There has been a noticeable increase in the number of biographies of famous naturalists as of late. Not surprisingly, Charles Darwin is among those taken up as a subject of one of these books: Paul Johnson’s Darwin: Portrait of a Genius published by Penguin Press. A prolific writer with a bibliography running out to over forty books, not to mention innumerable other written work, Johnson’s portrait of Darwin is the latest in a string of his books examining the lives of well-known people, including Socrates, Jesus, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Sir Winston Churchill.
WRN
February 8, 2013 @ 13:07
Nota bene: it has been brought to my attention that there are some reviewers who have taken Mr. Johnson to task for this book, specifically that he has included in it some highly subjective right-leaning political and social opinions (e.g.: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/10/darwin-johnson.html). As this entry in The Well-read Naturalist is merely a notice of the book having been published, it is in no way a review or endorsement of the book at this time. Once it has been given a thorough reading, a full review will be published that will address such matters if appropriate.