intellect' and had gained
little from formal education. Yet he also knew he had seized his one great stroke of luck--the voyage of the Beagle--and
forged a lasting body of knowledge through solitary determination and sheer hard work. His memoir concentrates
on his public career and towering scientific achievements, but is also full of lively anecdotes about his family
and contemporaries. Among these, he paints a vivid portrait of his bullying father, and pays a loving tribute to
his devoted wife Emma, who was so distressed by their religious differences. The figure that emerges from these
pages is one who stands isolated, dogged by illness and confined to solitude by his ailing body, with a mind that
rejected the arts and the 'damnable doctrine' of Christianity.
This volume also includes a fascinating fragment about Darwin's earliest memories, which he jotted down while pondering
the impact of evolution on human psychology.
