11 June 2006
When Charles Darwin married Emma in January 1839, they moved into a small cottage he had just rented in London. They christened the place Macaw Cottage on account of its gaudy colour scheme, reminiscent of the birds Darwin had encountered on his voyage.
The cottage no longer exists, but how ironic, how appropriate, that the site should now be occupied by the Department of Biology of the University College London. The bland gray monster of a building that now claims 12 Upper Gower Street as its own is called – you guessed it – the Darwin Building. There is a small plaque that announces that to anyone with enough curiosity to go in its doors, but otherwise the connection with Darwin is not just downplayed, it’s decidedly absent. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Emma Darwin, Macaw Cottage, University College London, Gower Street, Jeremy Bentham, Thomas Huxley, Thylacine, Galapagos Tortoise
18 May 2006
The great thing about London is the history: it’s not something to read about in books, it’s there in every building and down every famous by-way. Walk Pall Mall, Regent Street or any one of the Monopoly board names and you will find history alive, breathing.
The Royal Academy of Arts is one such place. A short stroll from Piccadilly Circus, it is somewhat hidden behind an arched entranceway that straddles the opposing doors of the Geological and Linnaean Societies. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Royal Academy of the Arts, Burlington House, Reynolds Room, Linnaean Society, London, Natural Selection, Alfred Russell Wallace
22 April 2006
Down House, Charles Darwin’s home in Kent where he wrote The Origin of Species, is now administered by English Heritage and they have made great improvements to it since my last visit nearly twenty years ago Read More...Tags:Down House, Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, Drawing room, The Queen's Head, billiards, Places Darwin lived
24 March 2006
I’m going to be leaving in a few days to go to the UK. One of the reasons for my trip is to visit Charles Darwin’s residence, Down House, in Kent. I’ve been there before but wish to return as part of my research for Looking for Darwin: I want my impressions to be fresh ones. Read More...Tags:Down House, Kent, Places Darwin lived, Charles Darwin, Sand-walk
09 January 2006
It’s the beginning of 2006 and there is light at the end of the tunnel as far as completing the writing for Looking for Darwin. Anyone who embarks on a serious piece of writing knows how hard it can be to complete. The concept is typically easier to achieve than getting the words on paper, or the computer screen as it might be. I have finished the parts of the book devoted to Darwin’s voyage in the Beagle and I am now covering that reflective period afterwards when he really honed his ideas of Natural Selection. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Dalliance, Alfred Russell Wallace, Writing, books, Coral reefs, Geology
25 September 2005
It was my dog’s birthday yesterday. Mocha, a chocolate lab, is a marvel of evolution that surely would have made Charles Darwin proud. That she could cause literally thousands of dollars worth of damage and still live to experience her second birthday tells me that she knows more about survival of the fittest than I can ever hope to discover during the process of writing this book. Of course, I love her: but I love her in spite of her naughtiness, not because of it. Read More...Tags:Dog, Charles Darwin, Polly, Terrier, Looking for Darwin, Survival of the Fittest, Mocha, Labrador
