Evolution's Captain: The Tragic Fate of Robert Fitzroy, the Man Who Sailed Charles Darwin Around the World

Enjoyable, quick-reading book about a man largely overlooked by history and the history of science: Robert FitzRoy, captain of the H.M.S. Beagle. This book tells of his career prior to the famous voyage, and of his later suicide (FitzRoy was a devout Christian and did not deal well with Darwin's views on evolution). It gets a little portentious at times - every chapter in parts one and two end with some variation of "Little did he know that he was setting into motion events that would CHANGE THE WORLD", but that's forgiveable. The book also loses track of FitzRoy towards the end - probably because history loses track of him. The book largely uses FitzRoy's own writing as source material, so if he wasn't writing anything for a span of show more ten years, there's not a lot a biographer can do. This space is filled with a description of what Darwin was doing at the time (i.e. prepping Origin of Species), which is a bit of a double-bind... the book would feel incomplete without it, but it's a story that we already know, and it draws focus away from FitzRoy, the main subject. Overall, a quick and interesting read that provides a nice backdrop to a major event in the history of science, but not really essential reading. show less

The author finds a new way to explore the Charles Darwin story that hasn't been done before: through an autobiography of Captain Fitzroy. This is a very good treatment of the troubled captain, removing the stereotypes that have surrounded him for so long, and fleshing out the man, who was a contributor in his own right to modern science.

So glad that I finally pulled this book off of my shelf to read. It has given me valuable insight into the character, as well as the trials and tribulations, of Captain Robert FitzRoy who was responsible for taking Charles Darwin around the world on the H.M.S. Beagle. It's wonderful when a story helps to provide a better understanding and picture of a voyage of such historical significance.

I originally bought this book because the subject matter seemed very interesting. The story of the captain behind Darwin is rarely told, however the author ruins the story by poor writing. Paragraphs about separate ideas are put together with little to no transition giving the book a jumpy, incomplete feeling. It made the book too difficult to read for me which was highly disappointing since the story seemed to have so much promise.

A good history behind Darwin's expeditions and a look at the mental illness and it's treatments (or lack thereof) in the past.

Interesting story about a peripheral aspect of Darwin's journey on the Beagle.