Dearth of Darwin

150 years ago today, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species was published. Anyone who has tried to read it (as I have) will know that all the seminal, groundbreaking stuff people talk about is buried pretty deeply under some very detailed and often dull observations about pigeons and worms. But its influence and importance is so vast it’s barely worth mentioning.

I know this has been a year of Darwin anniversaries — it was the bicentennial of his birth in February and everyone did get a bit carried away — but I thought I’d do a quick web grab of the best comment pieces marking this anniversary.

But there aren’t any.

(Actually, there is one, but it’s more about Islam than Darwin).

I think everyone burned out on the anniversary of his birth, which irritates me, since I consider, as I’m sure he would, his seminal publication to be an event more worthy of commemoration.

So instead of columns and comment, I bring you the best resources the web has to offer to help you mark this occasion all on your own.

First, CBS’s shiny new SmartPlanet site suggests 10 ways you might like to celebrate, which links to some really good material elsewhere.

Next, you should read this interview with Darwin himself in the New Scientist.

I really like this post by biologist and ant-hunter Roberto Keller, possibly because I like exciting editions of books too. Here is his prized edition:

If you’re desperate for some more conventional comment, try this article from last month. William Waldegrave, chairman of the Science Museum, looks at why and how science and the arts intersect. Great last sentence: “As science becomes more like art, and art like science, perhaps at last the divisions between the two cultures will finally dissolve.”

And speaking of last sentences, I enjoyed this tribute from The Mormon Organon — he just quotes the last paragraph of On the Origin of Species and lets it speak for itself.

Finally, you might like to actually take a look at the book itself. A handy hyperlinked version exists right here, but I would recommend you peruse the actual volume. Don’t say I didn’t warn you about all the pigeons and worms.