This essay is a book review and refers to the concise Darwin biography published by Tim M. Berra. Professor Berra is an expert on the life and times of Charles Darwin and his family members. Many heavyweight biographies were published about Charles Darwin, known as the father of the evolution theory who is considered to be one of the most influential persons in the last 200 years.
Professor Berra opens his book by stating that:
We agree with this statement. The book was published
by the Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore. 2009, is titled: Charles Darwin The Concise Story of an
Extraordinary Man”.
The book is easy and quick to read. It contains many
references to Darwin the man, his youth, family and his work. Berra’s popular
lecture titled: “Darwin”, was itself a hit in demand in academic circles. More on
the book and rich iscontents coming down.
With all the hip about Darwin and stories about the Galapagos
islands, me and my daughters Hadar and Dafna Lender went on a visit to witness
the legendary natural rich and fascinating wildlife and distinctive vegetation
that gave Darwin the intellectual material
and vigor to craft the Theory
of Evolution.
There are way over sixty notable islands in the archipelago.
We stayed in four islands: North Seymour, Baltra (where our arrival airport was),
Santa Cruz and Isabela Island. The trip was an amazing experience. I brought back
500 photos.
Here are snapshot oddities of what I saw on the
Galapagos Islands.
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Santa Cruz Island seen from above. Puerto Ayora in the center.
The sea lions are used to humans. He didn’t care. Just took the bench over, for himself.
This large tortoise in Santa Cruz is… really large. The carapaces are different in each island.
Iguanas on Santa Cruz Island have different colors
as a result of… evolution driven by the need to survive.
The marine iguanas are blue-gray blending with sea color. Uniquely evolved. A tiny lizard feeds on it.
The terrestrial iguanas evolved yellow-gray to blend with the desert colors.
Dafna and Hadar next to giant cactuses.
Convoluted cactuses. Typical to the Pacific mixed dry-wet climate. Unique to Galapagos.
SallyLightfoot. These distinctive crabs are everywhere on the beaches.
North Seymour Island is known for its unique aviary: Above are a couple of Blue Footed Boobies.
A pair of Frigatebirds nesting on Seymour island.
A Darwin finch. Darwin counted 13 different species of this little bird.
# # #
Back to Professor Berra’s biographical literary gem
of Charles Darwin. We are told that the
young Darwin (between ages 22-26 years), brought with him from around the world voyage
thousands of flora, fauna and other inanimate specimens. Those served him later, at his home in Downe,
as “dots”. Darwin endowed with a formidable intellect and sagacity later
connected these “dots” and wove them into the magnificent fabric of Theory of
Evolution.
Professor Berra best summarizes Darwin’s theory method.
Here it is (with minor word omissions for even better clarity):
“Darwin’s patience and
keen powers of observation led to the realization that there is variation in
nature. No two individuals are alike in a litter of puppies, school of minnow hatchlings,
or members of same species of barnacles or orchids. The germinations of seeds
from the same plant yield variable offspring.
Darwin’s genius was to understand that this over-production was related
to variation. He eventually came to realization that there is competition for
resources in nature and that the variations best adapted to their environment
would displace the less favorably endowed individuals.
Since the environment
is doing the choosing, he called this process natural selection, as opposed to the artificial selection imposed
by breeders. This resulted in descent with modification. Which was his
definition… of evolution. Today we
have the benefit of genetic knowledge, which was unknown to Darwin… Descent
with modification can be explained as a
change in gene frequency that is a change in the proportion of a particular
gene variant among all the alternative forms of that gene. Natural selection is differential reproduction. In
other words, in the same environment, one form leaves more offspring than
another form. The environment is the selecting agent.
Darwin had no knowledge
of the source of this variation… change in a gene (mutations). Today we
understand that genetic variation is produced by mutation, sexual reproduction,
chromosome re-arrangement, etc.
So to recap: Evolution is descent with modification
(change in gene frequency), brought about by natural selection (differential
reproduction), acting on the variations produced by mutations and other
sources, with the environment doing the selecting.”
(Tim M. Berra: “Charles
Darwin, the Concise Story of an Extraordinary Man”. P. 68-69.).
And the rest is history.
This book should be teaching material in high schools.
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Tags: #CharlesDarwin #descentofman #originofspecies #galapagos #TimBerra #theoryofevolution #biography #travelwriting #bookreview
