Monday, April 30, 2001
Book details life on Galapagos Islands
When Charles Darwin landed on the Galapagos Islands in 1835, he was the first to recognize that their isolation and desolation were advantages for a naturalist: Here the workings of nature are laid bare for study. Still, much more happened on these islands than Darwin’s lone visit.
In Evolution’s Workshop, Richard B. Russell Professor of History and Law Edward J. Larson describes how science and specimen-hunting have supported each other (or not) on the Galapagos over the past three centuries. Larson introduces the parade of top researchers who have studied on the islands, the warring institutions that have sent expeditions and the major discoveries that have emerged as a result. He shows why these islands have been called the workshop of evolution.
Evolution’s Workshop tells the story of pre-evolutionary science on the islands; of Darwin’s discoveries and his long doubts; of the expeditions of the Roaring Twenties, run from rich men’s yachts, which featured rough-and-ready science during the day and black-tie dinners every night; of the struggle for control of research on the Galapagos; of efforts by creationists to use the Galapagos to undercut evolutionary theory; of the growing threats to the archipelago’s native environment and other stories.
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