Set to become the standard text on Darwin and natural selection Evolution, during the early nineteenth century, was an idea in the air. Other thinkers had suggested it, but no one had proposed a cogent explanation for HOW evolution occurs. Then, in September 1838, a young Englishman named Charles Darwin hit upon the idea that 'natural selection' among competing individuals would lead to wondrous adaptations and species diversity. Twenty-one years passed between that epiphany and publication of ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. The human drama and scientific basis of Darwin's twenty-one-year delay constitute a fascinating, tangled tale that elucidates the character of a cautious naturalist who initiated an intellectual revolution. THE KIWI'S EGG is a book for everyone who has ever wondered about who this man was and what he said. Drawing from Darwin's secret 'transmutation' notebooks and his personal letters, David Quammen has sketched a vivid life portrait of the man whose work never ceases to be controversial.

An elegant and readble account of one of the last great Victorian gentleman scientists * INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY *
startingly original intellectual biography of the shy, cautious genius who transformed our ideas about life on Earth * LONDON REVIEW OF BOOKS *

David Quammen attended Yale and Oxford, is the author of several critically acclaimed science books and for fifteen years wrote a column 'Natural Acts' for OUTSIDE magazine, making natural science understandable, relevant and accurate for readers and scientists alike. He is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award in the United States, most recently for a NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC story on Darwin. He lives in Bozeman, Montana, with his wife.