Charles Darwin
2 books
- The Origin of Species non-fictionYou get a patient, surprisingly companionable argument built from pigeons, barnacles, fossils, and the awkward facts natural selection has to explain. The prose is dense and sometimes repetitive, but reading Darwin think his way through objections makes the living world look less fixed and more wonderfully negotiable.
- The Voyage of the Beagle non-fictionYoung Darwin is such good company here, riding with gauchos, poking at fossil bones in Patagonia, puzzling over Galápagos finches without knowing yet what they mean. It's a rambling travel journal, so skim freely, but his curiosity about everything is genuinely infectious.