Funny, you don’t look a day over 198
(I’ve moved this up for the big day, so no, you’re not seeing double)
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that problem will never be solved by science.”
Charles Darwin
A very happy 199th birthday, and a big Valentine’s smooch, to Charles Robert Darwin, born February 12, 1809.
(And to Alice Roosevelt Longworth, too, who was born on the same day, in 1884; interestingly, she and her father shared a lifelong interest in human evolutionary biology, and she went on to study the growing field of molecular genetics.)
To celebrate this year, and to get ready for D200, or D2009 (depending on which host and whose party), Farm School offers a highly subjective, not at all comprehensive Charles Darwin bibliography and list of resources for the entire family, with serious and lighthearted offerings; remember, I’m not a trained scientist or a biologist, just a very amateur naturalist who likes to read. By the way, don’t miss the cute animated countdown over at the Institute of Humanist Studies website.
If you happen to be in or around Los Angeles on Sunday (tomorrow, February 10)
The Center for Inquiry/Los Angeles is celebrating Darwin Day 2008 by staging a reading of one of the late great Steve Allen’s Meeting of Minds teleplays, with Dan Lauria, Wendie Malick, Robert Forster, and Joe Culp; tickets are $6 (free for CFI-LA members), and seating is limited. The minds meeting that day are Darwin, Galileo, Emily Dickinson, and Attila the Hun. Now if only the folks who own the rights to Meeting of the Minds — and I believe it’s not PBS — would put them on DVD. Please please please please?
And, if you’re around Seattle on February 20, you can attend “Charles Darwin: Live and in Concert”. Anthropologist and songwriter Richard Milner performs a one-man musical show about Charles Darwin. He was recently a guest on WNYC (and here’s his WNYC visit the other year). If you’re not around Seattle, check his website for a CD or to book the show.
The Darwin Exhibit
The Darwin exhibition, “The Evolution Revolution”, has moved on from Chicago’s Field Museum (where it closed on New Year’s Day) to Toronto, where it will reopen at the Royal Ontario Museum on March 8, 2008, through August 4, 2008. The exhibit opened in New York in 2005 at the American Museum of Natural History, whose website for the exhibit is still up, with a good list of resources. The exhibit, the “most comprehensive exhibition ever assembled on Darwin and evolution includes rare personal artifacts”, has been organized by The American Museum of Natural History in New York, with Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum; Boston’s Museum of Science; Chicago’s Field Museum; and the Natural History Museum, London, to commemorate next year’s bicentennial. The exhibit’s next and final stop will be at London’s Natural History Museum, which has a mini website on evolution.
Books for children
The Tree of Life by Peter Sís
The Voyage of the Beetle: A Journey around the World with Charles Darwin and the Search for the Solution to the Mystery of Mysteries, as Narrated by Rosie, an Articulate Beetle by Anne H. Weaver, illustrated by George Lawrence (University of New Mexico Press, 2007)
The Sandwalk Adventures: An Adventure in Evolution Told in Five Chapters by Jay Hosler (author of Clan Apis). A comic book by Hosler, a biologist and cartoonist, about the Victorian naturalist’s attempt to explain evolution to a family of mites living in his eyebrows. No, really. Something for the whole family to enjoy. Really and truly. Here’s more from Dr. Hosler on Charlie Darwin: Charlie and Darwin Saves the World.
Inside the Beagle with Charles Darwin by Fiona MacDonald, illustrated by Mark Bergin
Who Was Charles Darwin? by Deborah Hopkinson, illustrated by Nancy Harrison
The Beagle and Mr. Flycatcher: A Story of Charles Darwin by Robert M. Quackenbush; apparently out of print in the US (though not in the UK) but worth searching out at the library because Quackenbush is always fun
Darwin and Evolution for Kids: His Life and Ideas with 21 Activities by Kristan Lawson (Chicago Review Press)
Charles Darwin: A photographic story of a life by David C. King (a Dorling Kindersley biography)
Life on Earth: The Story of Evolution by Steve Jenkins
Our Family Tree: An Evolution Story by Lisa Westberg Peters, illustrated by Lauren Stringer
Life Story: The Story of Life on Our Earth from the Beginning Up to Now by Virginia Lee Burton
Mammals Who Morph: The Universe Tells Our Evolution Story by Jennifer Morgan, illustrated by Dana Lynne Andersen
Eyewitness: Evolution by Linda Gamlin (Dorling Kindersley)
The Tree Of Life: The Wonders Of Evolution by Ellen Jackson, illustrated by Judeanne Winter Wiley
We’re Sailing to Galapagos by Laurie Krebs, illustrated by Grazia Restelli (Barefoot Books)
Books for older children and adults
The Voyage of the HMS Beagle by Charles Darwin, first published in 1845
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin (first published in 1859)
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin (1871); there is also a new concise edition with selections and commentary by Carl Zimmer (see below)
The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin (1872)
The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809-1882, edited by Nora Barlow
The Portable Darwin, edited by Duncan M. Porter and Peter W. Graham (from the Viking Portable Library series)
The Triumph of the Darwinian Method by Michael T. Ghiselin (Dover, 2003)
Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place, by Janet Browne; Browne’s two-volume biography. She has also written a “biography” of Darwin’s best-known work, Darwin’s Origin of Species: A Biography (from the Books That Changed the World series)
Darwin’s Century: Evolution and the Men Who Discovered It by Loren Eiseley. Out of print. Find it.
The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Human Evolution, edited by Stephen Jones, Robert D. Martin, and David R. Pilbeam; with a foreword by Richard Dawkins
The Ancestor’s Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Evolution by Richard Dawkins
River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life by Richard Dawkins
Climbing Mount Improbable by Richard Dawkins
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design by Richard Dawkins
Darwin for Beginners by Jonathan Miller and Borin Van Loon
Ever Since Darwin: Reflections on Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
The Panda’s Thumb: More Reflections in Natural History by Stephen Jay Gould
The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould, edited by Stephen Rose, with a foreword by Oliver Sacks
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory by Stephen Jay Gould
The Beak of the Finch: A Story of Evolution in Our Time by Jonathan Weiner
Evolution: Society, Science and the Universe, edited by Andrew C. Fabian; with essays by Stephen Jay Gould, Lewis Wolpert, Jared Diamond, Freeman Dyson, and others (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Living with Darwin: Evolution, Design, and the Future of Faith by Philip Kitcher (Oxford University Press)
Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin’s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives by David Sloan Wilson
What Evolution Is by Ernst Mayr; Dr. Mayr’s speech, “Darwin’s Influence on Modern Thought”, is here.
* * * *
Books by science writer and reporter Carl Zimmer:
Virus and the Whale: Exploring Evolution in Creatures Small and Large, edited by Judy Diamond, with Carl Zimmer, E. Margaret Evans, Linda Allison, and Sarah Disbrow; published by the National Science Teachers Association, 2006. An activity book for teachers and their students, which includes parents and their students.
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins
Mr. Zimmer has a ScienceBlog, The Loom: A blog about life, past and future. Not only is there lots of good stuff to read, but he has a regular feature, Science Tattoo Friday, where some of the tattoos are so fascinating and attractive (such as the Copernicus/scientific revolution ones) that I sometimes forget how much I dislike tattoos.
UPDATED to add: If you’re in Ottawa on February 27th, you can hear Mr. Zimmer deliver the Carleton University 2008 Discovery lecture, “The Darwin Beat: Dispatches from the Frontiers of Evolution”
Coloring Books
Galapagos Islands Coloring Book (Dover Coloring Books); for young children
The Human Evolution Coloring Book by Adrienne L. Zihlman (HarperCollins); this one is similar to Wynn Kapit’s books (on geography, physiology, and anatomy) and is not for younger children.
Book lists
PZ Myers at Pharyngula has some of the best online prehistory/evolution reading lists in a variety of categories — “for the kids”, “for the grown-up layman”, “for the more advanced/specialized reader”, etc. (scroll through the comments for more titles).
Coturnix’s book list for adults; he’s moved recently, and is now at ScienceBlogs with A Blog Around the Clock
On Film
“Evolution” (PBS), narrated by Liam Neeson. There is also a companion volume, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea by Carl Zimmer (see above); and the PBS program website, with some projects and links for “Teachers and Students”
Dr. Jacob Bronowski’s “The Ascent of Man”(BBC, 1973), new on DVD (five disc set)
“Growing Up in the Universe” on DVD (two disc set, region-free); Richard Dawkins’s 1991 five one-hour lectures for children, originally televised by the BBC as part of The Royal Institution The Christmas Lectures for Young People, founded by Michael Faraday in 1825.
“NOVA: Origins: Fourteen Billion Years of Cosmic Evolution” (PBS)
“NOVA: Genius: The Science of Einstein, Newton, Darwin, and Galileo” (PBS)
On the Big Screen I: producer Jeremy Thomas is planning a movie, for release next year, based on Annie’s Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution (published in 2001) by Randal Keynes, Darwin’s great-great-grandson. The movie is to be written by John Collee (Happy Feet and Master & Commander) and directed by Jon Amiel (The Singing Detective).
