Darwin’s Evolving Identity
Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation
- Contents
- Review Quotes
- Awards

Themes
Part I Theorizing on the Move
1 Darwin’s Opportunity
Studying Reef Formation as an Objective of the Beagle Voyage
Darwin’s Training in the Sciences
Enthusiasm for the South Sea Islands
Hydrography Becomes a Resource for the Naturalist
An Ambitious Plan for Studying Zoophytes
Elevation and Subsidence
The View from Tahiti
Theorizing Like Humboldt in a Floating Library
Seeing Underwater: The Hydrographic Survey at South Keeling
Darwin’s Hydrographic Initiative at Mauritius
Part II Training in Theory
6 Lyell Claims Darwin as a Student
Lyell as an Author
Master and Student
The Primacy of Geology in Darwin’s Private, as Well as Public, Activities
Putting the Coral Theory to Work
Species
An Astonished Response from the Geological Elite
Darwin’s Emergence as a Practitioner of Lyellian Geological Speculation
The Obligations of a Student to His Master
The Beginnings of Darwin’s Anxiety about Speculation
Part III A Different Approach to Authorship
9 The Life of a Tormented Geologist (and Enthusiastic Evolutionist)
The Pressure of Public Expectations
Lyell’s Appropriation of the Coral Reef Theory
Studying Species as a Diversion from the Task at Hand
A Mountain of Facts
The Theory Emerges
The Immediate Reaction to Coral Reefs
A Theory in Use and in Memory
Part IV Writing the Origin with His “Fingers Burned”
11 Atoning for the Sin of Speculation
Rejecting Lyell’s Suggestion to Publish a “Sketch”
Lyell Choreographs Another Debut
Publishing an “Abstract” After All: On the Origin of Species
Dealing with Darwin’s “Recollections”
Studying Practices, Learning about Theories
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
History of Science Society: Pfizer Award
Short Listed
Biological Sciences: Evolutionary Biology
Earth Sciences: History of Earth Sciences
History: History of Ideas
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