03 October 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsThe final words have been written, the last edits completed, the cover design and printing done: this journey has come to an end.
Was it worth it? Well, it was for me – and I hope you find it worthwhile too.
This will, therefore, be the last posting on this Looking for Darwin blog, while the Looking for Darwin website takes over as the source of information: www.LookingforDarwin.com
Happy reading and all the best, Lloyd Spencer Davis.Tags:Looking for Darwin, published, book launch
10 August 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsI took time out during the writing of Looking for Darwin to write a book for the Smithsonian called: Smithsonian Q&A Penguins. They bill it as the “ultimate question and answer book” and, while I would tend to be more modest, I’d like to think that it at least does its job pretty well.
The good news is that it has just been published and is now available in the USA and Canada.Tags:Smithsonian, Q&A Penguins
27 July 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsThe launch of Looking for Darwin has been delayed by a week, pushing it back to Sunday 7 October. This is to allow for delays in the shipment of the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibition on Darwin from Brazil to Auckland. The book launch is to coincide with the opening of the exhibition.
The manuscript has been copy-edited and page proofs are due very soon.
Tags:Looking for Darwin, Darwin exhibition, American Museum of Natural History, book launch
30 June 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsAs Looking for Darwin nears its publication date, the focus of this site is going to need to change. It started out life as a sort of journey, going hand-in-hand with my thought processes as I wrote the book. But having completed my journey – at least, having found what I was looking for – it seems best to turn this site into a repository of things Darwin; a sort of conscience for evolution; a destination for people who are questioning what life is all about.
Read More...Tags:SCANZ, Darwin, God, blog, journalist, Paul Callaghan
02 June 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsLooking for Darwin will be launched on Sunday 30 September at the Auckland Museum in association with the exhibition on Darwin that is opening at the museum. This exhibition is the same one I wrote about arwin at the American Museum of Natural History">earlier on this blog and it is coming to New Zealand from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Read More...Tags:book launch, Looking for Darwin, American Museum of Natural History, Auckland Museum
28 April 2007 Filed in:
The Voyage of the Beagle
I have just returned from the WildSouth International Film Festival in Wanaka – a festival that I had a hand in organizing. But that is not the point of this: what got me excited was not just the quality of individual films like the wonderful Mississippi: tales of a river rat but the unavoidable awe one experienced at seeing the different faces of Nature apparent in the films. From the opening of the festival, with its montage of superlative images of wildlife set to the haunting music of Trevor Coleman (in Equator: circle of life), to the many insects that dot the South American landscape in Buggin’ with Ruud, to the sequences of sharks, hunting dogs and elephants in the BBC’s Pole to Pole – you could not help but marvel at how varied Nature is, at how clever Natural Selection has been.
Read More...Tags:WildSouth, Voyage of the Beagle, Nature, biodiversity
28 March 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsLooking for Darwin has been at the publishers now for nearly two months and is on track for a scheduled launch in early September this year.
At the moment it is undergoing editing. Initial reaction has been favourable, I am pleased to report. I will provide further details about the launch, which is to take place in Auckland, in due course. Read More...Tags:Looking for Darwin, book launch, journey, September
25 February 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsIn 1999 the Kansas Board of Education voted to downplay the importance of evolution in the science curriculum. This culminated in a set of science “standards” prescribed by the board in 2005 that, “challenged the validity of evolution and called it incompatible with religious doctrine.”
After a voter backlash, however, that saw more moderate members elected to the board, the board has just voted by a 6-4 majority to throw out those science standards, which they deemed to be hostile to evolution. Read More...Tags:Inelligent design, Kansas Board of Education, Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, Science standards, Democracy
Dr Prescott with anchor that may have been used on the Beagle in its later life.
I was interested to read a three-year-old news item that suggested that the remains of Darwin’s ship, HMS Beagle, had been found:
“A team led by Dr Robert Prescott of the University of St Andrews has located what they believe are the remains of HMS Beagle beneath an Essex marsh.” Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, HMS Beagle, Mars, Essex, Prescott, Pillinger, Cape Canaveral
21 January 2007 Filed in:
The Voyage of the Beagle
Painting by Augustus Earle of Kororareka from his time spent in New Zealand
A little while ago I gave a talk at a conference in Auckland in which I mentioned Looking for Darwin. I was approached afterwards by Guy Hamling, who kindly drew my attention to a passage written in Earle’s Narrative of his time in New Zealand. Read More...Tags:Augustus Earle, Kororareka, Charles Darwin, Rio de Janeiro, HMS Beagle, Painter, Evolution
02 January 2007 Filed in:
Darwin NewsRichard Dawkins may or may not give Christmas gifts, but I received him as a gift. Well, to be more exact, I received a copy of his book, “The God Delusion.”
I’ve started reading it and it looks interesting: well written and to say that it pulls punches would be like saying Mike Tyson intended to kiss Evander Holyfield’s ear. There is more than just a little of the pugilistic in the language, more than just a little of the boxer in his stance. Read More...Tags:Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, Atheist, Evolution