On the Big Screen II: a film adaptation by Chase Palmer of the recent book Evolution’s Captain: The Story of the Kidnapping That Led to Charles Darwin’s Voyage Aboard the Beagle by Peter Nichols (a bargain right now at Barnes & Noble, by the way)
Music
“Origin of Species in Dub” by the Genomic Dub Collective. Yes, that would be reggae. Not just a CD and MP3s, but a DVD too and online videos. And a bonus track, “Dub fi Dover”, to celebrate the outcome in the Dover, Pennsylvania trial. Truly amazing.
“Charlie is My Darwin” by the Torn Rubbers, official theme song of The Friends of Charles Darwin ; and a bonus, “The Darwinian Theory” by John Young, C.E. (to the tune of the Scottish ballad, The King of the Cannibal Islands)
British composer Michael Stimpson is working on a classical piece, “Into the Unknown“, to celebrate the life and work of Charles Darwin.
Timothy Sellers’ band, Artichoke, released a CD several years ago, “26 Scientists, Volume One: Anning — Malthus“; the lyrics and a clip of the song about Darwin, who beat out da Vinci and Doppler for the fourth letter of the alphabet, are here. The CD is $10 at the band’s website and you can buy or download the disc at CD Baby, where you can also read more about it from Timothy Sellers, who was also interviewed by The New York Times.
“Evolutionation” by Dr. Art the Singing Scientist (to the tune of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Californication”), from the CD “Bio-Rhythms III”
Professor Boggs in his Mad Science Factory sings “Evolution (Not So Scary)”; you can listen to a clip here.
By the way, in my search for Darwinian music, I found something MASSIVE, for those who like to learn, and teach, with music. It is in fact called MASSIVE: a database for “Math And Science Song Information, Viewable Everywhere”. The database, which is maintained by Greg Crowther and is part of the National Science Foundation’s National Science Digital Library,
contains information on over 2500 science and math songs. Some of these songs are suitable for 2nd graders; others might only appeal to tenured professors. Some songs have been professionally recorded; others haven’t. Some are quite silly; others are downright serious.
A delight, which you can also listen to all day, all week, all year at MASSIVE Radio — many thanks to Greg Crowther and the band Science Groove for putting it all together. Read more about them here.
Finally, sung to the tune of Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Model Major General” and inspired by Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements”, here is Amadan’s “I Am the Very Model of a C - Design - Proponentsist“
HMS Beagle
Project Beagle website and the Beagle blog
If you or your kids get inspired by Project Beagle and want to build your own — ship, that is — you can, with the HMS Beagle plastic ship model kit (1:96), made in Germany by Revell; “features detailed hull with gunports, deck with hatches, masts, yards, 2 anchors, stairways, sails, railings, wheels, cannon, lifeboats with oars. Also included is yarn for rigging, flag chart and display stand with name plate. Measures 16″ long and 11 3/4″ high.”
HMS Beagle: Survey Ship Extraordinary by Karl Marquardt; part of the Anatomy of the Ship series by Conway Maritime Press, which includes volumes on the Endeavour, Bounty, and Bellona.
Out and about online
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The Charles Darwin Has a Posse sticker page, from Colin Purrington. Because you can never underestimate the power of a well-placed sticker or bookmark. As I noted in my 2005 Posse post, “As Darwin himself said, and as you can be reminded daily from a bookmark, ‘Doing what little one can to increase the general stock of knowledge is as respectable an object of life as one can, in any likelihood, pursue’.”
The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online: “This site contains Darwin’s complete publications, thousands of handwritten manuscripts and the largest Darwin bibliography and manuscript catalogue ever published; Darwin Online also hundreds of supplementary works: biographies, obituaries, reviews, reference works and more”, including MP3s for your listening edification and pleasure.
Cambridge University’s Darwin Correspondence Project, founded in 1974 by Frederick Burckhardt (see below), with a remarkable online database with the complete, searchable, texts of around 5,000 letters written by and to Darwin up to the year 1865. The project continues despite Professor Burckhardt’s death last fall at the age of 95.
More Darwin at Cambridge, with the Darwin 2009 Festival. Charles Darwin began at Christ’s College Cambridge as a student in 1827, at the age of 18. Four years later he sailed forth on the HMS Beagle. Of his years at university, he once wrote, “The only evil at Cambridge was its being too pleasant.”
Darwin Day Celebration website, with links, events, and other items leading to a celebration of the great man’s bicentennial on February 12, 2009.
Darwin200, a bicentennial project from the Natural History Museum in London, England
Darwin at Downe, his home and neighorhood
Who knew that Darwin had a rose? The gorgeous David Austin series, which sadly doesn’t grow in my chilly garden, includes the Charles Darwin rose, which you can see here.
