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5 out of 5 stars
By
Clifford
on
08-01-08
Darwin in History
Janet Browne is an accepted Biographer of Charles Darwin and this work gives a separate view of his most famous work. I found listening, rather than reading was a good thing and it only took me a surprisingly short time to run through the first time. I recommend it to those who like me find themselves driving or doing a mindless task and can listen. This is worth the exercise, even at home in front of the fire during a cold winter night, why not!!!
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4 of 4 people found this review helpful
4 out of 5 stars
By
D. Littman
on
01-15-09
Good short bio of Darwin, the origins & impact
In this, the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, you should be on the lookout of materials that remind you how much Darwin (and his circle) and Darwin's work (and that of his circle) fundamentally think about the world around us. A profound change indeed, a good change too. There are a number of lengthy good biographies of Darwin around, and articles aplenty in podcast circles due to the anniversary. But this book does an excellent job, in a short span of 4-5 hours of listening (less than a week for sure) in giving you the particulars you need to know. It is very well read and moves along at a nice pace so that you don't get bored. I did get the sense that the narrative got alittle lost in the last 30-45 minutes, when the author was trying to detail how the world changed later on. That is the only reason I dropped a star from the rating. It may just be that the changes in our attitudes, and that of the scientific establishment, were so significant that whatever part of the book that was - perhaps 40 pages - just couldn't do it justice.
Recommended highly.
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful
2 out of 5 stars
By
Allan
on
02-16-08
Worthy but dull
This sounded interesting and possibly could be if abridged and read better. It works its way slowly and without much passion through one of the most exciting discoveries in history, in a way which suggests it's aimed either at the very young or the very dimwitted. The narrative fails to catch the imagination and is constantly interrupted by superfluous detail such as dates of birth and death of all the characters. Worst of all, the narrator has a flat, staccato voice which sounds like a clockwork Dalek about to run out of power. A huge disappointment and there must be better books out there to introduce Darwin and his work.
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8 of 8 people found this review helpful