Krulwich on Quammin on Darwin

[urbpan]

I just listened to the podcast of "Hmmmm..." the horribly named but otherwise pretty good science feature from NPR. In it I learned that David Quammen (my favorite science journalist) is writing a book about Darwin. I'm not sure if I should be excited about this or disappointed. I think Quammen's best writing is travel and experience based--the stuff he writes based on written research can be kind of dull. But anyway, the reason I bring it up is this quote, describing what the pre-Darwin theory of why living things live where they are (why there are only kangaroos in Australia for example):

"God created every species individually, and put them down wherever they are. I call that 'Special Creation, plus Special Delivery.'"

Cross-posted.

Comments

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

Was that the bit about the floating asparagus?

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

"Floating asparagus" refers to Darwin's experiments where he immersed the seeds of various plants in salt water for varying times, and then tried to germinate them. (to test whether plants could colonize islands that way) Asparagus seeds performed well, germinating after 40 days in salt water.

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

Actually, I was trying to ask if we'd heard the same segment. The Driveway Moments podcast had Quammen talking about the floating seeds experiment.

[droserary.livejournal.com]

I love David Quammen. And you're right. The parts of Song of the Dodo in which he goes on an on about Darwin are the most boring. And he openly admits he's no expert on Darwin. This is one of his books I'll plan to skip, unless I'm really bored.

[principito.livejournal.com]

WOW! I though I was the only Quammen freak :-P

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

I'm a big fan! I was unfortunately underwhelmed by "Beast of God," but I have high hopes for the Darwin book.

[principito.livejournal.com]

i haven't had time to read that one :(
but I will have to finish the origing of species before reading quammen's, I'm halfway there...

[principito.livejournal.com]

Is it this one? "The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution (Great Discoveries)"? It is already out (since July)