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
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
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 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
14 September 2006 Filed in:
Darwin NewsLooking for Darwin featured on The Book Show, a New Zealand television programme screened on TV One on Saturday 9 September. It was described as a “documentary feature” under the weekly Finlay’s Casebook section of the show. In reality, it was an extended interview of ten minutes or so, where Finlay Macdonald interviewed me about Darwin and my aspirations as a writer. Read More...Tags:Looking for Darwin, Finlay Macdonald, TV One, The Book Show
06 August 2006 Filed in:
Darwin News
The Smithsonian in Washington, DC
Charles Darwin has gone into a state somewhere between suspended animation and a coma. While I am continuing to work on the nearly completed manuscript of Looking for Darwin, I have fallen victim to my inherent inability to say “no.” That characteristic, as imbedded in me as my fingerprints, has gotten me into more trouble in my life than I care to mention. My publisher considers it a weakness. At times, as I have waited for a hangover to pass or someone to leave, I’ve considered it a failing. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, Looking for Darwin, Publisher, Smithsonian, Penguins
21 July 2006 Filed in:
Darwin NewsLooking for Darwin is nearing completion. Publication will occur in 2007.
Tags:Looking for Darwin, published, book launch
I’ve recently been taking a break from writing Looking for Darwin to write a series of articles for New Zealand’s major national newspaper, the Sunday Star-Times. The series is called Back to Nature and it is my very personal look at the people who have been among the greatest advocates for Nature. You can read my account of Stephen J. Gould here: a man I admired for his views on Nature but detested when his own nature was on view.Tags:Stephen J. Gould, Nature, Looking for Darwin, Charles Darwin, Sunday Star-Times
25 September 2005 Filed in:
Darwin News | Darwin's Later LifeIt 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
29 August 2005 Filed in:
Darwin News 2009 will be the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species. A website has been formed by a group in the United States with the aim of co-ordinating celebrations to acknowledge Darwin’s contribution to our lives. Read More...Tags:Charles Darwin, 200th anniversary, Birth, The Origin of Species, Looking for Darwin
18 August 2005 Filed in:
Darwin NewsA publisher has urged me, in no uncertain terms, to take down the extracts from Looking for Darwin that I had posted. I admit that it is a difficult issue. Obviously by posting contents that I intend to publish in printed form later, it could be construed that I have “devalued” them somewhat by putting them on the internet beforehand for all the world to see. Also, the publisher worried that others might steal my words. And while that may well be the sincerest form of flattery, in my view someone would have to be pretty desperate to do that. Read More...Tags:Looking for Darwin, Charles Darwin, Evolution, Theory of Evolution, Publisher
This Thing of Darkness, a novel by Harry Thompson about FitzRoy and Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle, has made the longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction 2005. The book has only just been released and I have not been able to get my hands on a copy in New Zealand yet; but by all accounts it is a ripping yarn that focuses on the conflicting views and, eventually, lives, of FitzRoy and Darwin. Read More...Tags:This Thing of Darkness, Harry Thompson, Booker Prize, Looking for Darwin, Fitzroy, Charles Darwin
The cover story in the current issue of Time Magazine is headlined “Evolution Wars”. It reports on the growing push within the United States to have “Intelligent Design” taught alongside evolution in schools as an alternative theory. Perhaps the most telling line in the whole article is the one that quotes the results of a Harris poll of 1,000 American adults: “54% did not believe humans had developed from an earlier species”. Read More...Tags:Time Magazine, Evolution, Charles Darwin, Evolution wars, Looking for Darwin, Intelligent design, Natural Selection
31 July 2005 Filed in:
Darwin NewsThe above topic title was the one automatically assigned to this first post by WordPress – the engine that is powering this blog – and I have retained it because it seems especially appropriate. Firstly, greetings to the world – I hope this reaches a wide audience and that we can enjoy this journey together! Secondly, this site is devoted to developing an understanding of the world: it is based upon my experiences associated with writing a book called Looking for Darwin where I am attempting to unravel what this life and this world are all about. How did we get here? Read More...Tags:Looking for Darwin, blog, Lloyd Spencer Davis, Charles Darwin, Natural Selection, Introduction, Evolution
