The Autobiography of Charles Darwin

In 1876, at the age of sixty-seven, Charles Darwin sat down to write for his children a history of his life. At this late stage in his life he had published many books, but this was not to be added to that list. After Darwin's death, his son Francis (an imminent naturalist in his own right) edited and published the volume, leaving out those very personal parts directed to the family. Darwin's text is quite revealing in terms of self-appraisal. Had, for example, he taken dissection and...
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In 1876, at the age of sixty-seven, Charles Darwin sat down to write for his children a history of his life. At this late stage in his life he had published many books, but this was not to be added to that list. After Darwin's death, his son Francis (an imminent naturalist in his own right) edited and published the volume, leaving out those very personal parts directed to the family. Darwin's text is quite revealing in terms of self-appraisal. Had, for example, he taken dissection and drawing more seriously in his early studies, he would have become a better scientist. And were it not for certain happenstances, his career, he believed, might never have achieved much public notice. His opportunity to sail on the BEAGLE came by and would have been lost except for mere chance. Within Charles Darwin's circle close friends and acquaintances were some of the most significant figures in the intellectual life of nineteenth century Britain. As revealing as Darwin might be about himself, his comments about those figures are just as much so. But what may strike the reader is just how much (with a notable exception or two) Darwin's own reputation has exceeded that of the great men he so respected.