Book review: ‘Ever Since Darwin’ by Stephen Jay Gould

15,000 years of urban life and death.

14-May-1856: Darwin starts writing his ‘big species book’

On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that, on the advice of his friend Charles Lyell, after almost 20 years exploring the subject, he had finally begun writing a ‘sketch’ of his ideas on species.

If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?

This is a question frequently posed by creationists—and quite often by perfectly rational people…

13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank

Charles Darwin's closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.

The great Darwin fossil hunt

In which a friend beyond measure arranges a behind-the-scenes visit to the Natural History Museum to see fossils collected by Charles Darwin during the Beagle voyage.

Spandrel sight-seeing

In which I visit the spandrels of San Marco in Venice.

Science/History Books

Book review: ‘Ever Since Darwin’ by Stephen Jay Gould

Book review: ‘Humanism’ by Stephen Law

Book review: ‘Improbable Destinies’ by Jonathan Losos

Book review: ‘Built on Bones’ by Brenna Hassett

Book review: ‘The Enlightenment’ by John Robertson