text: Janet Browne's far-reaching biography misses little in bringing us the life of the 19th Century's most controversial biologist/geologist.  The first volume of a two-volume set, "Voyaging", begins (as you would expect) with his youth in the English town of Shrewsbury under his father's care.  We meet his father - a Doctor and businessman, his brother - intelligent but unfocused, and his late grandfather Erasmus Darwin who was well known at the time for his eccentric and agnostic views.  
  
  From his early days, Browne depicts a Darwin struggling to find himself, first as a medical student in Edinburgh, then as a student of theology in Cambridge.  Though we know better what Darwin is to be, Browne's portrait of him manages to evoke the doubt that he must have felt when faced with adequate but uninspiring career options.
  
  But the story often returns to Darwin's love of the outdoors and of biology - a theme which underpins all of his early feints and mis-steps at life.  He is seen as a frequent hunter, and an avid collector and cataloguer of insects and beetles.  Despite this, and despite the benefit of hindsight, at times I felt some tension - finding myself unconsciously wishing to offer advice to this young man who seems adrift and unaware of the great role that history was preparing him for.  
  
  We finally catch a glimpse of that future as he fortuitously receives an offer to travel aboard The Beagle, a vessel bound for South America on a surveying mission.  I won't spoil the rest, other than to say that Browne does an excellent job of building Darwin, showing in detail each moment of discovery upon which the next is laid, capturing his excitement about the natural world as he slowly sheds his amateur standing and gains confidence - finally attaining acknowledged scientific stature.  And yet even then, Darwin holds his boldest work out of sight of the world, privately developing the theory of natural selection out of sight of a straightjacketed Victorian society.
  
  In tenor, it's clear that Browne, a Professor in the History of Biology greatly respects her subject.  But she does not allow him to pass through her pen unscathed.  Darwin was a man of his times and of a certain station, and held certain prejudices that the author doesn't hesitate to point out - such as his not wholly humanitarian attitudes about slavery.  She also reveals what some may find Darwin's less endearing traits such as his anti-social tendencies and his lack of any real passion for any subject but science (When approaching the subject of marriage, Darwin's priority on research causes him to discard several eligible but too learned women who, he feared, might place demands on his time).  
  
  She does seem to soft-pedal Darwin's poor treatment of his companions on The Beagle, many of whom contributed significantly to his efforts on that seminal voyage, and whose contributions went largely uncredited and unrecognized.  (For those curious, this theme is well-explored in Robert Wright's "The Moral Animal")
  
  Also, it was difficult for me to follow the various people who pass through his life and their relationship to him, more my failing than the author's I think, as she provides ample details on the many individuals who made an impact on Darwin's life.  If you do decide to read it, it might be helpful to keep a pen and paper handy for jotting down a few notes (although the author does append a fairly extensive family tree at the front of the book).
  
  Certainly, the book is well worth reading for anyone with more than a passing interest in exactly how the theory of evolution (and the legend of Charles Darwin) was born.  I've read few biographies better
  