Most people who do any serious amount of reading invariably come to a point in their respective lives when they realize that there is a book of great significance that they have yet to read. In my own case, this happened most recently upon the observance of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birthday. Despite being a natural history writer, a student of modern religious social history, and a voracious reader, I find it necessary to confess that I have yet to read the primary works of Charles Darwin in their entirety.
Of course, like many in a similar position, I have read selections from Darwin’s writings; lengthy selections in fact. In the process of writing examinations of one natural history topic or another, I have searched the pages of The Voyage of the Beagle, On the Origin of Species, and other writings of Darwin to refine my understanding of one point or another; yet I have not actually sat down and read, cover to cover, any single one of the great naturalist’s works.
For this reason I have obtained copies of the latest edition, published by National Geographic, of The Voyage of the Beagle and the recently released From So Simple a Beginning (a compendium from W.W. Norton of Darwin’s four major works: The Voyage of the Beagle, On the Origin of Species, The Descent of Man, and The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals), both of which I intend to read in their entirety over the course of the year. Naturally (sorry…) I will be recording many of my reflections on what I may discover in them here on Born Again Bird Watcher.