The Dispersal of Darwin blog, with a long list of Darwin links
Colin Purrington is also the force behind the Evolution Outreach Projects page, which includes a wealth of educational and amusing links
Evolved Homeschooling blog — “A collection of evolution and science resources for the secular homeschooler”, webring, and Cafe Press shop
More shopping, over at EvolveFish’s Darwin Day shop
You can join the Friends of Charles Darwin, gratis. FCD has a long list of science and Darwin blogs
Verlyn Klinkengborg’s New York Times column, August 2005, “Grasping the Depth of Time as a First Step in Understanding Evolution”
National Center for Science Education, and the Center’s page of resources
Understanding Evolution website, created by the University of California Museum of Paleontology; lots of resources for educators and children
From the Farm School archives
I typed this all by myself with my opposable thumbs (May 2007)
Project Beagle (March 2007)
Celebrating Darwin Day: Many happy returns (February 2006)
Charles Darwin Has a Posse (December 2005)
Coming later this year/Spring 2008
Origins: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1821-1859, edited by Frederick Burkhardt, with a foreword by Stephen Jay Gould. To be published by Cambridge University Press in April 2008; a new edition for the anniversary year. And,
Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1860-1870, edited by Frederick Burkhardt, Alison Pearn, and Samantha Evans; with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough. To be published by Cambridge University Press in April 2008. This volume and the foregoing are a distillation of the late Professor Burkhardt’s 15 volumes (to date) of Darwin’s correspondence.
Coming next year/Spring 2009
The children’s book Galapagos George by Jean Craighead George, illustrated by Wendell Minor; to be published April 2009 by HarperCollins. The author of My Side of the Mountain, Julie of the Wolves, and other children’s classics for more than 40 years “traces the evolution of a species of giant turtles on the Galapagos Islands from millions of years ago to the present”.
Animals Charles Darwin Saw by Sandra Markle; to be published April 2009 by Chronicle Books as part of Ms. Markle’s intriguing new series (Animals Christopher Columbus Saw, Animals Robert Scott Saw)
* * *
If you have any additional suggestions or recommendations or corrections (links moved around by themselves, disappeared, etc. more than once), please add them to the comments below. Thank you!
Filed under: Blogging, Books, Education, Science | Tagged: Charles Darwin
Holy smokes, Becky. You’ve outdone yourself. Thank you for all these resources.
This is incredible!!! I’m sending it to all my homeschooling friends, along with the link to your blog.
Neither does Abe Lincoln, though his beard was shorter.
Just chiming in with my “oh wow” in terms of what a great list of resources and information.
This is amazing! My son and I just read “Voyage of the Beetle” and heartily recommend it - he is six and completely understood what the book was about and really enjoyed the mystery aspect. We are reading Peter Sis right now and will move on down the list of your recommended books and sites.
This was just exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for such an excellent job!!!
Incredible list, Becky! Thank you. I was lucky enough to see the Darwin exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago in July. It was beautiful, so informative, quiet, contemplative. I am glad it is in Toronto — worth planning a trip around it!
Thanks, everyone, glad it’s a help. I needed a place to put everything I’ve been collecting, and the stuff has been coming fast and furious lately.
Chris, you lucky stiff. I don’t know if we’ll make it to Toronto by August, but maybe London next year. One can hope! I am thinking I’d like to get to QC for the Louvre treasures by October, which might be more of a possibility.
Colleen, so glad to hear your six-year-old really enjoyed and appreciated the book. We’re still waiting for the Beetle to make it to our local library system, so I’m happy to hear it’s worth the wait.
I’m going to have to come back and browse this summer when I have more time. I think I see a personal “unit of study” coming on! Thanks for pulling this amazing collection together!
A great list, thanks. I’d suggest adding Richard Dawkins, the British biologist and author of several excellent books about evolution (I see that he wrote the forward to one of the books mentioned above). He does a fantastic job of using metaphor and simple, linear argument to explain what evolution is and how it works. A few Titles: ‘Climbing Mount Improbable’, ‘River Out of Eden’, ‘The Blind Watchmaker’. The last is a deconstruction of Intelligent Design. He’d fall into the Older Children and Adults category.
Thanks, Steve. And aack. I had a RD section on the list, in that category, or at least they were when I started this. They appear to be in the disappeared category. Oy. Off to see if I have to type everything up or if they’re somewhere around…
Well, Becky, I want you to know that it was a D for Darwin day today. I went to the library while the kids were at gym drills, and got out a whack’o'books from your list, then we went home and read a number of them AND did a couple of the activities from the 21 Activities (Lawson) book. Ooh, I like that book. I was glad to see the inside of it, actually, because every time I order it off Amazon.ca it mysteriously goes AWOL.
Now off to prepare some Valentine’s thrills…
[...] http://farmschool.wordpress.com/2008/02/12/funny-you-dont-look-a-day-over-198/ [...]