Charles Darwin; A New Life

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1990. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Good. xiv, 511, [3] pages. End paper map. Maps. Brief Chronology. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Who's Who. Index. Gift inscription--not from author--on half-title page. DJ has some wear, tears, chips and soiling. A biography of Darwin explores his early years and examines his work as a naturalist, his discoveries in the Galapagos Islands and Australia, and his years in isolation during which he wrote his controversial works. Edward John Mostyn Bowlby, CBE, FBA, FRCP, FRCPsych (26 February 1907 - 2 September 1990) was a British psychologist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst, notable for his interest in child development and for his pioneering work in attachment theory. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Bowlby as the 49th most cited psychologist of the 20th century. Bowlby studied psychology and pre-clinical sciences at Trinity College, Cambridge, winning prizes for outstanding intellectual performance. Bowlby's last work, published posthumously, is a biography of Charles Darwin, which discusses Darwin's "mysterious illness" and whether it was psychosomatic. In this work, Bowlby explained that: "In order to obtain a clear understanding of the current relationships existing between members of any family it is usually illuminating to examine how the pattern of family relationships has evolved. That leads to a study of earlier generations, the calamities and other events that may have affected their lives and the patterns of family interaction that results. In the case of the family in which Darwin grew up, I believe such study to be amply rewarding." Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: This new biography will strongly appeal both to those who know the life and work of Darwin (1809-1882) and to those less familiar with the famous naturalist and his theories of evolution and natural selection. The late Bowlby, a British psychologist, meticulously details the family background, education, scientific discoveries and publications of a young man who nearly became a country parson but boarded the HMS Beagle instead. It's an impressive story, and Bowlby does an excellent job of explaining the scientific context of Darwin's The Origin of Species and The Descent of Man , drawing extensively from the correspondence and journals of their author and members of his professional and personal circles. Additionally, the book proposes a new theory: that Darwin's debilitating bad health and depression stemmed from the death of his mother in 1817. Bowlby suggests that this sudden and silence-shrouded bereavement, along with Darwin's difficult relationship with his father, were the psychological causes of his emotional breakdowns and episodes of boils, vomiting, elephantiasis, rashes and heart palpitations. Charles Robert Darwin FRS FRGS FLS FZS JP (12 February 1809 - 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey.