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| From So Simple a Beginning: Darwin's Four Great Books (Voyage of the Beagle, The Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals) | 
| Author: Charles Darwin
Creator: Edward O. Wilson
Publisher: W. W. Norton
Category: Book
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $24.91
You Save: $15.04 (38%)
New (34) from $24.91
Avg. Customer Rating:  21 reviews
Sales Rank: 2897
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Number Of Items: 4
Pages: 1706
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4.9
Dimensions (in): 9.8 x 6.5 x 2.8
ISBN: 0393061345
Dewey Decimal Number: 576.82
EAN: 9780393061345
ASIN: 0393061345
Publication Date: November 7, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: ALL BOOKS ARE BRAND NEW
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Product Description
A gorgeous gift and a landmark work that is an essential addition to everyone's personal library.
Never before have the four great works of Charles Darwin—Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (1845), The Origin of Species (1859), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1872)—been collected under one cover. Undertaking this challenging endeavor 123 years after Darwin's death, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson has written an introductory essay for the occasion, while providing new, insightful introductions to each of the four volumes and an afterword that examines the fate of evolutionary theory in an era of religious resistance. In addition, Wilson has crafted a creative new index to accompany these four texts, which links the nineteenth-century, Darwinian evolutionary concepts to contemporary biological thought. Beautifully slipcased, and including restored versions of the original illustrations, From So Simple a Beginning turns our attention to the astounding power of the natural creative process and the magnificence of its products. Slipcased hardcover; 101 illustrations, map.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 16 more reviews...
 Great collection, giant volume. March 31, 2008
This is a collection of Darwin's four best known books, and it's a great read for any natural science enthusiast. My only complaint is that the volume is so large in size that it makes it rather inconvenient to carry with you. The price is very reasonable, if you were interested in only two of Darwin's works you may as well buy this and get his four major publications.
 Fabolous November 28, 2007
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book is excellent! It has all of the four greatest works by Darwin, all facsimile editions (exact original) and written by Wilson, a great evolutionary biologist. If you are looking to read some of Darwin's books, here is the place to do it. It also features introductions by the editor to put the book in its scientific, cultural and historical context.
great book October 22, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
this is a great book, it is really neat that all 4 volumes are in one book. it was a great price for these volumes
 A good choice, but there may be others too October 19, 2007
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Having also considered the alternative collection "The Evolution Of An
Idea by James Watson " I arrived at this work, from the couple dozen
small newspaper-style, mini-illustrations on same pages, and the feedback
received from this work.
Actually, it's an open debate whether this is the best option. First,
all 4 books are glued together in one giant "tome" ...and this doesn't
facilitate reading, from the size or the volume. Also, the pages are
extremely thin, although not transparent, and probably smudge easily
and are fragile. That's another liability, if one makes notes in the
pages, probably the ink will leak to the other size, etc.
Perhaps the best option, is buying all 4 books separately, and reading
them one at a time.
One of the books that changed my life. June 11, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
A long time ago, I criticized the theory of Darwin, before I escaped
fundamental Christianity -- and before I had ever read his works. After
reading this rather lengthy book, a collection of his four major works,
it becomes painfully obvious how little there is to criticize. A
summary of the major works follows:
THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE:
The first book in the volume is the account of Darwin's travels aboard
The Beagle, a voyage that lasted about five years, visiting mostly the
southern hemisphere. The greatest part of this account is on various
places in South America, but covers the Galapagos, Australia, and
several other places. Some of the most interesting parts of this book
are about the Fuegians or other primitives and their practices. I
further enjoyed reading about other things, such as the distaste he
expressed in regard to slavery, and remarks consistent with him being
somewhat a Christian during the journey, though his findings on the
journey influenced his theories and theology to conform to natural
evidence he found.
ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION, OR THE
PRESERVATION OF FAVOURED RACES IN THE STRUGGLE FOR LIFE:
Published in 1859 initially (and this is the form published in this
volume, rather than any of the updates provided later), this was the
defining publication for Darwin's life's work. It is no wonder. After
reading it, I had to admit that anyone against evolution likely has
never read the book, however they may be educated. His arguments are
very cautious, cogent, detailed, and persuasive. All of the arguments I
ever heard against evolution, he introduces in this work as possible
detriments to his theory, then soundly quashes every one of those
arguments with pages of reasons and examples for why those arguments are
untenable, and in a completely humble and careful manner. An example is
the "irreducible complexity" of the eye. He gives examples of various
stages of organs of sight that exist in the living world, from very
complex, as with ours, down to stalks with the most primitive sensing
organs that can only tell the difference between light and dark, and
shows the relation from one stage to another. He also wonders what we
are to do with animals with vestigial eyes, such as moles, with eyes
covered in skin and hair in many instances. It is easily surmised after
reading this work how little it is read by Christian and ID apologists.
It is equally surmised how sound evolution is, and though Darwin did not
originate the idea - as many scientists before and during his time knew
there had to be something like it - he is the one that carefully
examined and put forth a workable mechanism - Natural Selection.
THE DESCENT OF MAN, AND SELECTION IN RELATION TO SEX:
The longest and most tedious of the books, it is the next step after
ORIGIN in that it completes the thought of where humans came from, which
was not addressed at all in ORIGIN. Not quite as interesting as his
masterwork, he addresses somewhat the relation of humans to evolution,
then goes into a very long section about sexual selection, in which he
describes in painful detail characteristics that are specifically sexual
in natural selection (such as beauty or singing of most male birds as
opposed to female birds), starting with lower forms all the way up to
humans. Then he concludes with final remarks on humanity's relation to
Natural Selection and Sexual Selection.
THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS:
This is the shortest of the works in the volume, and the title speaks
for itself. However, what does not come across in the title is how
deftly Darwin shows emotional expressions to be inherited - not learned.
Something as simple as shrugging one's shoulders is shown by examples
to be linked with descent.
______________________________________________________________________
The introductions and summary by E. O. Wilson are most helpful in
putting these works into their proper perspective, including remarks on
Darwin's views on religion. There may be less expensive ways to read
Charles Darwin, but this Norton volume will be a handsome addition to
your library, and is built to last.
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