How the Romantic generation discovered the beauty and terror of science.
Reviews: History of Science
Reviews of books about the history of science.
Book review: ‘Gilbert White’ by Richard Mabey
A biography of the author of The Natural History of Selborne.
Book review: ‘Of Moths & Men’ by Judith Hooper
The story of how some of Bernard Kettlewell's famous peppered moth experiments contained certain flaws.
Book review: ‘HMS Beagle’ by Karl Heinz Marquardt
Meticulously detailed ship's plans of HMS Beagle, for anyone thinking of making a model or replica!
Book review: ‘The Great Naturalists’ by Robert Huxley (ed.)
A whistle-stop tour of the history of natural history.
Book review: ‘The Mismeasure of Man’ by Stephen Jay Gould
Why intelligence testing is stupid.
Book review: ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 7: 1858–1859’
Darwin’s correspondence leading up to the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’.
Book review: ‘The Structure of Evolutionary Theory’ by Stephen Jay Gould
The maestro's magnum opus.
Book review: ‘Darwin in Scotland’ by J.F. Derry
Edinburgh, evolution and enlightenment.
Book review: ‘Darwin’s Sacred Cause’ by Adrian Desmond and James Moore
How Charles Darwin’s abhorrence of slavery influenced his science.
Book review: ‘Darwin’ by Niles Eldredge
A fascinating analysis of the development of Darwin's thinking.
Book review: ‘Dry Store Room No.1’ by Richard Fortey
The personalities and politics behinds the scenes at the Natural History Museum.