The Evolution of Evolution

About the Book: 

What led Darwin to form his theory of evolution?
To what extent did the Enlightenment influence Darwin's work?
How did Scots help Darwin publish the most successful and controversial book of his time?

In 1825, at the age of 16, Darwin began to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh, the seat of the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment had created a thirst for science, and in his two years at Edinburgh, Darwin became involved with the people and ideas that were to shape the world's understanding of the natural sciences. These people and theories had immense importance on the evolution of Darwin's concept of natural selection.

An earlier book on the Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Scotsman Robert Chambers, led the way for On the Origin of Species, and influenced Darwin's writing and studies. Fellow Scot James Hutton, the founder of modern geology, established that the earth was far older than the previously estimated 6,000 years and Charles Lyell, born in Scotland, developed this theory into a book that Darwin took with him on the Beagle, and to which he owed many of his later discoveries. Walter Stephen considers the impact these men, and many others had on Darwin's work, his writings, and his life. He looks at the changing views of Darwin in his own lifetime, and at the legacy he left to science, and to the world.

About the Author:

WALTER STEPHEN was born in Thurso, Caithness and educated at schools and universities in Glasgow and Edinburgh, with degrees in Geography, Economic History and Education. He was Principal Teacher of Geography in distinguished schools in Fife and Edinburgh, then became the first Adviser in Social Studies in Edinburgh and Senior Adviser in Lothian Region. In schools shrunk by falling student numbers, he set up Castlehill Urban Studies Centre, the first successful Urban Studies Centre in Britain, and the History of Education Centre.

As an independent scholar he has been active in investigating Interesting Victorians and has been responsible for books on Patrick Geddes (planner and polymath), Willie Park Junior (‘The Man who took Golf to the World’), Frank Fraser Darling (born in 1903, but a Victorian in spirit who lived among the red deer and founded the environmental movement) and Charles Darwin (in The Evolution of Evolution: Darwin, Enlightenment and Scotland).