The Voyage of the Beagle
A young naturalist with no formal training is invited aboard a survey ship for what was meant to be a two-year voyage; it lasted five. Darwin's account mixes geology, zoology, travel writing and the practical business of keeping a ship at sea, and it is far more readable than its reputation suggests.
The famous observations are here: the fossils of South America, the tortoises and finches of the Galápagos, the coral reefs he could only explain by sinking land. What comes through most clearly is a method: look closely, write it down, and resist the urge to explain too soon.
Public-domain status
First published in 1839. In the United States, works published before 1930 are in the public domain. In the European Union the general term is the life of the author plus 70 years; Charles Darwin died in 1882, so this work has been free to republish there since 1953.
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Keep reading
- The Longest Journey — E. M. Forster, 1907
- On the Origin of Species — Charles Darwin, 1859
- The Aran Islands — John Millington Synge, 1907
- A Little Tour in France — Henry James, 1884
- Cambridge — the city behind the books
- Reading lists — 19 ways through the collection
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