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Darwin: Portrait of a Genius (2012)

by Paul Johnson

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1366199,246 (3.63)6
Darwin's revolutionary career is the perfect vehicle for historian Paul Johnson. Marked by the insightful observation, spectacular wit, and highly readable prose for which Johnson is so well regarded, Darwin brings the gentleman-scientist and his times brilliantly into focus. From Darwin's birth into great fortune to his voyage aboard the Beagle, to the long-delayed publication of his masterpiece, Johnson delves into what made this Victorian gentleman into a visionary scientist and into the tragic flaws that later led Darwin to support the burgeoning eugenics movement.… (more)
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Showing 1-5 of 6 (next | show all)
Interestingly, Johnson's "portrait" of Darwin isn't very flattering. He highlights Darwin's shortcomings and mistakes, his arrogance, his lack of intellectual discipline, his biases, his inability to understand the subtleties of human nature, his pettiness, his intolerance, and his mean-spiritedness. That being said, this short book is still a quick and interesting read. ( )
  bookishblond | Oct 24, 2018 |
Some interesting information on this quiet genius.
  Vinbert | Nov 22, 2015 |
Some interesting information on this quiet genius.
  Vinbert | Nov 22, 2015 |
This was just okay a lot dry at times, but I did learn a few new facts about the man and his work. ( )
  lindap69 | Apr 5, 2013 |
interesting short book. Not traditional biography, not exactly history. Johnson looks at Darwin's personal hisstory, and at the effects of his ideas on Darwin's own life and on society. I enjoyed most of it, but Johnson inserts some of his own ideas in the final chapter that seem odd to me. Applying natural selection to inanimate objects that do not reproduce sexually misses the point in my opinion, and feeds the ideas of social darwinism that take the superficial view and apply to other situations. Bu perhaps he is more subtle than I and this is his point.... ( )
1 vote Helenoel | Mar 15, 2013 |
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To my grandson Ralph
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All his life, Charles Darwin believed that inheritance was much more important in shaping a man or woman than education or environment.
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Darwin's revolutionary career is the perfect vehicle for historian Paul Johnson. Marked by the insightful observation, spectacular wit, and highly readable prose for which Johnson is so well regarded, Darwin brings the gentleman-scientist and his times brilliantly into focus. From Darwin's birth into great fortune to his voyage aboard the Beagle, to the long-delayed publication of his masterpiece, Johnson delves into what made this Victorian gentleman into a visionary scientist and into the tragic flaws that later led Darwin to support the burgeoning eugenics movement.

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